A Minnesota television station ran a piece on this. Must have been a slow news day. One dog owner said, "They wait for him all day, I think. They look out here onto the street. I assume they're just waiting for him to come. They can tell when he drives up down the block, they're barking all the way when she walks up, scraping at the fence."
Me thinks this owner should spend a little more money on dog food instead of relying on the carrier to feed his animals.
What do you think about feeding dogs cookies? Bad practice? Good? What's your experience? Click here and tell Uncle Benny!
Photo courtesy of Kathy Wu
8 comments:
This is a real bummer for subs...not only is the dog upset when it doesn't get a treat, but the customer is often unhappy as well.
I think it is bad practice to give dogs treats, and it IS against policy. So there shouldn’t even be a debate about it!
When I was a PTF Carrier I subbed on a route where the regular carrier fed the squirrels peanuts. Boy was I surprised the first day on the route when the squirrels got mad at me. As for me, speaking from experience, I think feeding any animal on a route is bad practice!
As a Manager this is just wrong what if your not on the route and another carrier gets bit because he does not have anything for the dog.
City and Rural Carriers have held a long standing tradition of going the extra mile to take care of their customers. They see the pet almost every day and basically tolerate the pet because of thier loyalty to the Customer. Normally these pets are not a threat to the Carrier. It is the people who do not take care of or are mean to their pets that are the problem. Carriers do a great job recognizing the hazard, however an animal with those instincts is going to be hard to escape from. Hats off to the Carriers for both taking care of their customers as well as watching for the hidden hazards.
If it is something a carrier is doing on their own account, it is definitely hard on the subs. If it is something the owner has knowledge of, then throw it back on the owner to give the treat if they are there, so the animal will expect it from them and not the carrier. Also, someone could come up with a cute remote device that when the mail box is opened, another device(across the yard) would shoot out a treat. Sell it to the animal lovers, they'd fill it and get a kick out of it.
We had one where the customer left a bowl of dog treats out and the carrier would take one and toss it to the dog. One day he didn't think the toss was good enough, reached down to get it to throw it closer and - you guessed it, the dog bit him.
I am sorry, but I think it is a good idea. We have dogs barking at us and trying to bite us. When we give a treat to the dog, they begin to get to know the carriers and makes their job easier. I don't believe they should hand the treats to the dogs, but toss them so the dog still is not close enough that you can not defend yourself if needed.
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