6 thoughts on “Why Does the United State Postal Service Fear This Dog?? – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. Cute dog. And yes it sounds pretty arbitrary. Years ago in my neighborhood there was a family with a bulldog. The same mailman had been coming by for decades and every day he brought a treat for that dog. When the mailman retired there was an article in the paper about it and the article told the story about the friendship between this mailman and the bulldog. It was a very heartwarming story.

  2. I warmly recommend you do a little more research on this subject. My son, then 7, was badly mauled by a friend’s 8 year old Golden Labrador, a dog my son interacted with at least twice a week without any problems. The wounds required 28 stitches and has left ugly scars on his legs. As required by New Zealand law the dog was put down.
    The dog had never exhibited any aggresion in all its 8 years, and was the epitome of the family pet. My son had not annoyed the dog. A very sad incident all round.
    My research since this incident has revealed:
    ALL dogs are pack animals, and pet dogs see the owners family as its pack.
    ALL dogs MAY at any time, for no apparent human-discernable reason decide the pack, or member of that pack, is under threat and attack that threat.
    The Dog Training Assoc in New Zealand, and I believe the US, strongly recommends NEVER entering a property where there is an unrestrained dog, and our postal,courier, meter reading people and the like are not allowed to enter such property.

  3. First, let me say to Tony how terribly I feel for what you & your son suffered. You are right that Golden Retrievers (is that the breed you meant as I don’t believe there is a Golden Labrador breed?) are generally considered safe & friendly & I’m sure you were shocked by its behavior given its past good temperament. Just curious, do you know whether the dog had had any type of training as a puppy? This is essential to maintain discipline when a dog gets in a situation where it might “lose it.” Our dog has undergone intensive training.

    I understand that fr. yr. pt. of view no matter how much training my dog or any dog gets you don’t trust the dog. I understand that you feel your judgment is correct & incontrovertible & I understand why you feel this way. But it’s not the way I feel. And you needn’t suggest that I do more research on the subject as I’ve read many books & articles about dog behavior. In addition, our dog was trained by a nationally recognized expert on dog behavior who’s written a book & video recommended by the Monks of New Skeet, themselves famous dog breeders.

    Everything you said about dogs being pack animals & their being capable of attacking someone for no apparent reason holds true for human beings as well. Yet we don’t judge all human beings for the crimes of abnormal ones. I’d ask the same consideration for dogs.

  4. Richard you are of course right about the breed – Golden retreiver it was. The dog was well-trained from puppy and had never exhibited aggresion to strangers in anyway, only ever barking at strangers at night, and then rarely.
    My ex-wife and I had a well-trained Bullmastif, often cited as an agressive dog, but we had no problems with her in the 9 years we had her – but if a strange man( and only a man) came to the door, our dog would not let the man get between her and my wife, or children.
    I once as part of a training course had to make home visits to do market research questionairs, I was bailed up so often by dogs, I would not go on a property until the dog was restrained. Twice I was attacked by dogs inside the house!
    I fully agree with you that it is so sad that all dogs suffer because of the ‘sins’ of a few agressive dogs, and also agree that that most of the problem arise from out-of-control dogs. I am a proponent of licensing dog-owners instead of the dog, and licensing entails passing some sort of test.
    I do have sympathy for your stance, but I also belive that delivery people in the widest sense need to be very cautious indeed when there is an unrestrained dog on the property they are trying to enter. I for one would no longer contemplate it.

  5. Hi there,
    I agree that situation with your dog was messy. I am a postal employee and see carriers come in with dog bites more than you can imagine.

    I am also an animal lover and know there are some dogs who wouldn’t hurt a flea, and your dog seems to be that type of dog.

    The carrier may have been previously disciplined for being bitten by a dog, and in that case he was probably just trying to protect his livelihood/job. If a dog runs out a door (merely greeting a carrier) and a carrier attempts to sidestep the dog, twisting an ankle or falling, the carrier will be written up, suspened without pay, or terminated. It is an ugly situation for all involved.

    In a similar situation, my father who was a carrier for 37 years was stung by a bee. You guessed it, he was reprimanded and had to go to the union to fight a 10 day suspension without pay. This was the first time he was stung, and it was after 30years of service, and a million miles of driving without an accident.

    The carrier probably did not want management to treat you so harshly. Management at the postal service relys on intimidation and threats. They are mostly uneducated and the only way they know how to get things done is the ol’ “crack the whip” method. They lack leadership skills and have no desire to gain any leadership or people skills.

    I wish you luck in the future, but remember how the postal service management treated you…. they treat employees ten times worse.

    I recently started a blog about postal life. Check it out at http://postalemployeelifesucks.blogspot.com

  6. I just received the notice from my post office about my Lab. We were out washing the cars earlier than the mailman usually comes by. It was very annoying to think how inflexible the Post Office is, but these messages put it in a different light, and it sounds reasonable.

    But without these explanations, and knowing my mailman as I do, I was just assuming he was one who takes advantage of the position. He has found excuses for not delivering mail before. It was very amusing to watch him run away like a little girl when my dog came out to check him out, and the whole neighborhood calls him “Newman.”

    On the other hand, my lab’s littermate seriously injured an older woman who was walking her little dog. So go figure. I’m over it now. I’ll give Newman a little more room.

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