Did you know that there is a national week to honor dog bite prevention? Well, as the title of this post suggests, there is! So, I thought I would attempt to find some statistics on dog bites for you.
In 2009 it was reported that 2,863 postal employees were victims to dog attacks. And while that doesn't seem like too many...that equals almost 9 a day for each day of mail delivery. A number that I think is far too high. What's worse is that the number has increased to over 5,600 in the last year!
Now I am sure that some of the incidents that occur are with stray dogs, however, that still can't account for all of the incidents. So why are so many people leaving their pets where they can harass our delivery folks? (I say delivery, because lets face it..the USPS is only one of the entities that deliver to our homes. What about UPS and FedEX drivers? They probably have the same problem.
So on this first day of National Dog Bite Prevention Week, remember to keep your pets safe and away from areas where delivery drivers will be stopping. This will make everything work much smoother. =)
Back in the mid-90's.....my dog bit my mailman. What kind of dog did I have? A Rottweiler, Besa- the LOVE of my life. The maildude knew him well, and would always give him a little scratch behind the ear- really he would rough him up a bit (like guys do with BIG dogs that are playful). Besa didn't really "bite" him, he just got his teeth in the way of play. The maildude was super cool, and admitted that it was his fault. He was requied to fill out a report and since I didn't have proof of rabies vaccinations, I had to sign a bunch of papers that would protect him, and insure that the USPS would pay for his medical needs.....if he "needed" any (if he got rabies...Oh my!). The whole situation was pretty interesting. I'm just glad MY dog was super nice and that the mailman was not seriously injured.
ReplyDeleteI hear on a daily basis "oh my dog won't bite" all the while I am getting looked at like a Pizza Hut buffet. I think the vast majority of people truly think their pets won't bite and do not understand the motivation behind it. The majority of people attacked are children under 5yrs old because they either lack education on how to approach a dog or again, people don't think it'll happen to them. For more info see www.avma.org
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