Trash day

Trash day at my house is always an adventure. For some reason, my dog is obsessed by trash trucks. Whether he loves them or hates them, I can't tell, but when he hears them rumbling down the street, his ears perk up and he starts to bark.

He doesn't do this with any other truck. Not dump trucks, not container trucks. Only trash   trucks.

As they get closer, so too does the barking until it's so loud that people blocks away can hear it.

The dog is somewhat famous for this odd habit. I've met complete strangers at the neighborhood dog park who have heard about the dog who barks at trash trucks. The park in San Pedro is right next to a freeway and when the trash trucks drive by, he can hear them a half mile away and he chases them the length of the park.

Like I said, if he's doing it out of affection or anger, I don't know, but it's quite something to see.

I usually avoid the situation on trash day by taking him for a hike in the hills. But I overslept this week, so I walked him around the neighborhood, carefully trying to avoid streets where the trucks were picking up trash.

But when we got to one street, we found ourselves surrounded. There was a trash truck behind us and another in front of us. There was no place for me to hide.

The dog, normally the loudest dog in the South Bay cranked it up to 11. He howled and barked so loud in such a sorrowful wail that people started coming out of their houses to see what the ruckus was. They thought I was beating the animal.

"Oh, it's nothing," I assured them. "He just has a thing for trash trucks."

And then I saw a police car coming slowly our way. I don't know if he happened to be in the neighborhood or if somebody called him. I tried to look noncholant, but the dog wasn't having any of it. He was pulling on his leash and lunging at the trucks with the force of 10 normal dogs.

The police car stopped. The window rollled down.

"Is there a problem here?" the officer wanted to know.

"No sir," I replied. "Nothing to see here. Move along"

He decided not to arrest me on animal cruelty charges and drove off. The oblivious dog kept up his antics while my neighbors shook their heads at me in disaproval. They looked at me like I was a child molester. I walked home, my head bowed in shame.

When we neared my house, the dog stopped barking. I could see he was thirsty and wasn't in the mood for making noise anymore. He turned his head around and looked up at me, his tongue hanging stupidly from his open mouth.

I swear he was smiling.