COLUMBUS (WCMH)–Columbus mail carriers are increasingly becoming the target for customers’ dogs along their routes.

In fact, since last year the number of letter carriers attacked by dogs has nearly doubled: from 22 in 2014 to 43 last year. These statistics place Columbus as number eight on a list of cities where dogs bite mail carriers.

Neither rain, sleet, hail or snow can stop the mail, but a mail carrier NBC4 followed for a day said a vicious dog could postpone it.

The sound of dogs protecting their territory was a daily occurrence for Jessica Powell. But on December 10, 2010 all that changed.

“I was carrying the last half hour of a route, as I was putting mail in the box a dog came from the backyard with the owner, and immediately attacked me,” she said. “I put my mail satchel in between me and the dog. It wrestled the bag and I fell to the ground and the dog bit me in the face,” said Powell.

She got three rows of stitches in her face from her cheek to her jaw bone, and said her carrier days were over. She is now a supervisor at the main post office.

Shawn Carter knows all the dogs on his Grandview route. Holding up an orange “dog warning card” rubber-banded to a homeowner’s mail, Carter explained the idea. The cards are for mail carriers, so they know if a dangerous dog lives at a certain residence.

“It just gives the carrier a heads up that there are going to be two dogs there,” he said.

He is cautious.

“Usually if we see a dog in the yard or street we try to stay away,” Carter said.

If there is a dog and the screen door is unlatched, he said he skips the house.

At several homes the sound of the mailbox lid opening and closing was the cue for a dog inside.

Powell has this advice for dog owners.

“The most important thing is make sure your dogs are contained, even in the yards sometimes it is good for them to still be on a leash. Just know when your mail carrier is coming and put your dog up,” he said.

Powell said the dog attack changed her life.

“I have to admit dogs still freak me out, the scars go away but mentally it does not,” she said.

The postal service warns if a letter carrier is bitten by your dog, it could not only delay your mail, it could suspend it.

Nationwide, the statistics are glaring.

In all, 6,549 postal employees were attacked by dogs in 2015. A total of 51 cities made the Top 30 list.

“Dogs are protective in nature and may view our letter carriers handing mail to their owner as a threat,” said USPS Safety Director Linda DeCarlo.

The postal service has the following tips for dog owners to prevent future attacks:

• If a letter carrier delivers mail or packages to your front door, place your dog in a separate room and close that door before opening the front door. Dogs have been known to burst through screen doors or plate-glass windows to get at strangers.
• Dog owners should keep the family dog secured. Parents should remind their children not to take mail directly from letter carriers in the presence of the family pet as the dog may view the letter carrier handing mail to a child as a threatening gesture.
• The Postal Service places the safety of its employees as a top priority. If a letter carrier feels threatened by a vicious dog or if a dog is running loose, the owner may be asked to pick up the mail at the Post Office until the carrier is assured the pet has been restrained. If the dog is roaming the neighborhood, the pet owner’s neighbors may be asked to pick up their mail at the Post Office as well.

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