ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Doggone Fed Up

Man’s best friend is not always that for the mail carrier. Biting dogs long have been an occupational hazard for the men and women who walk the postal routes. If the elements cannot deter carriers from completing their appointed rounds, it is possible that a rendezvous with Rover will.

Pepper spray, described colorfully by one postal official as “glorified salad dressing,” doesn’t seem up to the job of deterrence. The dog problem persists.

Last weekend, mail carriers in Garden Grove decided that they had had enough. They marched in force, delivering a message on a Sunday morning. About 100 protesters told their community: “Keep your dogs locked up, they bite.”

The unusual protest was designed to increase public awareness of dog attacks on mail carriers. According to Postmaster Alyce Alford, six Garden Grove mail carriers have been bitten in the last six months. And these are not necessarily small inconveniences; one carrier had to be reassigned to a desk job in 1989 after an attack left him having to use a cane.

This is not just Garden Grove’s concern. In fiscal 1993, 2,733 carriers reportedly were injured by dogs nationwide. On the day Garden Grove carriers marched, some colleagues from nearby Huntington Beach joined in.

This demonstration should serve as a reminder that a wonderful pet that “wouldn’t harm a fly” may respond differently to the approach of a mail carrier. The carriers’ request seems reasonable enough: Keep dogs inside or otherwise secured during mail delivery hours.