Houston tops list as U.S. Postal Service reports high number of dog attacks on carriers

HOUSTON - A new U.S. Postal Service (USPS) report ranks Houston as the number one city for dog attacks on carriers in the United States. 

In 2022, the USPS reports more than 5,300 dog attacks on delivery person across the country including 57 in Houston. Los Angeles, Dallas, Cleveland, and San Diego rounded out the USPS’s rankings.

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"Our training prohibits a lot of dog bites, but it is scary sometimes," said Travis Phelps, a Customer Service Supervisor for USPS in Houston. "It’s a real bad issue. We need the help from our customers and community to bring that issue down."

According to Phelps, he is surprised that Houston had more dog attacks on USPS workers in 2022 than any other city in the United States.

"It really does [surprise me]," said Phelps. "That’s just a testament to how we need the community to work with us to retain the dogs. If they see loose dogs, call animal control and get them off the street."

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Throughout the last few months we’ve reported on several people in the Houston area getting attacked by dogs. In March, a teacher was bit while outside her home getting out of her car. Also, in February a 69-year-old was mauled to death by two of his neighbor’s dogs.

"We always tell our carriers to look out and pay attention for the dogs," said Phelps. "We are trained not to wear earbuds. So, we can actually hear the dogs approaching. We’re also trained to carry our satchels, in the event of an attack, put our satchel between us and the dog."

Houston has been ranked number one on the list five of the last six years. 

"When we’re coming to deliver mail, make sure you have your dog contained on a leash, in a house, [or] behind a fence, to help prevent or get the dog bite numbers down," said Phelps.