Attacks have mail recipients in dog house

LUBBOCK, Texas, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Neither rain nor sleet may stop the mail, but in Lubbock, Texas, an aggressive dog will.

Animal control officials say dog attacks on postal workers have become so commonplace in the city, carriers are refusing to deliver the mail to some homes, the Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Journal reported.

"That happens a lot. A lot more than you know about," animal control supervisor Laura Forsythe said of the attacks.

"We get calls from the postal service on a regular basis," she added.

Forsythe speculated the rubrick about dogs and postal workers is true because of their daily interaction -- mail carrier approaches, dog barkes to scare him away, carrier leaves, dog thinks he's won a victory.

Whatever the cause, many in Lubbock must now decide how to respond to the U.S. Postal Service's policy to discontinue service immediately to any location involved in such an attack -- even if the attack is perpetrated by a stray.

The paper said the only delivery options left to such individuals are to install a curbside mailbox, divert mail to another address such as a post office box or forward the mail until an suitable arrangement can be made.