Postal service urges dog owners to help protect carriers

By Shawntaye Hopkins - shopkins@herald-leader.com

The large dog attacked so quickly, ripping and biting at Ross Bridges' satchel, that there was little time for the mail carrier to react.

Bridges was chatting with a man whose mail he had just delivered on Stetson Lane in Lexington in December when the man's German shepherd-chow mix jumped a back-yard fence and ran to the front of the home.

The dog bit Bridges on his left calf just before the owner, yelling the entire time, was able to control the animal.

How to Be a Responsible Dog Owner
■ Obedience training can teach dogs proper behavior and help owners learn to control their dogs.
■ When a carrier comes to your home, keep the dog inside, away from the door or in another room.
■ Don't let children take the mail from the carrier. The dog's instinct is to protect the family.
■ Spay or neuter your dog. Neutered dogs are less likely to bite.
■ Dogs that receive little attention or are left tied up for long periods of time frequently turn into biters.
SOURCE: U.S. Postal Service
How to Avoid Being Bitten
■ Don't run.
■ Don't scream if a dog threatens you. Avoid eye contact. Try to remain motionless then back away slowly.
■ Don't approach a strange dog, especially one that's tethered or confined.
■ People who choose to pet dogs should let a dog see and sniff them before touching the animal.
■ If you think a dog is about to attack, try to place something between you and dog, such as a purse or bicycle.
SOURCE: U.S. Postal Service

"It did break the skin, but not much," Bridges said. "It hurt for a couple of days."

The U.S. Postal Service says cases like these are common. More than 3,000 city and rural letter carriers were bitten by dogs in 2008; there were eight cases in Lexington and at least 40 in Kentucky.

Each year, the postal service takes a week to remind people to teach their dogs appropriate behavior and keep them away from letter carriers, said Susan Wright, a postal service customer relations coordinator in Lexington.

"We're not anti-dog," Wright said. "We're just pro-responsibility."

Dogs are territorial and protective, she said. For that reason, the postal service encourages people not to allow children to get the mail in the carrier's presence because dogs might view that as a threat.

In April, a Frankfort mail carrier was badly injured in a dog attack, and mail delivery was temporarily suspended on the street where the attack took place.

The attack occurred about 3:40 p.m. April 1 in the 100 block of Spring Street.

The letter carrier, who has not been identified, was chased by two pit bulls that caused him to fall and hurt his right arm, according to a police report. The dogs were owned by Kimberly D. Rose, 43, who was charged with two counts of harboring a vicious animal.

Rhonda Hazlett, who lives next door, said she saw someone open the door at the house as the mailman was walking across the street, and the two dogs immediately ran outside.

The mailman pitched the mail at them, Hazlett recalled. The dogs pulled him down to the ground twice.

"He had a big scrape on his arm where he fell," Hazlett said. "I was scared."

Glenna Eastman, who lives across the street, said her great-grandson was playing outside when the dogs left the house. She sent him inside.

"A pit bull is not my favorite dog," Eastman said. "But I don't tell anybody to get rid of their pets. Just control them."

Their mail was not delivered for the rest of the week. They were given the option of picking up their mail from the post office.

A police report says Rose's 18-year-old daughter, Whitney, screamed at an officer, telling him they were not going to put down her dogs. The officer told her to be quiet and return to the house, but she would not comply, according to the police report.

Whitney Rose pulled away from police as she was being cuffed and tried to run, the report says. She has pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and resisting arrest and was ordered to pay a fine.

On Tuesday, Kimberly Rose pleaded guilty under a plea agreement to one count of harboring a vicious animal; the second count was dropped. A 10-day sentence was probated for 12 months, and Rose was ordered not to receive any other offenses and to keep her dogs from running freely.

Kimberly Rose declined to comment on the case.

On Friday, Wright said the letter carrier was doing well. Rose and her family have moved, and the house on Spring Street is vacant.

County Attorney Rick Sparks said the dogs were not taken from the owner. But the dogs — no matter the breed — are not at fault, he said.

"Dogs can't commit crimes," Sparks said.

He estimated that his office has seen at least 30 cases this year in which someone has been accused of harboring a vicious animal that attacked an adult or child. But this is the first case he's ever had involving a mail carrier.

"It is a big deal for mail carriers because they're exposed to it more," Sparks said.

Wright said carriers rank third most likely to be attacked by a dog. Children are most often involved in dog attacks, followed by the elderly.

The postal service trains letter carriers to avoid dog attacks, and each carrier has a dog repellent spray.

Bridges, who has delivered mail for almost three years, said he did not have time to use his spray, but turned away from the dog and did not make eye contact, as he had been trained.

The owner of the dog on Stetson Lane extended the back-yard fence soon after the attack.

Bridges, who owns two daschunds, said he has never been afraid of dogs, but he will think twice the next time he feels threatened by someone's pet.

"I won't even chance it, whereas before I may have," he said.