With the Royal Mail’s postmen and women working six days a week delivering letters and parcels to 29 million addresses, dog attacks are unfortunately a common issue which increase by a quarter during the school holidays when children and parents are at home and pets are left to roam the garden. If your postie is worried about their safety when entering your property, they have a legal right to refuse delivery to you.
MedicAnimal, the UK’s leading online pet healthcare retailer, has some useful tips to ensure that your postie can remain worry-free about delivering your letters.
Andrew Bucher, Chief Veterinary Officer at MedicAnimal, said: “Monday 4th July marks the Royal Mail’s annual Dog Awareness Day to help campaign for employees to be able to do their job efficiently without risk of injury. Every year sees around 2,000 attacks on postmen and women – with some even leading to extreme injuries. No matter how friendly your pooch might be, if they have a problem with the postman please remember to follow these tips so Royal Mail employees can carry out their jobs without fear.”
•Diversions: If your postie comes at a similar time each day, set up a diversion so your pup isn’t actively waiting for them. Varying the routine will help prevent learned behaviours. For example, give them a chew or play with them in the back garden when you know the post is going to be delivered;
•External post box: To completely alleviate risk, install an external locking post box. Your dog shouldn’t feel threatened or have a chance to react if the postie remains off your property;
•Introductions: While this option may not be possible for everyone, allowing the postie to be introduced properly to your dog can work wonders. When your dog is familiar with the postman or woman, there should be an element of trust and therefore they will no longer be seen as an intruding stranger;
•Wire letter receptacle: A simple and cheap way of protecting the postie’s fingers is to place a guard box over your letterbox to collect the letters. However, this won’t go any way to helping resolve the problem of your dog reacting to the postie;
•Back room: Your dog can be kept out of the way in a back room when you know the postie is going to arrive. Similarly, if you continue to let your dog roam but you need to open the door to sign for a parcel, make sure you place your dog in a closed room before doing so.
