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<\/p>\nWith less than a month to go until Christmas, many deliveries from online stores will be making their way to your house, ready to be wrapped up and stashed under the tree. More deliveries mean more visits from the postman, and Royal Mail state that 7 post men and women are attacked by dogs every day in the UK. Even if your dog is usually completely friendly and affectionate towards visitors and other people, dogs are territorial by nature and instinctively learn to guard their home from intruders.<\/p>\n
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Intruder alert!<\/b><\/p>\n
When guests arrive at your home, they\u2019re greeted by you and let into the house where they\u2019ll usually greet and make a fuss of your dog. However when the postman arrives at your property, he approaches the front door quickly, placing items through the letterbox suddenly and often with a loud noise. To dogs, this can seem intrusive and threatening as your dog doesn\u2019t have the chance to engage or interact with the postman as he\u2019s only there for a brief time. <\/span><\/p>\n Unpredictable arrivals<\/b><\/p>\n Different postal workers and delivery companies work on different schedules, meaning that your dog doesn\u2019t have the chance to get used to a specific person who delivers the post. This unpredictability of visitors can be unsettling to a nervous or territorial dog and cause them to treat the visitor as an intruder. <\/span><\/p>\n Fulfilling their guard dog duty<\/b><\/p>\n If your dog reacts instinctively to their territorial nature by barking, growling or lunging at the letterbox, this behaviour is usually reinforced and rewarded as once the postman has delivered his post, he leaves the property. To a dog, this appears as a highly effective response that guards the family from a perceived threat as their protective behaviour has been successful and has prevented the \u2018intruder\u2019 from coming into the house. This will feel highly rewarding as they will feel relieved once the \u2018intruder\u2019 has left, but this can form a habit due to the frequency of the arrival of post and deliveries. <\/span><\/p>\n Standard threat displays like barking, growling and lunging at the letterbox can escalate to dogs trying to bite the postman\u2019s fingers through the letterbox, or even attacking the postman if they come face to face on the property. It\u2019s important to keep postal workers safe and reduce the opportunity for any nasty encounters.<\/span><\/p>\n Divert their attention to limit the exposure:<\/b><\/p>\nWhat can I do?<\/strong><\/h3>\n