In addition to being a companion, some dogs serve as the guardian of the family home. When you hear them bark, it’s usually at a passing car, the mailman, or even the garbage man.

Usually, you think nothing more of it and go about your day. But when you notice your dog acting stranger than usual, you might wonder what else is going on.

Joshua Byrne notices strange behavior from his dog

When Joshua Byrne noticed a change in his dog’s behavior, he decided to investigate. Byrne thought his dog’s reaction was suspicious whenever the garbage truck approached his home.

As the truck approached to pick up the trash, his dog, Shelby, would run around the house like crazy.

Byrne decides to investigate

While he was investigating, Byrne also noticed that Shelby’s chain could just reach the trash cans. Was the garbage man doing something to his dog to upset her? He never remembered looking out whenever the garbage truck pulled up outside and Shelby had been tied up in the yard.

He thought something might have been amiss, so he decided to set up a hidden camera to find out exactly what was going on.

Byrne waited for garbage day to arrive

After setting up the camera on garbage day, Byrne waited. Soon, he could hear the garbage truck approaching. Leaving the front door open, he watched Shelby’s interaction with the garbage man from the window of his home.

He would know pretty soon what was happening between the two.

It turns out Shelby had a new friend

As the garbage man got out of his truck, Shelby ran out the door and up to the trash collector. Byrne was initially worried that something bad was about to happen. He watched as the garbage man reached out to Shelby, who wasn’t acting aggressively at all.

As Byrne watched, the garbage man began to pet the friendly dog. For her part, Shelby seemed to greet him like an old friend.

Surprised, Byrne was happy that nothing weird was going on between the two. It seemed that Shelby had made a new friend, even if it was behind his back.

Byrne greets the garbage man

That was when the garbage man noticed Byrne watching him and gave a wave. Byrne went out to greet him, and the two struck up a conversation, with Shelby close by.

Ultimately, Byrne was just looking out for Shelby. He was relieved that she had made a new friend and that all of his fears were unwarranted.

When initially posted on YouTube by Byrne, who has since deleted his account, the video of the incident got over 10.5 million views. As for Shelby, she now gets to spend at least a few minutes each week on trash day saying hello to her friend the garbage man.

You can watch the video of Shelby and the garbage man’s sweet interaction below.

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Source: Short Clips

H/T: We Love Animals, Relieved