Stupid Mailman

[SkooterIsMe]

So I'm pretty angry right now. Harley loves barking at the mailman. He always has. Up until about 2 months ago, we had a nice mailman who liked Harley. He had a boxer, and knew that Harley was only playing and would never hurt a fly.

But now we have a new mailman. And this one is stupid. He fails to see that while Harley is barking at him, his tail is going a mile a minute. I've told him several times that Harley would never hurt him, but he doesnt listen. One time when Harley and I were just returning home from a walk, the mailman was almost to our house. When he saw us, he said "will you put your dog away so I can give you your mail?" and I did what he asked, again reminding him that Harley's the biggest sweetheart in the world.

And today, I got a letter from the postal service. It said something along the lines of "Your dog was aggressive to out mail carrier on 3/28/08. He followed our carrier across the street. He's been repeatedly aggressive toward the carrier."

Then some crap about how I have to keep my aggressive dog contained during delivery hours, which the letter stated were from like 7 in the morning to 5 at night. Yeah. Right. "Every year our carriers are injured by vicious dogs" blah blah blah.

Basically, if Harley barks at the mailman, they're going to stop delivering our mail. How ridiculous is this?? Harley is anything BUT aggressive. I plan on having a talk with the mailman tomorrow. I'll be nice, so as to not cause more problems. But I think I'll ask if he wants to actually meet Harley so he knows him better.

It doesnt help that the mailman is always wearing a hat and sunglasses. Harley always barks at people in hats and/or sunglasses. Most dogs do.


Grr. Ignorant people. He probably thinks he's a pit bull. Even if he was, it's still stupid.

[bucca]

sounds like you have a mailman who isnt to keen on dogs. i would do what you said and have a talk with your carrier. is your mailbox by your front door? if so can you put one up( which you shouldnt have to do) further away from the house so he doesnt have to come up to the house at all? if all else fails go and speak to the post master about your problem you cant be the only house with a dog on his route. good luck with your problem. if people only knew what mushes these great dogs are underneath.

[Kaybie's Mom]

I guess I see both sides of this. First off, if I were you, I would meet with someone at the post office to tell what really happened. You don't want lies about him going across the street, etc on your record. I would politely let them know this isn't what happened at all. And then......I would work on training my dog. It's not ok for the dog to bark at the mailman and scare him......just like it wouldn't be ok for the dog to bark at children outside. It's unacceptable behavior. Just because you know the dog is friendly doesn't mean that a 60-70 pound barking boxer isn't going to be intimidating, if not down right frightening, to someone else. And a wagging tail does not necessarily equal happiness. Personally, I would really work on correcting these behaviors. My dogs are trained to bark on command and rarely bark at any other time. Yes, they get excited when the mailman goes by but never bark at him. Not meaning to sound like I'm lecturing, just playing devil's advocate to show that there are two sides to every situation. Good luck on getting things resolved.

[bayleighmom]

One of my friends is a mail carrier. She is a huge animal lover and has encountered all types of dogs on her route through the years. She has had to report some but usually tries to talk to the owner first and even meet the dog.

However, he is just trying to do his job. He may not care for dogs and even though you know your dog is friendly, he doesn't see it that way.

I would try to introduce your dog to the mailman but I also agree with Kaybie's Mom regarding training your dog not to bark. Easier said than done, I know!

[JulieJay]

I would have to agree with the others.

Even though we know our own dogs are friendly and mostly the barking is to say hello to him or a fair warning, other may not see it that way.

We are also unsure as to why the mail carrier does not like dogs. he could have a bad experience with them and you do read alot about postal persons getting attacked all the time.

I am most positive that the postal service hears from people all the time that their dogs would never hurt the mail man or let alone bite them, unitl that dog does. No one wants to think that their dog could do that to another person.

I would agree that you meet with the mail man and ask if he would like to meet your dog and get to know him. Maybe that would help ease his anxiety towards your dog. If they are not willing, my only other suggestion is to not have your dog outside at that time of delivery so you are not to get another letter or have a delay in your mail delivery.

Good luck and i hope it works out in the end for you

[kayboxer]

Of course, I am a huge animal lover, but many people aren't. It doesn't make them bad, it is just the way they are. They do not understand animals and were probably raised like that. Anyway, my first question is does Harley run free or is he behind a fense? If he is behind a fense there should be no problem. If he is at large, then there would be a problem, friendly or not, there are laws. I know we as boxer people know most boxers are just funny, big goofs, but they can be very intimidating if you do not know them. The laws are there to protect the dogs as well as people. Some idiots may not train their boxers and they can be agressive or just a plain "pain in the butt" by jumping on people, etc. So, I can see the mailman's point if Harley is at large. We have two boxers in our neighborhood that the people just let out in their yard and they did pretty much stay in the yard, except when someone walked by on their side of the street. One ended up biting a friend of mine on the leg. Thank goodness she was by herself, as she normally has her kids. They have also been agressive towards me and my two boxers when we were out walking, so not all boxers are friendly. The owners said they couldn't believe their boxer did that as they were friendly all the time. Sometimes owners may not see how their boxer behave when they are "protecting" their territory (not to say Harley is like that at all, just an example). I would just make sure he is put up (for his protection and the mailman's) and write a letter to the post office letting them know what really happened. Make a copy for your records. Unfortunately, I don't think you can change the mail carrier or how he feels about dogs, you just have to try your best to oblige and keep the peace. Good luck.

[Austin's Mom]

In this house you can't even say the word "mailman" in conversation without Aus barking! And yes, he does bark at him every single day, and then waits for him to be across the street and barks at him again! But our regular mailman isn't afraid of him, he actually blows him kisses thru the front door! But if we get a substitute mailman I've actually seen them jump back when Aus comes flying to the window or the door! I think it's funny, but they don't!

[K8IE]

Originally Posted by Kaybie's Mom

I guess I see both sides of this. First off, if I were you, I would meet with someone at the post office to tell what really happened. You don't want lies about him going across the street, etc on your record. I would politely let them know this isn't what happened at all. And then......I would work on training my dog. It's not ok for the dog to bark at the mailman and scare him......just like it wouldn't be ok for the dog to bark at children outside. It's unacceptable behavior. Just because you know the dog is friendly doesn't mean that a 60-70 pound barking boxer isn't going to be intimidating, if not down right frightening, to someone else. And a wagging tail does not necessarily equal happiness. Personally, I would really work on correcting these behaviors. My dogs are trained to bark on command and rarely bark at any other time. Yes, they get excited when the mailman goes by but never bark at him. Not meaning to sound like I'm lecturing, just playing devil's advocate to show that there are two sides to every situation. Good luck on getting things resolved.

I have to agree.. Just because we love our babies and know that they would not hurt a fly, some people are simply NOT dog people or have a history that has made them fearful. Also, many people are totally clueless when it comes to dog body language. What is obvious to us as play or silly antics, can look very scary to someone who is less familiar with dogs, especially Boxers. When it comes down to it, it is our responsibility to teach our dogs manners and not to scare people or do things that may seem threatening. Good luck and I hope that you can smooth everything out.

[SkooterIsMe]

Thanks for all the advice. I wasnt able to catch the mailman today to talk to him, but I'm hoping to tomorrow.

A couple people said I should train Harley not to bark at him, and I can understand why that would be a good thing, but at the same time, confusing. I want Harley to warn me of strangers. My Animal Planet Boxer book that a pet trainer recommended to me says "Trouble is, the boxer cant differentiate appropriate barking from inappropriate. He wont understand why he's a good dog for barking at a stranger but a bad dog for barking at the mailman. All he knows is that someone, be it friend or foe, is approaching his territory and you should know about it."

So while I understand that Harley shouldnt bark at the mailman, I'm weary of teaching him to stop. The mailman is just doing his job, but then again, so is Harley.

And to kayboxer, you asked if Harley is behind a fence or not. Our yard is not fenced, but he does stay in our yard. He only goes into the street if I'm with him, or if our neighbor accross the street (one of his favorite people) calls him over there.

I just hope the mailman is willing to listen to me, and hopefully even meet Harley to understand what a big baby he is.

[HevNewsome]

I'm sorry if I go off on one! But this really gets my back up!

If anyone knows a mailman or women - could they please tell me if they get training or advice on how to act with dogs!

I walked outside of my house the other day and a new mailman was just a door away. Indie was really excited about her walk and was at the top of the drive.

Anyhoo - the mailman grunts out "can you put your dog on a lead” (all I do is walk around the corner to the back field - Indie knows where she is going) So I said politely "it's ok I'm going now" however he didn't care and started being nasty (btw at this point Indie is not interested in him as she wanting to walk up the street).

He continue to make, what I would call grunting noises and as soon as he see Indie he throws, yes THROWS himself up against the garage door and Indie is now interested as to why this person is making so much noise!

I took Indie on a 20 week training course and she got a first in her class (my trainer wanted me to put her in for her "Good Citizenship")

I explained to him that I would never knowing put another person in danger - and to make me really angry - he was ignoring me!!!!!! How rude!!!!!!

Personally I can understand why a dog would go for him with that sort of body language he was portraying. Indie is a well manner, submissive dog. This just proves to me mail men and women need to have training as to how to handle dogs! So foolish of them.

There finished my rant – I feel better now!

[catcrazy56]

Our mail is delivered to the superbox but we have a paper girl and Foreman goes crazy he has jumped on her since she comes all different times and I didn't know she was on the other side of our boat but luckily she isn't afraid of dogs because if she was I would have been in trouble my other dogs bark because he does sometimes but cooper doesn't he just wants to play with the girl and they wait for him outside. My sisters mail lady carries cookies for dogs and hands them ot to dogs that don't like her and ones that do of course. Foreman is ok with the purolator guy who comes once a week. But I have to watch foreman even though he would never hurt anyone he barks and jumps untill he knows someone especially if he knows they are scared I have trid to get people to like him but if they are not dog people its really hard if your mailman is not a dog person might be hard to convince unless you can give them a treat to give your dog and they realize its part of the everyday game barking at the mailman when we visit my sister my 3 and her 2 bark at the mail lady

[EAO76]

I agree that many times mail men/ women are idiots. We have they type of box that drops the mail directly into our house and Nano & Rosco like to catch the mail. They don’t bark or anything they just stand there waiting. Well the mail person can see them because our front door is glass. The female mail person just laughs and drops the mail but the male mail carrier that we get stands there waiting for me to either remove the dogs or for the dogs to walk away. Well him standing there just frustrates the dogs and then they do bark. Every time I have to yell through the door “go ahead”. So now if I see him coming I call them to me and put them in a “stay” but I am not always paying attention.

Also this is the same mail man who ran and jumped into his truck when he saw me walking the dogs (on lead) in his direction. Doesn’t he know running is the fastest way to get chased????

But on the other hand we do have a boxer (many of you know all about Trucker) who would bite the mailman if given the opportunity so I know first hand that these carriers should fear certain dogs no matter how cute they are. But with that being said I am a very responsible owner and I ensure Trucker never even sees the mailman.