After 15 years on the job, Tan Xu has joined that select international brotherhood of mail workers that is just emerging in China postmen bitten by dogs.

Tan's demise came in April when he dropped his guard and sustained a serious bite on his right leg from a territorial cocker spaniel.

He received 3,000 yuan (US$375) in compensation from the dog's owner, but 31-year-old Tan was too scared to go out on his rounds again and plumped instead for a job at the dispatch office, checking mail and parcels.

Two dark brown tooth prints still show five months after the attack.

"They ache when it's overcast or damp," Tan said, touching his scars. The fear of rabies haunts him, despite the fact that he received a rabies shot immediately after the bite.

Tan said the owner used to fasten the dog when he came to the single-storey house in Xiaojiangfang Hutong, in Xicheng District of Beijing, but one day his delivery coincided with the owner's return home. "The dog rushed at me from the yard when he opened the door, and there was no time to react," Tan recalled.

He said three or four other delivery and maintenance people had been attacked by the dog before him.

"Deliverymen, plumbers and other professionals who have to go into houses to provide services all face the threat of being attacked by pet dogs, if the owners don't watch them," Tan said.

Yang Yuanting, head of the delivery department of Ganshiqiao Post Office, said the postmen in her department, like Tan Xu, came across many dogs every day in the hutong (narrow, winding alleys typical of Beijing), where many owners allowed their pets to roam unleashed.

"Some owners even send their dogs to chase the postmen, just for fun," Yang said angrily.

On the website of the Beijing Center for Diseases Control and Prevention, dog owners, veterinarians, laboratory researchers of the rabies virus, doctors and nurses taking care of rabies patients, and people traveling in rabies affected regions are defined as high-risk groups for rabies. They are advised to have pre-vaccinations.

Although postmen are not listed, Beijing Post Bureau figures show that 90 of the city's 2,000 postmen were bitten by dogs from January 2004 to May 2006. Three of them were bitten twice.

The postman's problem is well known abroad. A report on the China Radio International (CRI) website said 100 to 200 postmen were bitten by pet dogs every year in Switzerland.

Every postman in Switzerland is issued with a pamphlet on how to deal with dogs and new recruits receive special training on dealing with dogs. However, no such instruction is offered to their Chinese counterparts.

Gao Weidong, chairman of the trade union of Beijing Post Bureau, said the union had held meetings to warn postmen of the danger and told them to be on their guard when delivering mail. "We are not specialists in this field and it's difficult for us to tell them how to prevent an attack," Gao said.

Dog owners are legally obliged to ensure victims of their pets are sent to hospital immediately and to pay for the medical expenses. Unlicensed dogs are impounded and the owners fined up to 5,000 yuan (US$616).

Gao said postmen could refuse to deliver mail to houses with dangerous dogs until their safety is assured. Others who have never been bitten also fear dogs.

Yu Weidong, 49, always has at least 10 dogs barking around him on his 20-minute delivery run to about 15 households.

In front of one home, Yu pointed to three dogs yapping at him and said loudly: "Get away!"

The warning sparked a protest from the middle-aged woman owner: "Stop doing that. They didn't mean to attack you. You frightened them."

Yu said: "See? They only care about the dogs, not about whether their beloved pets bother other people."

Yu refused to blame the animals.

"After all, they are animals and it's natural for them to protect their owners," he said.

Yu said the owners should watch their dogs carefully, and keep them leashed in accordance with regulations issued in 1994 to govern pet ownership, Yu said.

Tan Xu agreed, saying the owners were responsible for controlling their pets. "Many people are unsuited to raising dogs. They even can't take good care of themselves," Tan said.

He said regulations on the behavior of dog owners were rarely enforced.

"It's impossible for the public security bureau to check the dogs all day long," Tan said.

According to the Beijing Public Security Bureau, the city has 550,000 registered dogs, but the number of unlicensed animals is unknown.

About 70,000 people were injured by dogs in the first half of the year, according to local health authorities.

Although everyone who reported being bitten by a dog in Beijing was vaccinated against rabies and none developed the disease, according to the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, the experience still left physical and psychological injuries.

(China Daily October 17, 2006)