Dog bit the postie!!

[NameChange564738]

He’s nearly 10 and hasn’t ever done this before, we’ve recently had a new baby which I’m suspicious has been a contributing factor.

Postie put his hand wrist deep into our letterbox and the dog has bitten two of his fingers. There was quite a bit of blood but it stopped easily.

But.. what the hell do we do? He didn’t give us his name, wouldn’t accept a lift back to office. We cleaned and stopped the bleeding before he left.

What should I do with the dog? I’m shocked, upset, apprehensive about what’s to come.

Does anyone have any experience with dogs biting people?! What’s the outcome?

[quote CherryPavlova]@Letmegetthisrightasawoman No since the Act was amended all breeds can be considered dangerous if they attack. Even Pekingese, retrievers or Cockapoos.[/quote]
I don't think your terminology is right. Any dog can be considered dangerously out of control. However, there are only four breeds which have been specifically banned by law. So yes, any dog can be considered dangerously out of control, but that does not make it a "dangerous dog" as in a banned type.

My mums cat went for the postie. She didn't know because it happened while she was at work. She got a letter saying she had to take steps or she would have to collect her post. She put a cage behind the letterbox. Problem solved.

@CherryPavlova

The act being applicable on public property is about loose dogs in gardens who run up to and literally attack people aggressively. Not a dog acting in self defence against someone daft enough to put their fingers through the letter box.

@mylittlesandwich

My mums cat went for the postie. She didn't know because it happened while she was at work. She got a letter saying she had to take steps or she would have to collect her post. She put a cage behind the letterbox. Problem solved.

Our post was delivered whilst I was reading this thread and I did worry about our cat😅 Still on speaking terms with the postie so I think she hasn't got him yet...

My Dad has a letter box totally separate from the front door, it's on the wall in the porch as he has a very badly behaved dog. Posty in no danger this way

@tabulahrasa

“I was bitten by a dog when I was walking down the road with DS in the pushchair”

That’s not the same though, you’d hope the police would take that seriously!

But with posties and delivery people, they’re effectively invading the dogs house...

Fair enough, makes sense they would look at the different circumstances of the attack, I hadn't looked at it that way. I'd imagine Royal Mail would still take it very seriously regardless.

“Our post was delivered whilst I was reading this thread and I did worry about our cat😅 Still on speaking terms with the postie so I think she hasn't got him yet...”

Lol, cats were only ever a few times, I’m assuming from the fact it was a whole cat, not a bite or a swipe that they were playing tbh - it felt more like, haha I’ve got it! Lol

“I'd imagine Royal Mail would still take it very seriously regardless.”

If he reports it to then they can and do make arrangements so post doesn’t get delivered.

I’m pretty sure anything else would have to be the postie reporting it, so it’s depend on him, or how bad the actual injury is. But fingers can bleed quite a lot from fairly minor cuts.

It appears there were 2,245 dog attacks on posties last year...

[quote BluebellsareBlue]@CherryPavlova seriously? He may be considered a dangerous dog? In what capacity? Don't be so ridiculous. [/quote]
The capacity that the dog injured a person. Which is section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act.

OP, the RM can and do take these things very seriously.
An average of 7 postman/women are injured by dogs very week across the U.K last year.
That is no acceptable. No one should go to work and get bitten.

You would be best to be proactive. Get a letter box guard asap. If you can wait around and see the postman, I would apologise profusely and say what you have done to stop it happening in the future.

[quote BluebellsareBlue]@CherryPavlova as a police officer I can tell you that your comment is ridiculous. Your dog will be considered dangerous... catch yourself on. If a person puts their hand into someone else's property and a dog bites them it is not the dogs fault. If I saw a hand coming through my letter box and I slapped it then I would not be charged with assault. [/quote]
Are you sure you a police officer? because you don’t appear to know the law..

Certain people have a right to access property (police, postman etc) and in any case the DDA definitely applies to private property.
Many many owners have been prosecuted for dog attacks on postman, I have been involved with numerous.

If the postman was putting something through your letterbox and you stabbed his hand, you most likely would be charged with assault.

What a strange/incorrect/worrying post from a ‘police officer’.

@RunningFromInsanity
A worrying post? A strange post? Don't be so infantile, actually don't be such an idiot!
She said the dog will be considered a dangerous dog. No it won't unless it is named under the DDA. It may be considered dangerously out of control, which of course it wouldn't either under the circumstances, but it will not be considered a dangerous dog as defined by the Act.

Lots of comments, I’m trying to catch up with them, thanks for everyone’s input. Yes I absolutely realise the seriousness. I’m more worried that I don’t know why that postie on that morning was the day he decided to bite. As someone said above doggy dementia maybe a part of it, he’s 10 and his breed lives 8-10years on average so he’s probably not far from the rainbow bridge. Do we end it all early, I can’t quite relax now.

Post was delivered today, including a ‘sign for’ parcel and no word of it from them.

Gates are up, I feel better but I still feel uneasy with the whole situation.

There were two fingers with arrow shaped cuts, skin flapped back over and it stopped bleeding. We chatted to him making sure he was ok/cleaning it up for around 10 minutes before he left. I would say I was quite bad, he’s not going to lose them but certainly a large amount of pain.

Perhaps it may be an idea to get the dog checked at the vets next week , they can have pills to help with dementia or he may be in pain as it’s so out of character .

@RunningFromInsanity and it's a strange and worrying thing that you are incapable of reading correctly. At what point did I say stabbed??? A worrying post from an alleged 'adult'.

I would recommend a cage for the inside of the letterbox. DH was bitten a couple of times when he was a postie. Mainly he got sniffed and licked a lot when delivering a signed for, but after an aggressive incident he had to make a report and then the delivery office manager wrote to the householder asking them to fit a cage, an outside postbox, or deliveries would stop if not done within a specific time frame. He did leave the post office in 2011 so things may be different now though.

LittleMeadow123
dog has bitten two of his fingers. There was quite a bit of blood
Not an attack? That's OK then

Round here the postie would report it. They more or less have to in order to protect the next postie at your door. For a first offence you'd get a stiff letter saying if it happened again they will refuse to deliver and you collect from the sorting office.

DH is a postie. If any of his colleagues had put their hand wrist deep through someone’s letter box and then come back to the office complaining of a dog bite they’d be laughed out of there. They are told time and time again to never put their hands through. They have a plastic thing that they’re supposed to use to push the post through. None of them use it but they also don’t put their hand through the bloody door! The postman will be getting some retraining if he has the nerve to complain after breaking health and safety regs.

My DH has been bitten once (not through stupidity like the OP’s postie). He had to report that one. The owners just put a box at the end of the drive. The alternative is that they have to collect their own post from the sorting office.

This is not a dangerous dog.

It’s not an attack , dog saw fingers and grabbed them , I should imagine that the posties natural reaction is to pull back and that’s probably made the damage worse .

Not an attack?

No, it's not an attack. An attack would be if he launched at someone in the street and bit them unprovoked.

That's not to say it's not serious, but it's not an attack either. Postmen should know better than to shove their fingers inside someone's letterbox!

[quote BluebellsareBlue]@RunningFromInsanity
A worrying post? A strange post? Don't be so infantile, actually don't be such an idiot!
She said the dog will be considered a dangerous dog. No it won't unless it is named under the DDA. It may be considered dangerously out of control, which of course it wouldn't either under the circumstances, but it will not be considered a dangerous dog as defined by the Act.[/quote]
I think you’re getting confused between an illegal breed and a dangerous dog.
Section 1 deals with the 4 illegal breeds
Section 2 deals with exempting those breeds
Section 3 deals with dangerous dogs of any breed.

And At what point did I say stabbed??? I changed it to stabbed because you equated slapping a hand with a dog biting it. Which is ludicrous. The hand was punctured and bleeding, more akin to if a human had stabbed it, in your example. Which would be looked at as assault.

I don’t think you are a police officer, and if you are I am very sceptical and worried that you don’t think a dog bite would be classed as sect 3 of the DDA, and that it doesn’t count if it’s on private property.

@TimeWastingButFun

Big difference between a dog nipping some who has been dopey enough to put their fingers through a letter box and a dog that runs up and viciously attacks someone unprovoked. Think of it from the dog's point of view. Someone invaded their house. Their safe haven. He wasn't being aggressive, he was being defensive. And yes, cuts to fingers can bleed a lot. Definitely not a mortal injury.

My dad sometimes posts flyers for a company and he has had his fingers bitten before. He has just pissed himself laughing at the idea that the dog 'attacked' him.

@RunningFromInsanity

And I don't believe you know the first thing about dogs.

This is the first time that the OP's dog has bitten somebody. It wasn't an unprovoked incident. The postman essentially intruded on the dog's property. He was trying to protect his home and his family. So no, this incident does not make the dog dangerous.

I can tell that you are a hysterical dog owner who thinks any dog who so much as looks at someone the wrong way is dangerous. I'm just thankful I only have to encounter such narrow minded people on mumsnet.

[quote Littlemeadow123]@RunningFromInsanity

And I don't believe you know the first thing about dogs.

This is the first time that the OP's dog has bitten somebody. It wasn't an unprovoked incident. The postman essentially intruded on the dog's property. He was trying to protect his home and his family. So no, this incident does not make the dog dangerous.

I can tell that you are a hysterical dog owner who thinks any dog who so much as looks at someone the wrong way is dangerous. I'm just thankful I only have to encounter such narrow minded people on mumsnet.[/quote]
I’m a dangerous dog adviser. Literally. It’s my job to advise police on DD cases.

I get what you are saying that this dog isn’t a ‘dangerous dog’ by nature, by technically by law it is. For example I’ve seen a case where a puppy jumped up (out of excitement) and scratched someone’s leg. The victim was elderly and developed an infection. The case was taken to court (not by me) and the dog was deemed to be dangerously out of control cashing injury, and had a contingent destruction order placed on it.
The law is NOT on the side of the dog on this.
There is only a very small leeway for the ‘intruding/trespassing’ defence and postman do not fall under it.
For example, if your dog bit someone who was breaking into your shed, you could be prosecuted for having a dog dangerous out of control. The private property only applies to those unlawfully inside the house.

I’m not saying this case will be taken to court, I’m just saying it could and if it did, then the owner would be found to be guilty of having a dog dangerously out of control.

A better option would be the police do a community remedy whereby the owners put measures in place to ensure it can’t happened again, ie aether box guard/gate/external postbox.