In fact, this pit bull fought off a shark to save his owner, proving to be man's best friend.

There's no way the shark would rip a piece out of his owner—not under Darby's watch.

A piece of the dog that was given a piece of the shark was something that everyone desired." I received emails from individuals located in Russia. The offer of one individual was one hundred euros. I was working when I was approached by another man who promised me $575 in "cash right now." I told him, "Keep walking, buddy," I urged. In reference to the offers that he received for his dog, Darby, James White said. "It got to the point where I started saying, 'No, no, no, that's not me,'" she said.

When White, a security worker from Rohnert Park, California, who was 43 years old at the time, snatched the pit bull puppy in 2018, Darby was just another four-legged lug. He was young, friendly, lively, and as powerful as an ox.

On the other hand, Darby's encounter with fate occurred during the summer of 2019.

The hero pet Darby rushes into action and saves the day.

White was fishing in Northern California’s Bodega Bay. He left Darby, then a year old and 100 pounds, to cool in the parked vehicle, windows down, while he cast his line a few yards away. The fish weren’t biting, White says, until suddenly, they were.

At first, White assumed he had snagged a stingray. But when he hauled it in, he discovered it was a sevengill shark, nearly 6 feet long. Not rare, but still harmful. “Their teeth are gnarly,” White adds. He drew it near and cautiously unhooked it, expecting it to swim away. It didn’t.

“The shark clamped down on my ankle,” adds White. “All of a sudden there was blood everywhere.”

He cried for aid, hoping the two fishermen at the far end of the beach might hear. But they didn’t seem to know what was happening. Fortunately, Darby did. He hurled himself out an open window of the car and down the embankment toward the water. He ran right up to the shark and sank his teeth into its gills.

“That just made the shark bite down harder,” White adds. Darby backed off, then regrouped and latched onto the shark’s tail. The shark released its grip, and White managed to push it into shallow water, where it swam off.

“The whole thing took less than a minute,” White says—but it left plenty of damage. White was able to halt the bleeding and go to the hospital, where he found that an artery had been perforated and almost severed.

That would’ve been the end of it, had Darby’s tale not gone viral. White was approached by NBC News and CNN. That’s when the endless financial offers began to flood in.

But the large dog was not for sale. He had another thing to accomplish.

Darby: A hero at home too

At the time of the incident, White resided with his parents, James Sr. and Pam. When White’s mother perished in early 2022, Darby and James Sr. became inseparable. Being James Sr.’s best pal has been Darby’s greatest gift to the family.

“We were worried. Sometimes when one parent disappears, the other might become incredibly sad. But I know that Darby’s here, so I don’t worry,” says White.

Today, White’s shark bite has long healed, but Darby (called the House Hippo) is a greater hero than ever. “All he wants is to be surrounded by his humans,” adds White. “If my dad makes a hamburger, Darby gets a hamburger with a bun. That’s his greatest day. He’s got it made.”

“Pit bulls have a bad reputation, but they’ll give their life to save yours,” White explains. “Someone could offer me a million dollars for him, and I wouldn’t take it.”