The census worker advanced, the dog retreated. . . . until it ended up in the backyard

After five days on the job, the worst problem Josephina Gonzalez encountered was a barking sheep dog.

The dark brown and tan dog--which barked as if it meant business--stood its ground at a well-maintained tract home in Pico Rivera as Gonzalez approached cautiously.

But when she advanced, the dog retreated.

Step by step and still barking, the dog inched back until it ended up in the backyard.

Slightly relieved, Gonzalez approached the house on Winodee Drive and knocked on the door. A young boy answered and then called his mother.

“I’m Josephina Gonzalez,” she said to the woman, holding up a badge that identified her as a census taker, or enumerator, for the U. S. Bureau of the Census. “I’m here to help fill out the census questionnaire for you.”

The woman chuckled as she replied, “I never got one,” and let her in.

Thus began one of the many interviews Gonzalez is conducting during a four-week period that began April 7. The canvass is considered the most crucial part of the 1986 interim census being conducted in several southeast Los Angeles County and South San Gabriel Valley cities. Another interim census is taking place in Mississippi. These surveys will help the Census Bureau refine techniques in gathering data for the national 1990 census.

The yearlong effort to conduct the special census in 21 cities and communities nearly collapsed by the end of March when residents were asked to mail back 240,000 questionnaires and responded at a rate averaging only 30%.

Although the “mail-out, mail-back” questionnaire always carries a risk of low response, the Census Bureau anticipated a response rate of 50%--as contrasted with 83% for the 1980 census--and budgeted “dollars and staffing” accordingly, said Mike Weiler, assistant regional Census Bureau director.

Because the low rate of response meant having to hire more enumerators to collect the data in person, the bureau decided to concentrate resources in half of the target area, said Reina Ornelas, a Census Bureau spokeswoman. Communities dropped from the census are Bell, Compton, Cudahy, Huntington Park, Lynwood, Maywood, South Gate, and unincorporated areas of the county including Florence-Graham, Walnut Park, West Compton, Willowbrook and a section east of Compton.

The census will now focus on 110,000 households in Bell Gardens, Commerce, East Los Angeles, Montebello, Monterey Park, Pico Rivera, South El Monte, South San Gabriel and West Whittier-Los Nietos.

About 60% of those households are scheduled to be visited by one of 600 temporary census takers expected to canvass the target area until May 2.

“The real work starts now,” said Weiler, noting that the bulk of data-gathering is done in the field.

Census takers must be 16 or older with a high school diploma, or 18 or older with work experience. After applicants pass a one-hour census test, preference is given to those who live in the area they will canvass, Ornelas said.

Once assigned a certain housing tract, enumerators put on comfortable shoes and start knocking on doors.

“This is the first time I’ve gone door to door. It has helped me get rid of my shyness,” said Raul De Dios, 18, who is working in Bell Gardens.

Besides having no one answer the door, dogs are among the more common problems reported by census takers.

De Dios said he has learned to shake the fence to check for dogs. “When the dogs hear the gate rattle, they come running to it.”

He admitted, though, that his biggest challenge has been finding residents at home. As a remedy, census takers often work split shifts and on weekends. Once a census taker has visited a home four times with no success, a supervisor will conduct a basic survey by questioning neighbors.

Gonzalez, 55, said the best time to reach people is between 4 and 9 p.m. If no one is home, she leaves a note asking the resident to call for an appointment, she said.

So far she has only had two refusals.

“I identified myself and told (one man) what I was there for,” Gonzalez recalled. As she neared the gate, he yelled out, “ ‘You better stay out of here.’ ”

Gonzalez, who is advised that her safety comes first, reports such problems to her crew leader.

Since her first week went so smoothly, Gonzalez considers herself one of the lucky census takers.

Other colleagues have not fared as well.

A census taker was mugged in East Los Angeles despite a truce with area gangs to let the temporary government workers do their job, Ornelas said.

Gonzalez, who once worked as an enumerator for the 1940 census, said she doesn’t feel she has to worry. The Pico Rivera resident has already alerted her neighbors and “told them I might be coming to see them if they didn’t mail their form back.”