Fred Hassen's Sit Means Sit - Revolutionizing the World of Dog Training - www.SitMeansSit.com

By Kristen Peterson <kristen@lasvegassun.com>
LAS VEGAS SUN

Maddy, a beige pit bull terrier, flopped onto her back and wriggled her body on the pavement.

Sportively squirming, she charmed the small crowd looking down at her at the East Las Vegas post office on Mountain Vista Street.

Maddy had been let out of her owner's van to loosen her joints and stretch her muscles.

Soon she would be attacking a letter carrier.

Maddy is the amenable and good-hearted companion of local dog trainer Fred Hassen, owner of Sit Means Sit: Dog Training for the Real World.

In recent weeks Maddy has loaned her massive pink mouth and muscular body to local letter carriers, who have suited up in protective, ultra-padded coveralls referred to as "bite suits" to experience firsthand the force of a dog attack.

At the East Las Vegas post office 60 percent to 70 percent of the routes covered by letter carriers involve walking through area neighborhoods.

Ivy Tunender, manager at the post office, said that letter carriers often return from routes saying they were unable to deliver mail to a home because of an unleashed dog in the area.

"We just had a dog breaking through a screen door" to attack a carrier, Tunender said. "Historically, dogs are a threat to carriers because we are invading their space."

Carriers have been instructed to call out when approaching a home where resident may have a dog, to see if an animal responds. Often a letter carrier will rattle the gate of a fenced yard and scan the yard for any signs of a dog, such as toys or excrement.

In neighborhoods where a homeowner's dog is a continual problem, mail can be withheld from the entire block surrounding that home, said Vic Fenimore, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service in Las Vegas.

Nationally in 2000, nearly 2,700 letter carriers reported being bitten by dogs.

"If people kept their dogs in the back yard or tied up, the majority of this stuff would not happen," Fenimore said. "It's not the dogs' fault. They're protecting the territory."

Carriers are issued pepper spray, but training sessions that provide hands-on experience to dog attacks is equally essential, animal experts say.

It's one thing to be told what to do when facing a vicious dog; it's another to actually try to do it, said Joe Boteilho, Clark County Animal Control manager, who, along with Hassen, coordinated the recent events at two local post offices.

Boteilho also organized a similar training session for animal control officers who regularly encounter dangerous dogs. Hassen provides such training sessions at no cost for large groups of government employees, including letter carriers and meter readers.

Having control

A person can actually orchestrate a dog attack, Alfredo Rivera, a handler for Sit Means Sit, said. A person's motions, he explained, dictate where a dog will bite them.

"The dog will go wherever you target," Rivera said. "If you move your leg, they'll bite your leg. If you move your arm, they'll bite your arm."

"If you run it's going to be worse for you," said Behesha Grist, a patrol dog handler at Marion County Sheriff's Office in Illinois, who was in town recently training with Hassen.

"You have the element in the doggie mind thinking, 'Aha! Got him on the run, I'm going to chase him right out of here.' "

Also, she said, dogs (especially larger dogs) will outrun a person every time. Dogs will latch on to what is moving, which is why they often bite into a leg when someone is running or peddling.

"You want to stand like a tree," she said. "Turn yourself to the side, fold your arms. Look away from the dog."

Attempting to pull away from a dog that has bitten a person's arm or leg will only encourage the dog to engage a stronger hold. This is also true when an owner tries to pull a dog away from its victim, she said.

Grist brought Riddler, a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois-breed dog, to the East Las Vegas post office to participate in the training.

While on duty patrolling the streets with narcotics officers at the Marion County Sheriff's Office, Riddler attacks suspects in pursuit by law enforcement.

The majority of dogs that carriers encounter have little or no training, Grist said. For a cookie, the dogs will sit — and that's usually the extent of their obedience training, she said.

Carrier knowledge

Tino Diaz, a letter carrier at the East Las Vegas post office, has been delivering mail for 25 years and donned a bite suit to be attacked by Riddler. Diaz said that he was once bitten by a German shepherd while delivering mail.

"He just locked in and took me down," Diaz said, pointing to his tanned leg to show a scar where the dog bit him nearly 20 years ago.

"I never saw the dog come at me," Diaz said. "He came shooting out from a carport."

Fortunately, he said, there were two nearby teenagers who were able to chase away the dog.

Diaz's colleague, Greggorio Daisley, a letter carrier of 24 years, suited up to be attacked by Maddy, who eventually pulled Daisley off his balance and to the ground.

Daisley said that preparedness is essential to safety on a mail route.

"Regular carriers on regular routes pretty much always know what they have out there," Daisley said. "When a new person comes in, I try to talk to their family to see what kind of dogs they have."

If a door is open to a home where a family has a dog, he does not approach the home, he said.

Hassen said that dog owners will often contend that their dog is harmless. But if for any reason a dog that has not been trained attacks someone, the owners have absolutely no control over the animal.

"Things escalate," Hassen said. "Before long, the dog's running the show."

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