Cincinnati ranks 14th in dog attacks on postal workers

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - Cincinnati is ranked No. 14 in the country when it comes to dogs attacking postal workers. To hopefully cut down on that number, United States Postal Service workers in Cincinnati took part in a training session Wednesday about how to avoid attacks.

Cincinnati USPS averages about 30 bites a year.

“We’ve lost employees and we’ve lost employees’ careers because of the seriousness of the dog bites,” USPS Operations Manager William Rowe said.

To help mail carriers, Rowe brought in dog trainer Hector Hernandez and his dog Malo to demonstrate how to deal with these attacks.

Hernandez and Rowe agree that postal service customers need to make sure their dogs are contained in a fence or inside the home when the mail is being delivered.

“We tell our carriers not to deliver if the dog is in the yard,” Rowe said. “Every dog can bite. And a majority of the time a customer will say, ‘Well my dog has never bitten anyone,’ or ‘My dog is a great dog,’ or ‘Don’t worry, my dog won’t bite.’ And we’ve got to break that behavior.”

Rowe says after Hernandez did the same presentation in Michigan, the postal service there was able to reduce dog bites by 40%

They say the goal is zero bites, but it takes education to get there.

“I’m going to teach the mail carriers how to protect themselves from dog attacks,” Hernandez said. “One of the most important things to teach them is to make sure they’re mentally prepared for a dog encounter. And then secondly is to give them some options if a dog does attack them, what to do.”

Postal workers were able to simulate a dog attack using Hernandez’s dog.

Some of the tips included maintaining eye contact, using a package or even a hat as a distraction for the dog, and easy ways to communicate to the dog owner to get the dog inside until the package is delivered.

Hernandez says it takes cooperation between the customer and the postal worker to get the job done safely and to reduce the risk of dog bites.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please include the title when you click here to report it.

Copyright 2021 WXIX. All rights reserved.