Although it’s difficult to imagine why someone would hate dogs, people have their reasons. At times, dogs can be loud and yappy. Other people despise how “needy” some dogs can be or the fact that some canines tear up their owner’s necessities. Then there are people who don’t mind dogs but dislike the territorial and aggressive nature they tend to possess. With sharp teeth and four, fast-moving legs, nobody wants to mess with the wrong dog!
While their job doesn’t involve working directly with animals, garbage men, mailmen, delivery men, and newspaper boys/girls often have their fair share of experiences with dogs in the neighborhoods they serve. Often, we hear about dogs aggressively barking when the pizza man shows up or even attacking the mailman. But Joshua Byrne’s dog, Shelby, had a bit of a different reaction to their local garbage man.
Byrne noticed that Shelby, who he’d sometimes let out in the front yard for some fresh air while tied to a post, would act funny each time the garbage man arrived, racing around the yard. Was she scared of the loud truck? Or, maybe she didn’t like the fact that there was a strange man too close to her owner’s property line.
That’s when Byrne discovered that his dog’s chain was long enough to reach the garbage cans. Could the garbage man be doing something to harm her? Due to his suspicions, he decided to wait around until the garbage man showed up to witness the scene for himself.
Then at 10 a.m. one day, he had arrived. Byrne rushed to his window and began recording with his phone just in case anything bad went down. To his surprise, his dog darted to the garbage man, leaving him thinking she would attack him. Instead, Shelby ran up to greet the man in uniform, to which he responded with several friendly pets.
The garbage man spotted Byrne, waving at him. Then Byrne decided to strike up a conversation with him about the situation and to thank him for being kind.
The good news is that his canine is safe and that the garbage man didn’t have bad intentions after all. And thankfully for Shelby, her owner will continue to let her outside on trash day now that he knows the coast is clear. For Shelby, this means she can greet her friend every week!
Watch as the friendly garbage man gets out of his truck to greet Shelby the dog. So sweet!
