Hi everyone,

First time poster, long time lurker. :-)

We have a two year old female lab-rottie cross (there's something else
mixed in there that gives her a long coat and a herding instinct...not
sure what though) that is, overall, a wonderful part of our family. We
have a 3 1/2 year old son and two cats...and sometimes all 6 of us are
on our bed at the same time.

Our dog is fairly well trained. She's still a bit bouncy when company
first arrives but settles down after that. She is very tolerant with our
son and other kids that come for a visit. She's good at all the usual
commands except during great distraction.

Our only frustration with our dog at the moment is her insanity with
regards to the mail. When she sees the mailman coming she starts acting
agitated and when he puts the mail through the mail slot in our door, she
often grabs it as it comes through and growls and snarls...it sounds
pretty scary. She will then sometimes go and shred the mail into
itsy-bitsy pieces. Inconvenient at best.

A bit of background. We got a new mailman about a year ago. She never
really had any issues with the former guy, who really liked dogs, but she
hates the new guy. I've talked to the new guy on a few occasions and he
admits he's not a "dog person" and says that he is terrified of our dog.
He's told me that he's certain that it's just a matter of time before our
dog will get out and eat him alive. While I can't see that happening, it
does concern me.

Our former mailman had me take our dog for a walk one day so he could meet
her away from the house. She was cautious of him, but was happy to shake
his hand with her paw, etc. She didn't exhibit any aggression at all.

I would consider doing that again with this mailman, but admit that I'm
not sure what the result would be.

I've talked with our vet and several neighbours about this behaviour and
everyone just says, "most dogs hate the mailman...there's not much you can
do." Is this true? There must be some training strategies that work?

Thanks.