Introduction

The battle between dogs and delivery employees has existed since Fred Flintstone first ordered home-delivery of a Brontosaurus Burger or the paperboy delivered his first edition of the Bedrock Times. When I visited my friends in Kansas City, Missouri I had my first opportunity to witness the phenomenon from the other side of the mail slot. Their Bichon took up station on her side of their mail slot at least two hours before the expected arrival of their representative of the US Postal Service and patiently sat waiting until she heard her canine neighbours announce his approach from the end of the street. At that point she assumed full attack readiness posture, her body quivering as she growled and wined in anticipation. The moment the mail slot started opening she sprang like a prehistoric wolf attacking a lion at her cave-mouth grabbing that encroaching paper and grinding and rending it between her teeth. Her duty done she dropped the damp, torn, canine-punctured mass and trotted calmly to her water dish in the kitchen.

This kind of scenario is repeated daily in every major community in North America that still enjoys door-to-door delivery and doubtless further afield. Dog encounters with delivery personnel are legend. To put it in perspective the last year that Canada Post published statistics the total cost to the corporation in one year of dog bites was over $1,000,000. From a letter carrier’s perspective that a lot of irresponsible dog owners.

Theories of why these attacks occur vary. My favourite one holds that dogs are descended from wolves and one of the few traits not bred out of them is the instinctual need to protect their pack’s territory. Some breeds are more territorial than others and there is also a wide variance in the levels of aggression and excitability. (We all know about the old mongrel that would let a thief walk off with anything he desired as long as he didn’t step on him or touch his bowl.) When we bring a dog into our homes the family that resides there becomes its pack—most dogs will even recognize the scent of family members who no longer reside there. The property owned by that family therefore becomes the dog’s territory and defending it their sacred duty. One additional theory holds that the mailman actually trains the dog to bark at him. Each day he approaches the dog’s territory and the dog reacts and each day the mailman reinforces that behaviour by turning around and leaving. Here’s one more premise for those who think they know everything: if you think you have a fool-proof theory for handling dogs, just make sure the dog understands it.

There’s no accounting for taste and dogs are no exception. A dog who will welcome the regular mailman with excited tail wagging woofs will lower his head, raise his hackles, and place his tail between his legs for the relief. By the same token relief letter carriers have been upbraided for befriending a dog that gives the regular route holder problems. There have been dogs who took exception to my yellow fluorescent rain gear and many who growled at the scent of hair shampoo samples in the mail. The scent of the wearer’s after shave cologne definitely has an effect on a dog’s reaction and in a creature with olfactory senses many times more sensitive than ours, one’s body odour and the pheromones in it definitely come into play. One thing for sure, a dog can always scent fear. Many delivery personnel carry doggy treats for their canine friends and although this may work for them there’s nothing worse for a relief than to have a strange dog come bounding up and nip at their hands for a morsel. I’ve always held that my canine friends had to love me for who I was not for the treats I carried.