Dog bit postman through letterbox

onyx911

Sunny_Intervals wrote: »

Did the dog loudly bark at them as they approached your house to interrogate you? It'd be harder to argue that it wasn't obvious you have a dog when if it can be clearly heard. It's not like he could have mistaken it for a overly boistrous hamster.

Might it be worth buying a sign anyway? I think some people like to advertise that they have a dog to deter burglars.

Yes the dog barked. I knew there was someone at the door before they knocked on the door.

I’ve previously been warned against those signs. The “I live here” are less contentious than the beware of the dog signs but they are also adverts to people that steal dogs. Admittedly a barking 40 kg German shepherd isn’t the easiest of dogs for someone to steal.

Comms69

onyx911 wrote: »

Yes the dog barked. I knew there was someone at the door before they knocked on the door.

I’ve previously been warned against those signs. The “I live here” are less contentious than the beware of the dog signs but they are also adverts to people that steal dogs. Admittedly a barking 40 kg German shepherd isn’t the easiest of dogs for someone to steal.

People don't break in to steal dogs as a general rule. 9/10 times a snatched dog is taken from a garden and is a crime of opportunity.

Herongull

When I was in hospital a few years ago, there was someone in the next bed who was badly bitten - the wound was infected and she was at risk of losing part of her hand - bitten by a dog while helping a friend deliver leaflets for a local community group I think.

She thought the dog must have just waited for part of her fingers to get though the box before taking a nasty bite. Until this happened, she had no idea of the hazard of dogs biting the fingers of people putting things through the letter box.

Anyone who owns a dog should fit a cage round the postbox - not doing so seems highly negligent to me, especially with a large German Shepherd who like to grab anything that is put through the box.

If the postie's injury proves serious he may well take legal action especially if he has the support of his union or his employer might. The police and Royal take these sorts of attacks on postmen and women very seriously and you could face prosecution as well.

https://www.crewechronicle.co.uk/news/crewe-south-cheshire-news/posties-bite-back-over-dog-7294684 "Dog owners could be jailed for up to five years if their pet bites anyone on their property – and that doesn’t just include postmen."

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/owner-fined-after-pet-dog-12828128

http://www.cwu.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Dog-Attacks-on-Postal-Workers-Example-Cases-V8-April-2018.pdf

lewishardwick

Herongull wrote: »

When I was in hospital a few years ago, there was someone in the next bed who was badly bitten - the wound was infected and she was at risk of losing part of her hand - bitten by a dog while helping a friend deliver leaflets for a local community group I think.

She thought the dog must have just waited for part of her fingers to get though the box before taking a nasty bite. Until this happened, she had no idea of the hazard of dogs biting the fingers of people putting things through the letter box.

Anyone who owns a dog should fit a cage round the postbox - not doing so seems highly negligent to me, especially with a large German Shepherd who like to grab anything that is put through the box.

If the postie's injury proves serious he may well take legal action especially if he has the support of his union or his employer might. The police and Royal take these sorts of attacks on postmen and women very seriously and you could face prosecution as well.

https://www.crewechronicle.co.uk/news/crewe-south-cheshire-news/posties-bite-back-over-dog-7294684 "Dog owners could be jailed for up to five years if their pet bites anyone on their property – and that doesn’t just include postmen."

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/owner-fined-after-pet-dog-12828128

http://www.cwu.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Dog-Attacks-on-Postal-Workers-Example-Cases-V8-April-2018.pdf

I think that's being a bit over dramatic. It's not like the dog pounced from behind the bins and mauled poor innocent postie.

Fitting the cage and putting a sign up should be sufficient. If the police are involved, I'm sure there'll be little interest to throw OP in jail!

Herongull

Yes I agree that jail is only for extreme cases but the OP could still be prosecuted and fined - it will probably depend on how serious the injury turns out to be and the attitude of the local police force to prosecuting for these sorts of bites.

I think the OP did the right thing in inviting the injured postie in and offering assistance. If they had refused it would look really bad if the case comes to court.

TBagpuss

I expect he was trying to grab the post which he does all the time. This has never happened before and the postman's fingers would have to have come through all the way past the brush strips for him to have been bitten.

The first 2 sentences seem contradictory - if he grabs the post all the time, it's only luck that meas he's never caught the fingers of the postie before.

I think if you knew that your dog was in the habit of grabbing (or trying to grab) the post then it was foreseeable that this might result in his biting someone, and you ought really to have fitted a cage to ensure that it couldn't happen. If the postman decides to make a claim for his injury then I think it is possible that a court would view it as negligence on your part (as this hinges, in part, on whether the type of harm suffered was reasonably foreseeable)

It's good that you are doing that now, and hopefully the fact that you are now taking steps to ensure that there are no further issues will be seen positively by the post office, and by the police if they investigate.


On a practical level, the post office may decline to deliver to your home until they are satisfied that their workers will be safe - the cage might be enough for that, alternatively you might need to look at having a mailbox at your gate, (If I were delivering to a house where I'd been bitten, I'd be uncomfortable about the risk of going into the garden and the dog being out - this may depend on the layout of your front garden and whether someone can see, from the gate, whether or not the dog is out).

Any police involvement would be based on whether the dog was 'dangerously out of control' - there have been cases where this has been found to be the case where a postal worker has been attacked, I don't know whether it would be seen as being the case in your specific situation.

Check you pet insurance, does it include legal advice?

Katiehound

A friend of mine had a not-quite-similar problem. She has large dogs but the dachshund got out and nipped the postman's ankles. One particular postman didn't like the way the dogs barked- yes they are running free- and refused to deliver any mail.
Now the gate boasts a sign 'Dogs running free' and there is a postbox fixed to the wall . Problem solved.

custardy

Katiehound wrote: »

A friend of mine had a not-quite-similar problem. She has large dogs but the dachshund got out and nipped the postman's ankles. One particular postman didn't like the way the dogs barked- yes they are running free- and refused to deliver any mail.
Now the gate boasts a sign 'Dogs running free' and there is a postbox fixed to the wall . Problem solved.

I think you mean bit?
RM direct staff not to enter any premise with dogs running free.

janeys

I am a postie and 2 weeks ago I was bitten by a dog through a letterbox while delivering mail. A new family had moved in and I was unaware of a dog. I was bitten because I was trying to put a small card through saying I had left a parcel in their garage. It was quite a bad bite , I still have the scabs, but occasionally these things happen. I went to the house the next day explained what had happened and suggested they put a box on the back of the door, which they have done. All very sensible actions I think you need to use some common sense, I doubt if there will be any legal action in this case and I'm glad that the postie wasn't bit badly, as you should be, but what if it was a child delivering leaflets or cards for their school or grand parents do you think they would get off so lightly? If you think it is okay for your dog to grab the letters try posting a letter or leaflet through your own letterbox and see how you feel.

nmh1995

Similar thing happened around Christmas-time a couple of years ago with one of my parent's dogs, except in this case it wasn't a postman. Neighbour knew about the dog (small JRT-X), and when delivering a Christmas card to the house, put their whole hand in the letterbox.

This resulted in the dog jumping up to grab the letter/card/envelope, and accidentally catching the neighbour's finger. Neighbour's finger was bleeding - not severely, but they didn't knock or say anything to us until they left to go to the hospital a bit later. We were leaving the house at the same time, and the neighbour only said something to us then, we couldn't believe the dog would've bitten someone.

Thankfully nothing happened as a result of this, and in the end my parent got an external mailbox for the house, and superglued the letterbox shut to prevent this from happening again. In addition to this, it also stopped the dog from barking at the door or jumping at it when someone came to the house.

I can't imagine any extreme actions would be taken against you, especially in a first-time scenario. If anything does result from this, I'd imagine that all you can do is take necessary action to alert people about the presence of your dog, and try your best to prevent the dog from being able to get to the letterbox.