NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Using an old headline created by the media to draw attention to a unique story – “Mailman bites dog” – the San Francisco Postal District kicked off a district-wide campaign to educate employees on how to take the bite out of the dog before the dog bites them.

Applying an idea by the Rohnert Park Post Office, carriers are being treated to hot dogs during the district-wide training.

While no city in the San Francisco postal district made the Top 20 cities nationally on incidents of dog attacks, district employees are being trained to remain vigilant and not to become part of a national statistic.

Each year, more that 4.5 million people in the U.S. are bitten by dogs, most of them children.

According to State Farm, California topped the list in the number of dog-related claims in 2017, where the insurance company had an 8-percent increase in claims made from the previous year.

Northern California represented 100 (21%) of the 468 total claims statewide, costing $18.7 million in damages, according to State Farm statistics.

Carriers are taught to make noise, like rattling their keys, when approaching a house where they know a dog lives. They are taught to stand their ground, shout and keep their satchel between them and a dog. And when they approach a door delivery with a door open and a screen door shut, they are instructed to place a foot on the screen door in case there is a dog inside.

As part of an early-warning system of dogs on their routes, the USPS introduced an alert feature in the Mobile Delivery Device that carriers use for scanning.