USPS marks National Dog Bite Awareness Week with tips for pet owners

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Sunday marks the first day of National Dog Bite Awareness Week for the United States Postal Service.

According to USPS, more than 5,300 postal service employees were attacked by dogs while delivering the mail last year. Aggressive dog behavior is a common safety concern USPS employees face.

To keep its workers safe, the organization is providing important information on how dog owners can be good stewards for safe mail delivery as part of its annual National Dog Bite Awareness Week public service campaign.

The campaign runs Sunday, June 4, through Saturday, June 10. This year’s theme is “Even good dogs have bad days.”

When a letter carrier comes to your home, here are some precautions pet owners can take:

Keep dogs inside the house or behind a fence
Move them away from the door or into another room
Keep your dog on a leash
Remind children not to take mail directly from a letter carrier as the dog may view the postal employee as a threat to the child

The Postal Service says letter carriers are trained to observe an area where they know dogs may be present and are taught to be alert for potentially dangerous conditions and to respect a dog’s territory.

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