florida power and light and pitbulls

today i was at home eating lunch when we heard someone honking their horn at my driveway, so i went outside to see what it was and it was the fp&l meter reader. he came out of his vehicle and told me that according to his computer that i owned a pitbull and for him to read my meter that my dog had to be inside the house, which he was. he told me that fp&l did a survey and found that 70% of dog bites from the field came from pitbulls. he also told me that even if you had a kennel with a rooftop on it that you still had to put the dog in the house for them to read the meter, he was also very nice and didnt believe in the policy. i am not here to stir up a hornets nest or blast the fp&l,i just want to give a heads up to florida residents.

 

When I lived in Gainesville FL. GRU was our electric company and they installed an electronic meter so the meter man could read it from the road. 3 pits in the back yard with a privacy fence they wouldn't enter my back yard

 

I would look into that "policy". My mailman would never deliver my mail if my rotts were outside, on their chains, or even kept enclosed behind a fence. We finally agreed to a "plan" that worked for both of us, but initally, the postal service was not very nice about it, and it wasn't a "written policy". More like a media, fear induced one, that they suddenly imposed on me, by stopping my mail delivery with no notification. Glad your guy was decent about it.

I'm curious to know what evidence/survey it is that they supposedly have.
And if it's coming from the company, itself, like it sounds, I wonder how many of those dogs are actually pit bulls, since many people can't even distinguish between most breeds, and every one, is, of course, a ...(sigh).... "pit bull"....

 

I have a friend who is a meter reader and my father is a mail man. It's no myth that dogs want to bite the mail man. These guys see the worst side of your FeeFee every day. Once they get bit bad they are more afraid. It's just a saftey thing and it really does suck, but I understand and I don't mind making these people feel more comfortable. The dogs that I have owned... I wouldn't expect anyone to deliver mail or read my meter with them in the yard. Their appearence alone is deterring and they don't know crap about my dogs. I know at least one of my dogs wouldn't allow a stranger on my property. If I missed a delivery because of my dogs, I never got mad because I sure as hell don't blaim them.

 

I have to agree with u,,,I wouldn't go in someones backyard uninvited with dogs,,dosen't matter what breed,,I can relate

 

My electric company, which is Allegheny, prints the date of my meter readings on my bills. They do that all the time with people who have dogs. I've talked to the meter man about it and I told him if he comes and a dog is out, just knock on the door. I'm always home when the dogs are out. Its a pain in the butt to have to drag them in for a couple seconds and then take em out again, but its better than another media headline.

 

I agree My ex girlfriends lab bit a mail lady the normal guy was on vacation or something luckily the dog bit on to her leather belt the lady was screaming. What a shitty feeling worrying about a lawsuit.

 

On the mail man thing. Jaha HATES the mail man. I don't know what it is. Our mail is delivered on a rual route, so he is in this purple van with a big sign on top and just drives mail box to mail box, never even gets out of his car. So it isn't like it is a some strange guy is walking around. Jaha sees him all the way down at the other end of the road and just goes freaking nuts!

Same thing with our Fed Ex guy. Who by the way is terrifed of our dogs. When he delivers something he won't even get off the road and step on our yard whatsoever. If we aren't there he takes it down the way to Dave's grandparents and they sign for us. He kinda has a reason though, once he was delivering I was coming home with the windows rolled down and Jaha in the passenger seat. Jaha saw him and I rolled the window up to late. He leaped through the window and ran towards his truck. (He was still in the drivers seat.) I stop the car and yell at Jaha. Jaha gets the the open driver door flings himself on the ground and rolls on his back in front of the man! LMAO I was so afraid that he was going to bite him or something and all he wanted was his belly rubbed?!?! As if it WE didn't rub it or something. Anyways, this poor man has the look of pure terror as Jaha is rolling around on the ground infront of him. I keep yelling and running and Jaha leaps up and runs back to me and sits. So I point to the house and yell "Inside". So, you know what the retard does? He freaking leaps over the fence and runs to the door, slamming his head into it because he aparently was running so fast he couldn't stop or something. So that is why the Fed Ex man is terrified of our dogs. I think I got the puppy with a mental problem. LMAO

 

That is a wide spread issue even with postal carriers. I have had a problem with mine but a substitute now comes when I have packages. As the regular carrier and I got into a fist fight and I had to have him hauled off by police when I was done with him. He almost lost his job over that deal. He said he didn't have to deliver things to my door if I had dogs. I told him to pick up his cigarette butts off my property and he said make me. so I did. Well a few any way. then he desided to take a swing. I took great pleasure in feeding more to him. He started screaming about being a federal employee and all that crap. So I showed him my id. He swung first and I was higher on the food chain. It really sucks but my meter man and the people who work for Fedex and Ups that come up here are very friendly and the Ups lady brings treats the dogs love her big time. She is a sweat heart. The Fedex dude love the dogs too. But he loves looking at my cars more I think. He is smitten with my Ranchero hot rod and the Mustang. I often find him sitting in one or the other dreaming like a young kid. Hell he is older than me. lol. I don't mind I told him he could. They are welcome up here any time. Even the meter dude I don't know his name. I don't even know how he gets here. He parks down the road. He was Army too. He must use a compass or something. Because he comes out of the woods and doesn't set off the trip wires. He knows they there. He set one off once and that was the end of it. They just turn the lights on and the camera to that point. No explosives at this point.

 

My dogs just plain dont like people in hats. I was welding this weekend, and had a hat on to keep the sparks from burning my bald head.....the mastiff comes around the corner and is going to take a peice of me until I ripped that hat off and she looked at me like Scooby Do "huuuuuh?". Never had a problem with an APBT other than barking on their chain on the other acre, but she does her job-keep strangers at bay until I can come see whats what, and if they want to push the issue,she will forcefully hold them there. One time the poor meter maid came sneaking around the back of the house to the meter, figured if she snuck around the dogs might not see her....big mistake. Riley ran her off the yard and stopped right at the edge of my property watching her. She had a big ole grin like "look how well I did boss!", Im sure my expressions were a bit diffrent. I explained to the meter reader that they would be much better off driving into the driveway, parking and honking. If a dog comes running out, I'm outside with them and will get them immediately, to put them away. If after 30 seconds no dogs come out, no one is home and the dogs are secure.


The Fed ex man is a diffrent story, he is familiar with my dogs and gets out to play with them granted I am there. From day one he has pulled in, and made his prescence known before getting out, and he certainly isnt tip-toeing around my house in the wee hours of the morning acting suspcious. If I'm out Odin is right at my side, and will greet him with his front paws on the doorstep wagging his tail waiting for whatever he brings out of the back. LOL

 

I can understand the hat thing Steve stopped by one day wearing some goofy fishing like hat and cought me off guard and I pulled my pistol as I couldn't see his face and he was dressed out of character for him. He came with out calling me first. I don't try to be this way but I have become quite paranoid over the years from combat and such. I wish I could get past the reflex and vigilance thing but I have not been able so far.