Touchdown!

Valerie and I are both letter carriers working for the United States Postal Service; we’ve both been employed there since the mid 1980’s.  I’ve been on the same route for almost 15 years; sometimes the territory changes when those much wiser than us decide to “adjust” the routes.  A carrier might lose a little bit of their route and gain a portion from another carrier’s loss.  Over the years my route hasn’t changed very much, and as a result I’ve gotten to know many of the families residing on it.

Besides the people, we also get to know their pets.  Sometimes this is a good thing; other times it’s not so hot.  The official position of the Post Office is that if you feel threatened by an animal in any way, do not attempt to deliver the mail.  Safety first.  Of course, to feel threatened one needs to realize that a threat exists.

When I was a brand new letter carrier (still had that new letter carrier smell), I successfully bid and was assigned to my first route.  This route was in Boise’s North End: an older, well established neighborhood – the crowning glory being Harrison Boulevard.  In the easternmost corner, and also the beginning of this route, was a little one block section of North 16^th Street.  In fact it was the last block of North 16^th!

This was a walking route, or more correctly described in the postal vernacular as a “park and loop” route.  What that means is a letter carrier drives a postal vehicle out to the route, parks and then walks a few blocks in one direction, crosses the street and then returns back to the vehicle (usually to reload and walk down the street in the other direction, and then back to the vehicle once again).

This first block was a little “shadier” than the rest of the route, with a couple of houses that had high fences and unseen – but not unheard – dogs.  The barking was not of the “Hi, how are you?” variety, but more of the “I’m going to eat you alive” genre.  One day, as I walked up that one little block of North 16^th Street, I got to meet the source of the barking.  This would not have been my first choice!

Running toward me at full speed from the side of a house was a Doberman.  He was barking, growling and showing more teeth than I really wanted to see, and apparently he was about to make me his chew toy.  Or maybe I was just going to be his lunch… I wasn’t thrilled at either prospect!

Just as I was bracing for impact I was side-swiped by a force that I hadn’t counted on:  Touchdown.  A stocky, and thankfully very friendly, yellow Labrador was taking the shortest distance between two points toward the Doberman ( a straight line, and I just happened to be in the way).  Touchdown almost knocked me down, but when he hit the Dobie… it was darned near a knock-out!  Growling, barking, a cloud of dust as they briefly fought – and then it was over, with the Doberman running like a whipped puppy around the house to his back yard.

Touchdown came walking back to where I was standing with what I can only describe as a smile on his face and a wag in his tail that generated a small breeze.  It was almost as if he were saying, “Well?  Did I do good?  Huh?”

It’s needless to say that Touchdown became one of my all-time favorite dogs, and that I’ve come to respect and admire yellow labs.  They might seem to be a mellow, easy going breed… but they can certainly step up when the occasion warrants it!