As a long time letter carrier, I have dealt with a lot of dog situations, and I was bit twice while carrying mail. As a long time Postmaster, I have dealt with dozens of dog bites and hundreds of dog problems. It took me a while to come to this conclusion, but what I discovered is that dog's are
rarely the problem.
The problem is always with the dog owners. The reasons vary - lack of supervision of the dogs, letting them run loose in residential areas, training the dogs to be aggressive, physical abuse of the dogs, and a failure to train the dogs properly.
In addition, some of the problem usually lies with the person who was attacked by the dog. Again, it took me a while to discover that I was part of the problem by the way that I was reacting to aggressive dogs. After I learned the proper techniques for calming these dogs down, (and for calming myself down), and the proper way to remove myself from the vicinity of the dog, I had very few problems. This not only helped me with problems while delivering mail, but it always made running and biking much less stressful.
One thing that I did notice, and I know some of you won't agree with me, is that there are many more problems with pit bulls and rotweilers than there are with other breeds, but again, these problems are not dog problems, they are owner problems, especially with the huge increase in meth labs and drug houses in this area of Wisconsin.
For those of you who are providing shelter and providing new homes for dogs, I wish you the best, and you have my respect and admiration, even though I am a cat person.
Rick