By Sheena Roszell

canada post

Letter carriers asking people to help with their safety and keep dogs secure

Aug 19, 2019 | 12:41 PM

Canada Post wants to remind pet owners to take the proper measures to make sure their dogs are not biting letter carriers.

Monica Modrall, a letter carrier with Canada Post in Grande Prairie and a member of the Health and Safety Committee says they have hundreds of reported incidents of dog attacks yearly, but they have had five instances in Grande Prairie this year alone where they have had to get city bylaw involved.

A couple of months ago a dog chased a letter carrier into the neighbour’s house and an elementary school had to be put on lock down because the aggressive dog was on the loose.

There are more than 50 letter carriers in Grande Prairie that are at risk of dog attacks every day.

“If you know that you have an aggressive dog or a dog that is very protective, it doesn’t even have to be aggressive like he’s going to attack anybody, he could just be protecting his property, that’s where you would put your mailbox on the outside of your fence right next to the sidewalk, rather than making the carrier come up to your front door where there’s the possibility of them being trapped in your yard with that dog,” said Modrall.

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Mail carriers in the city go through special animal training with bylaw. The carriers are taught what to do and what not to do when they get in the proximity of an aggressive or defensive dog.

She says summer is the riskiest time for them as people may be home and doors aren’t latched, or pets are left outside unchained in the nicer weather.

Modrall also wants to remind people even if they have a community mailbox, parcels are delivered to the door. She says sometimes people forget that they have ordered a package and it’s not going to be left in their mailbox and a letter carrier has to come up to their door.