Postman kicking dog

[Lokiju]

Daily Fail article (I know, I know, but I can't sleep) about a postie kicking a dog. Doorbell video shows the incident - I can see why he did it.

Small terrier type dog running toward him, looks like a purely instinctive defensive kick - I think the owners here were irresponsible and should have had their dog under control.

Poor dog was defending the property, but poor Postman defending himself.

It's horrible the dog was kicked (I love dogs, I have my own and foster) but 33 posties are attacked by dogs every week apparently - they should be allowed to defend themselves.

Maybe the post office should issue their employees with a handy responsive matrix that enables them to assess the appropriate degree of force with which to kick an animal that attacks them. It could cross reference the size of animal with the ferocity of attack. Eg small dog+single bite > one mild kick; bear+limb removal/mauling > gunshot to the head. And all variations in between.

Then at the moment of attack all the employee need do is log on, input the details of whatever creature is hanging off their leg/face etc and follow the appropriate force guidelines.

Dammit those arrows didn't work.

Blarting
Never going to happen, so you'll have to crack on with dogs being around! I think excessive forces was used. @Blarting by the dog? Yes I totally agree

No, by the postman, which you knew! Sarcasm is amusing at all.

I was bitten by a Jack Russell and it fucking hurt and left a nasty bite mark. I'd kick out at a small dog running and baring teeth.

That dog needs PTS. And that family have proven they are incapable of looking after a dog. Entirely proportionate response from a postie attacked doing its job.

Then you need to train your dog or physically put it on a tether to stop it getting to the door.

DM used to take her dog to the door. It was amazing how cold callers used to leave quickly when confronted by a rotty x labrador! What they didn't know was the dog would have given them a pile of her toys and licked them to death. Mum was always holding onto her collar though.

Not that it will help the dog who apparently shakes and wets itself when someone knocks on the door of its home now - the place it’s supposed to feel safe

The postman is supposed to feel safe doing his job. Maybe he's suffering trauma too. And maybe that dog won't nip any unsuspecting innocent again.

Which is entirely their fault for not keeping the dog under control.

I love dogs, but if I let my dog run at a postman, especially if they were to then get bitten, I wouldn't react in any way but to be ashamed of myself for causing trauma to my dog and the postman, and apologise profusely to him! However any responsible dog owner wouldn't have let it happen.

I was fully on team postie reading this but watching the video I'm now a bit torn.

Since the video I saw, we can't see what's going on when the dog appears, and the dog doesn't look aggressive (flat ears, low tail etc) then if I had of watched the video without reading about it, I would have assumed the dog came out the front door to say hello and had a sniff.

He also seems very nonchalant about the whole thing, like it didn't even phase him.

That said, I wasn't there so I can't say how he was feeling or what happened out of shot.

I feel really sad for the teenager who opened the door. And irritated for the postmen and women who are attacked/chased/bothered by dogs

Not that it will help the dog who apparently shakes and wets itself when someone knocks on the door of its home now - the place it’s supposed to feel safe.

I'm sorry for the dog. It's clearly the fault of the owner that the dog wasn't under control and now doesn't feel safe.

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea did you have the sound on when you watched the video? The dog was not coming out to say hello and sniff, certainly not by the sound of it!

Yeah right and a light push with your foot it would of carried on biting and come back for another go . A good boot to get it clear was needed

It wasn't injured anyway by the sounds of it. I mean they're going on about it shaking and crying so if it had been actually injured I'm sure they would say. So if it's not injured he wasn't particularly forceful. And it bit him! So he himself was injured. But the dog wasn't.

We don’t know whether it bit him or not. If it did he certainly didn’t report it at the time. Injuries aren’t just physical, it’s clearly had a psychological effect on the dog.

You have no idea when he reported it. His employer is satisfied that his account is accurate.

And his employer is satisfied his account is accurate in the face of the owners running to the press about their traumatized yet uninjured dog.

As another poster said, we don't know when he reported the bite.
The effects on the dog aren't the fault of the postman regardless, that's down to the owners allowing it to run out at him.

I haven't seen this particularl video but the way our society loves to video things, post them online and shame people with an out of context clip is getting ridiculous

Or even if. Which he surely would have done if injured, RM’s insurance wouldn’t cover him if he didn’t report it at the time.

I’ve seen the video, if a large male answered the door there is no way he would have kicked the dog. Also, if he was scared he he would not of left the doorway and walked out of the garden in fear of been attacked!!! Bully boy behaviour.

@Blossomtoes

oh well, it might think twice before trying to bite someone now! Every cloud and all that.

It looks like a reflex action in response to the dog biting him, so I'm sure it would have happened irrespective of who answered the door. The only difference might have been if the large male managed to keep better control of the dog.

What do you mean about not leaving the doorway? He'd done his job, he'd managed to fend off a biting dog, and he left the premises. Why would he have hung around to give the dog another chance?

The only people to blame are the feckless owners who put their poor tiny dog in a position he could be hurt by being unsupervised on public property.

Postie didn’t know he was friendly and poor dog didn’t know he was doing wrong.

As pet owners its our responsibility to ensure their safety and taken ownership when we fuck up rather than pushing our guilt for oversight onto others.

We don’t know whether it bit him or not. If it did he certainly didn’t report it at the time. Injuries aren’t just physical, it’s clearly had a psychological effect on the dog.

he didn't take the dogs psychological well-being into account as he instinctively kicked it away. Nobody is disputing the article, but it's not his fault. He didn't kick the dog to injure it in any sense, he kicked it to get it away from him.

It's not the dogs fault, it's an animal that hasn't had it's natural behaviour trained away. But just because it's a smaller dog doesn't mean in can't startle or frighten someone.

This ^