Los Angeles Tops Country for Dogs Biting Postal Carriers

Safety at Work

Los Angeles, CA (WorkersCompensation.com) – Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, St. Louis and Cincinnati were ranked as the top five cities for dog bites by the U.S. Postal Service in 2024.

USPS kicked off its 2025 USPS National Dog Bite Awareness Campaign on June 1, the agency released the list of the top 30 cities in the U.S. for dog bites incidents. Last year, the number of attacks on postal service employees rose to more than 6,000 the agency said.

Los Angeles topped the list with 77 incidents, followed by Houston with 65, Chicago with 57, St. Louis with 47 and Cincinnati with 44. Rounding out the top 10 cities were Dallas with 43; Kansas City, Mo., 40; Cleveland, 40; San Diego, 35; and Denver, 35.

The agency said the attacks on postal service employees could be prevented if residents would keep their dogs secured.

“The best way to keep safe from dog attacks is to recognize and promote the responsibility of pet ownership, such as teaching your dog appropriate behavior and commands and not allowing your dog to roam freely. All dogs — regardless of breed, size or age — have the potential to bite,” Leeann Theriault, USPS employee safety and health awareness manager, said. “Dog bite attacks on postal employees are preventable. The most important message for our customers to remember during the 2025 USPS National Dog Bite Awareness Campaign is keep your dog secured and away from the carrier as the mail is being delivered. Help ensure the safety of everyone in our communities.”

The postal service said dog attacks cost more than suffering for a postal employee. It can potentially cost a dog owner thousands of dollars when they become responsible for the injured employee’s medical bills, lost wages, uniform replacement costs, and pain and suffering.

“Customers may not consider their dog a danger to others, however, to a letter carrier like me, all dogs can be considered a threat when delivering the mail,” Jonah Helfrich, a Blue Bell, PA, letter carrier said. “I was recently delivering mail and a dog barged through a door and bit me on the wrist, which required me to seek medical treatment. I strongly encourage all dog owners to take precautions to make sure their dog is secure when mail is being delivered.”

Officials with USPS said mail carriers are trained on how to deliver the mail safely. On top of observing areas where they know dogs may be present, they are taught to be on the alert for potentially dangerous conditions and to respect a dog’s territory. Additionally, officials said, the carriers are trained to make a non-threatening noise like rattling a fence to alert a dog if they are entering a yard so they don’t startle them, and to never assume a dog will not bite.

If a dog does bite, the agency said, letter carriers are trained to stand their ground and protect their body by putting something between their body and the dog – like their mail satchel – and to use dog repellent if necessary.

Internally, the USPS provides letter carriers with tools to alert them to dogs on their routes. A dog alert feature on their handheld scanner can remind them of a possibly dangerous dog, while dog warning cards are used during mail sorting to alert carriers to addresses where a dog might interfere with the carrier’s deliveries.

As part of its campaign, the USPS is urging dog owners to help ensure carriers’ safety by securing their dog before a carrier approaches and minimizing any potentially dangerous situation.

If a dog owner does not secure their pet, the USPS can suspend mail service if the letter carrier feels unsafe. Mail delivery would be restricted until the carrier feels safe. Until the carrier feels safe, the dog owner would have to pick up their mail at the post office and, if the unsafe behavior continues, the owners can be required to rent a Post Office box to receive mail.

Across the country, dog bites impact on average 16 letter carriers a day. The USPS said the top five states for dog attacks on postal employees are California with 701, Texas with 438, Ohio with 350, Illinois with 344 and New York with 322.

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