Cautious Mail Carriers to Count Cold Noses

Attention, all San Diego County dogs: The U.S. Postal Service wants to know where you live.

Mail carriers countywide have been directed to identify all dogs on their routes as a way to cut down on a continuing problem of animal bites, San Diego Postmaster Margaret Sellers said this week.

Once the dog census is completed, each carrier will have a list pinpointing all dogs on a particular route, whether or not they have ever threatened postal employees.

“They will be told to use caution at those residences,” Sellers said. “If there’s a German shepherd in the yard baring its teeth, we ask the carrier to come back” to the office.

The information will be used only by the Postal Service’s safety department, Sellers said, and will not be shared with the county’s Department of Animal Control.

Sellers said that although carriers carry a little can of cayenne pepper oil to spray as a defense, most dog bites result from sneak attacks.

“Most of our attacks come from animals hiding under bushes, from bites in the back of the leg before the carrier even sees the animal,” she said. “The (cayenne) solution, to burn and be effective, has to hit the animal right in the face.

“That’s going to be the advantage of our knowing that a dog is (at a residence) before delivering the mail.

“We want to respect the dog, but we want the dog to respect the carrier.”