Pet store says ‘all leashed animals welcome,’ so man brings in his giant steer

Pets come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. While most people have common animals like dogs and cats, others go in a more unusual direction but love their pets just as much. Shouldn’t they get the same treatment?

That’s a question one man put to the test, when he humorously challenged a store’s “all pets” policy by bringing in a pet they never could’ve imagined… but amazingly, they stayed true to their word.

Petco is one of the largest pet supply chains in the country, so it’s not surprising that they’d cater to animal lovers by letting pets in the store.

What is surprising is how open-ended their policy is: there’s no specific list of allowed or forbidden animals, only that the pets have to be on a leash.

This got the attention of a man named Vincent Browning from Raywood, Texas, who decided to put the policy to the test. Would Petco really honor their policy if he brought in his own beloved pet:

A massive 1,600 pound steer named Oliver!

https://www.facebook.com/TriangleBOliver/photos/a.359317867612738/1116316338579550/?type=3&theater

According to the Houston Chronicle, Vincent is a bull rider who won the 1992 Bud Light World Champion.

He and his wife Shelly own a ranch with 11 Watusi, but Oliver is the big celebrity. Vincent raised him from infancy and now they travel around attending events. People love taking photos with the giant steer.

https://www.facebook.com/TriangleBOliver/photos/a.359317867612738/1063097663901418/?type=3&theater

But how would Petco react if Vincent brought Oliver on a shopping trip? He decided to find out.

“We decided to take a chance and call Petco’s bluff,” he joked on Facebook.

Obeying the store’s one policy by keeping the steer on a leash, he headed to the Petco in Atascocita.

It wasn’t easy, and was a bit of a risky move: in a video you see Vincent enter with the steer, and it looks like those giant wide horns could break through the glass.

But he’s gently let in, and surprisingly, no one seems particularly shocked at the arrival of this giant animal: the employees just warmly greet them and pet Oliver as if he was a dog.

“They welcomed Oliver … with open arms,” Vincent wrote on Facebook. “The staff members here are always super friendly and courteous to us.”

“I didn’t think a major chain like that would be open to us bringing him in, but we were just kind of testing the waters on that all-leashed-pets-welcome policy they have,” Shelly told the Houston Chronicle. “It was exciting and just something we really wanted to do anyways.”

Not that the owners pushed the limits too hard: “We didn’t take him down the aisles or anything,” Shelly said. “We just sat him up front and let everybody pet him.”

While the couple said that they were testing the store’s policy, it was all done in good fun: they were regular customers, and the staff had talked about hoping to meet Oliver someday, so it wasn’t a total surprise.

Still, it shows that Petco is true to its word, and you can bring in any kind of leashed animal you want.

“We mean it when we say ALL leashed pets are welcome in our stores,” Petco wrote, sharing the photos on their own Facebook.

Another employee commented with a photo of a capybara who visited their own location:

So if you have a pet that’s a little unusual or too big, rest assured that there’s a pet store for you…

…until somebody tries this with their pet tiger.

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