Finally, Now I Understand Why The
Mailman Drives A Dog Crazy!

By Teri Champigny

Why is it that dogs seem to go absolutely crazy whenever the mailman approaches the house? And even after the mailman drops off the mail through the door and walks away, dogs seem to keep up their excitable behavior and continue barking as if someone is breaking into the house.

It Comes Down To Territory

Every dog owner knows that his dog will bark and growl whenever something unfamiliar approaches the home. So as you can guess, the mailman is an unfamiliar person who has no business (as far your dog is concerned) approaching your his “territory”.

Even the mail that is left behind is suspicious to a dog. Whenever the mailman arrives and drops off envelopes and other mail items, these things also make a dog very anxious and territorial. Dogs go through an awful lot of trouble making sure that their territory is marked with their scent. Mail that is dropped through the slots of your door contain all sorts of unfamiliar smells and this makes a dog very anxious.

To a dog, the idea that a strange person would just come along every day and put more smells on top of theirs can be notably offensive. Dogs have been known to shred up every bit of mail that was dropped through the door. 

As you can probably guess, this was extremely nerve-racking and you can loose a lot of important information! However, after doing a bit of research I came to realize that your dog was just looking after your home and trying his best to “protect you”. 

Give Your Dog Some Credit

You must look at the positive side of this and at least commend your dog for being so loyal as to go through the trouble of wanting to protect his family. But on the other hand, loud and nonstop barking can drive many people crazy.

Do Not Let Him Escape!

On top of that some dogs will go as far as trying to bite an innocent mailman who is just doing his or her job. Even though you may have your dog secured inside during the day while you are at work, he may be able to find a way to escape one day and literally attack your mailman. This is no joke.  In fact, almost 4000 mailmen report dog bites every single year.

If you are having trouble with your dog's behavior when it comes to barking at the mailman, shredding the mail that is dropped at the door, or even displaying overly aggressive behavior such as chasing down and biting the mailman, then below are a few training tips that can help you change your dog's behavior:

Leave A Dog Treat For The Mailman

This may sound odd, but this little trick has worked many times for dogs that seemed to get overly angry whenever the mailman comes. When a dog realizes that there is a tasty treat awaiting for them then they tend to become a little friendlier. You can even discuss this with your mailman to let him know what you are doing.

Basically, your goal is to leave a dog biscuit or some other tasty treat taped to the door so that the mailman can put it through the slot with the other pieces of mail. Think about it - now when this strange pile of papers that contain foreign odors comes plummeting through the door, there is a treat that comes along with it for your dog every time. Your dog will actually start to look forward to the mailman coming so long as you keep this up a daily basis.

Move The Furniture Around

Although this is not quite as much a remedy as the dog treat trick above, this little tidbit of advice is great for reducing the amount of barking your dog does whenever the mailman approaches. Dogs can actually hear a person approach way before they can visually see them.  That is when the loud barking typically begins. So this furniture trick will help him stay a little bit more calm and reduce the amount of barking.

Simply move around a chair or a side table and place it in front of the window or any other area in which your dog can usually see a person approaching. For example, when the mailman comes to my house, my dog can first see him approaching the sidewalk through the side window and then again near the main window which is located next to my door. I moved a chair in front of both Windows so that he was distracted by the object and did not put as much emphasis on seeing the mailman.

This little trick works great and seems to calm most dogs to a point so that their barking never reaches those high levels which makes a person crazy, especially if you have a very loud Chihuahua like I do! Although your dog will still bark when he senses the mailman coming, it will not last that long due to diverting his attention with the moved furniture.