A dog at a home in Davie greeted a mail carrier Thursday afternoon and bit the worker after it was startled by the worker’s sudden movement, Davie Police said.
The dog, which belongs to the owner of the home in the 5800 block of Peppertree Circle, bit the worker’s upper leg, Davie Police Det. Peter Patton said in an email. It was not immediately known what breed the dog is.
The mail carrier was taken to a hospital to be treated for a minor cut, Patton said. An animal resource officer is investigating.
The cliché exists for good reason: The bites are enough of a problem for the postal service to run a week-long public service campaign each year to make pet owners aware of the safety risks dogs pose for mail carriers. The theme of this year’s campaign in June was, “Even good dogs have bad days.”
More than 5,300 U.S. Postal Service workers were attacked by dogs while making deliveries in 2022. In Florida, 220 postal workers were bitten last year, with 21 of them being in Miami, according to the agency’s data. The number of bites in Broward and Palm Beach counties were not immediately available.
“Many attacks reported by letter carriers came from dogs whose owners regularly stated, ‘My dog won’t bite,’” USPS said in a news release this June. One of the things postal workers are trained about is how to not startle dogs.
USPS offered the following tips for pet owners during its safety campaign:
- Secure dogs before carriers arrive. Most people know about the time they come each day.
- Keep dogs on a leash, behind a fence or away from the door when carriers deliver.
- Do not let children take mail directly from the carrier. Dogs may see them as a threat.
“Lastly, when a carrier feels unsafe, mail service could be halted — not only for the dog owner, but for the entire neighborhood,” the postal service said.