Postie's and dogs, a war of attrition with my new postie! Advice please!

I'm really sorry, but I think you are being a little unreasonable. I think you need to find a way your postie can deliver the mail safely. There are so many instances of posties getting attacked by dogs, and while I am sure your dogs are perfectly lovely, not everyone loves dogs.... I'm not sure where that is in the postman job description.

A post box by the gate is not unreasonable when you have 2 dogs. We have free access to the front door but the postie never leaves large parcels, we have to collect them from the sorting office as 'too large for the letterbox'. That might be a compromise.

Could the postman ring you on your mobile to let you know he is on his way, and you could bring the dogs in till after the delivery?
I would not expect anyone to enter my property if there were any dogs running loose. Dogs are territorial, they are guarding the property and no postman should be expected to enter under any circumstances, it's not worth the risk as you cannot predict the dogs reaction. Health and safety rules. Common sense in fact.

Barneyoldbat. I see what you are trying to say, but what if the chase ended up by the Postwoman getting hurt ? It may not be caused by your dog biting her , but my goodness, what if she had fallen over trying to escape your over exuberant dog, and broken a bone or several ???
If a dog had jumped out of a window to chase me as you have stated, I would be absolutely terrified !! The size of the dog does not diminish the damage it can cause.

".Maybe your postie has had a bad experience".
And maybe Royal Mail have to protect their workers.
Otherwise no-one would be a postie, and we would be even more unhappy.

paddyann your first sentence sums it up in one.

Nannabilly Well said. I really can’t understand how anyone would put 100% trust in a dog. A few years ago I was bitten by a friend’s spaniel. It had never shown any aggression towards me before or since. I still have the scar to prove it.

It looks as if farmnan has left us (unless she is lurking to check her replies)
I have read and 're read this thread and bit my tongue too.
My man is a postman , he is also a dog lover and has owned both small and larger dogs all his life .
A few years ago he was constantly harassed by a dog and one day it chased and bit him badly.
He is still not afraid of dogs but is very wary of strange dogs both small and large. There is a huge difference to being afraid and being wary and this is what her post person is probably feeling. Wary!!!
People who force their dogs into other people or other dogs by saying " it's ok he is a big softee and only wants to play" make my blood boil.
Keep your dog under control ..it's the law . How the heck can you watch a dog from the kitchen window. If anything did happen then you would not be there to stop it . It would be too late by the time you had got to where the dog was.
Dogs ARE unpredictable ALL dogs are including yours . They may never have reacted before but who knows it will never happen .
How many times will a post person have heard those words and then the dog has reacted .
The managers at the post delivery office would never have agreed that the member of staff is in the wrong job..

I would side with the postman. I’ve been nipped on the ankles by one too many ‘friendly ‘ dogs that according to their owners ‘wouldn’t hurt a fly’. A postbox by the Gate May be the answer.

My daughter is a postie and quite frankly dogs are the bane of any posties life. She's not afraid of dogs we (and she) have always had them as family pets throughout her life, but she is always wary of other people's animals. The number of times she has had people telling her the dogs are ok only to have them snapping at her ankles is unbelievable. Maybe your postie has had the same. No dog is 100% trustworthy, sometimes they can take a dislike into certain people. We once had a Boxer, which loved everyone except
an insurance man. When the collector knocked on the door the dog would go absolutely wild, the one day the dog actually broke a pane of glass in the front door trying to get at him, thank goodness he didn't suceed. After that I always made sure the dog was firmly locked away around the time when I knew the man was coming. We have owned staffies and have had no problem with them. At the moment we have a bullmastiff, a large heap of love, but because of her size people are wary of her. We always make sure she is in the house when we are expecting the post person,who comes around a two hour time slot. Couldn't you do the same? Or at least give the man a break and construct something where your post can be left securely. It seems quite selfish to me that you seem reluctant to do this and are even complaining about him. Nothing worse than a fear of anything.
Unless you do something to allow your post to be delivered in circumstances that the postie feels safe Royal Mail rules actually stipulate that they are under no obligation to deliver (something I've found out recently) Obviously, he feels threatened, so either construct a safe box or collect your mail from the depot.

Farmnanjulie its not the dog thats the issue usually ,its the owner,My friends dog was ragdolled by two staffies just yesterday,he's an old boy and he's had to have antibiotics,stitches and sedatives from the vet.The two "men" who were with the dogs thought it was funny and said if she was worried just to kick their dogs' heads!!The police have been informed ,my friend is distraught,her old boy is 17 ,hes the best natured wee dog an dthats coming from me who is terrified of dogs .Maybe your postie has had a bad experience

Couldn’t agree more about keeping the dogs under control! Don’t blame the postie! I am a dog owner and lover. But, honestly do not want to walk on to someone’s property where something might bite or scare me!

bye the way, he never hurt her I think he just liked the chase.

We had a springer spaniel who hated the postwoman and would sit by the front door just waiting to grab the letters and pull them to pieces. If he could he would get out and chase her, it was hell trying to keep him in during the summer holidays with kids at home, he even jumped out the window once to chase her. I ended up having to collect my post. Dogs and posties. grr

Oh.

Are you a postman, notanan?
No, Im just pointing out that being unwilling to work around the OPs free roaming dogs does not necessarily indicate a dog phobia that deems one unsuitable for working in the public where one might expect to encounter well managed dogs.

Phoenix

I agree with the posts advising the OP to take measures to keep the dogs away from the front garden.Even with a wrap around garden, attractive fencing with gates in can easily be put up.
I really like dogs, but don’t like being jumped up on by them or even a strange dog running at me ( friendly or not.)

Phoenix! I was almost that frightened..

Phoenix -

MissA, I appreciate that you were nervous, but surely doing a poo behind your neighbours sofa was a bit extreme !

paperbackbutterfly, you say you dislike dogs as they are "germ carriers", how do you feel about money? More germs on that than the average dog!

I like dogs, and will always pat and fuss friendly ones, but I do not allow them to lick.

Good post*Iam*.
My work also took me into people's homes and many of them had a dog. Or two. I'm not afraid of dogs, but aware that they naturally feel protective of their home and their owner.
Several times I had to freeze as a dog, usually an alsation, started to circle me until the owner called it off.

There are several, easy, practical solutions to the little local difficulty. You either chain outside, or keep your dogs inside. Alternatively, you put a post box at the perimeter gate of your property so the postie doesn't need to risk feeling high anxious or worse, being harassed (bitten even) by your dogs.

My work took me into people's homes. I never entered unless the dogs were secured outside the room we'd be meeting in. I have two dogs currently, have often had 3 and I' confident around dogs. confident enough to know that dogs are dogs, no dog is entirely predictable.

The thing about the postie, the window cleaner and others is that they come to the house, they may even knock on the door but they are never allowed in. In the dogs head, their barking kept the danger at bay. So, they repeat the behaviour.
It's so unfair to expect the world to accommodate our dogs. We love them, love sharing our lives with them. Not everyone feels the same. It's simple good manners and also legally expected that we have our dogs under control at all times. The new Act means if we don't, we can be prosecuted.

Only a tiny poo, MissA. At least it wasn't a Great Dane.

Are you a postman, notanan?
I'm quite scared of dogs.
I was going to take my neighbours chihuahua out for a walk whilst she was out for the day last week.
The chihuahua was afraid when I let myself in, and I was afraid I'd get bitten.
So, neighbour came home to find a poo behind her sofa!

You can love and own dogs and still be scared of strange dogs who don't get called away from strangers. That's just being sensible!