History Main / MailmanVsDog

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': In [[Recap/SupernaturalS09E05DogDeanAfternoon "Dog Dean Afternoon"]] Dean takes a potion which lets him TalkToTheAnimals, specifically a dog which was the witness to a murder. But he starts to take on doglike peronality traits including an urge to play fetch, scratching behind his ears, and yes, yelling at a mailman for no reason.

--->'''Newman''': I see many dogs on my mail route. I'll bet there's not one type of mutt or mongrel I haven't run across. If you ask me, they have no business living amongst us. Vile, useless beasts . . .

--->'''Kramer''': Look, Beauford, it's the mailman. You remember the mailman, don't you?
** Another episode had Newman mention that he'd worked with David Berkowitz ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Berkowitz the "Son of Sam" killer]]), commenting that the route had a lot of dogs. Although Berkowitz claimed the dogs told him to kill, Newman was told to "lay off the snacks".

** In another episode, Timmy almost gets attacked by a group of vicious junkyard dogs because he accidentally falls into a cat costume, steak sauce, and mailman-scented air fresheners.

This is TruthInTelevision, as in RealLife some mailmen are authorized to carry an irritating but harmless spray that will subdue an aggressive dog.

!!Examples

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-->'''Worshipful Master of the Order of Postmen''':'' "Postmen, what is the Second Oath? ... Dogs! I tell you, there's no such thing as a good one! If they don't bite they all crap! It's as bad as stepping on machine oil!"''

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* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}''
** Garfield enjoys harassing the local mailman, he even lampshades the trope by asking, "Why should dogs have all the fun?" Sometimes he just pulls harmless pranks while other times he will violently attack him or catch him in an elaborate booby trap. The mailman occasionally gets his revenge on Garfield.
** A paperboy who is [[TheGhost rarely seen]] often attacks Garfield by throwing his papers right at him, often hitting the cat hard in the face.
* Grimm from ''ComicStrip/MotherGooseAndGrimm'' loves chasing after the mailman, to the point that the post office has a wanted picture of Grimm up in the office.
* ComicStrip/{{Buckles}} from his self-titled comic strip originally had a rivalry with the Paperboy, named "Rodney" in his last appearance, who always attacks Buckles by throwing his papers at him. The Paperboy was later PutOnABus in 2005 after an incident where Buckles wrecks his BMX bike.
* ''ComicStrip/PoochCafe'' elevates this to an almost-religion amongst its dogs, to the point where one plotline has the doggie denizens distressed to discover that their resident mailman foe ''has a dog'' -- which they try to "rescue" and free from what they assume must be some kind of brainwashing. Another plotline has main character Poncho go against the code and try to rescue a mailman who has fallen unconscious in the snow by dragging him onto a train car. They are found by hobo dogs, who screech that Poncho has brought "the enemy" into their midst; Poncho bluffs that instead of ''helping'' the mailman, he had ''captured'' the mailman -- and consequently is made king of the hobo dogs.
* Averted by Daisy, the Bumsteads' dog in Creator/DeanYoung's ''ComicStrip/{{Blondie}}'', who bears the mailman no ill will and is harmless. It's Dagwood, zooming out the door in a blind panic, that's the mailman's chief hazard.
* In one panel of ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'', a mailman comes through a door with seven dogs hanging off him. He says to his wife, "Gimme a hand here, Edna... I got into a nest of weiner dogs over on Sixth and Maple."
** In another strip, a giant mailman is demolishing the city, Godzilla style. In the foreground, a dog is speaking to a crowd of other dogs saying, "Listen! the authorities are helpless! If the city's to be saved, I'm afraid it's up to us! ''This is our hour!''"
** Another ''Far Side'' strip showed a dog with a bandana and a rocket launcher standing next to a smoking hole in the sidewalk, with the caption: "They said neither rain nor snow could stop the mail, but they didn't count on... [[Franchise/{{Rambo}} Rexbo]]."
** Yet another strip showed a mailman being attacked by several dogs while inside the house a dog holding a violin watched sadly because he had to take lessons and couldn't join in.
** One strip has a dog on a psychiatrist's couch, saying the mailman scares him.
** And ''another'' strip has "Dog Hell", where the dogs are forced to act as mailmen.
** And yet another features a group of dogs dressing as mailmen to pull a TrojanHorse ambush inside a post office.

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* Invoked by Minnie Mouse in the Mickey Mouse short ''WesternAnimation/DoggoneBiscuits''. After trying to get Pluto back into shape (she made him fat because she fed him too many treats), she gets the idea to motivate Pluto into getting into shape by dressing as a mail carrier and getting Pluto to chase her.

* An episode of ''The Story of Tracy Beaker'' had Marco dress up as a dog. When the postman arrived with the morning post, he made growling noises and bit the letters like a dog.
* An episode of ''Bear Behaving Badly'' has a robotic postwoman arrive at the block of flats where the characters live and force them to be members of her family. Then, when Aunt Barbara mistakes Nev (who is a bear) for a dog (as usual), Barney plays along with this and claims that Nev is a dog too. The postwoman gets scared.

PlayedForLaughs if the mailman is intimidated by a comically small dog like a chihuahua.

** And ''another'' FarSide strip has "Dog Hell", where the dogs are forced to act as mailmen.

* Dog from ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'' attacks mailmen for sport and keeps a piece of their pants he rips off as a trophy. In one episode he has a long going feud with a paperboy, who harassed him as a puppy, who later grew up to become their mailman.

** Another episode had Newman mention that he'd worked with David Berkowitz ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Berkowitz the "Son of Sam" killer]]), commenting that the route had a lot of dogs.

* There was a series of commercials for [[WhatWereTheySellingAgain something]] which had people announcing that they were leaving the job they currently had and were joining the NBA. One of these showed a mailman running from a dog while announcing his intention. We then see him actually playing basketball and going up against a player with a canine nickname. The other player barks at him and makes him drop the ball.

* Cliff Clavin from ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' has had a number of run-ins with dogs in his postal career, or so he says. ([[NoodleIncident All of the incidents take place offscreen.]]) In one episode, he tries to impress a girl by comparing himself to Indiana Jones because of his canine incidents.

* An episode of ''Bear Behaving Badly'' has a robotic postwoman arrive at the block of flats where the characters live and force them to be members of her family. Then, when Aunt Barbara mistakes Nev (who is a bear) for a dog (as usual), Barney plays along with this and claims that Nev is a dog too. The postwoman gets scared.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'', Mr. Peanutbutter chases a mail truck with his ''car''.

* ''WesternAnimation/Rugrats'' features an episode when Tommy sneaks into a mailman's mailbag thinking that a doll being sent there is a new baby after a miscommunication from Didi, thinking that all babies come from the mail. Not only does the postman get attacked by a dog during the trip back (with the whole street seeming to have a dog at each house), there's even a medical ward for all postmen who were injured in dog attacks, showing several other postmen looking similarly mauled.

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' has the paperboy variant. With all three Eds doing a route, things are going decently until Edd tries to rescue Ed, who got snagged on a fence door trying to jump over it when it couldn't pull it open (since he was too stupid to realize it was a push door instead), only to get bothered by a tiny dog who then bites his sock. He then spends the next few scenes trying to shake it off, looking ragged by the time he finally succeeds.

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' has the paperboy variant. With all three Eds doing a route, things are going decently until Edd tries to rescue Ed, who got snagged on a fence door trying to jump over it when it couldn't pull it open (since he was too stupid to realize it was a push door instead, only to get bothered by a tiny dog who then bites his sock. He then spends the next few scenes trying to shake it off, looking ragged by the time he finally succeeds.

** And ''anther'' FarSide strip has "Dog Hell", where the dogs are forced to act as mailmen.

* Averted by Daisy, the Bumsteads' dog in Creator/DeanYoung's ''ComicStrip/{{Blondie}}'', who bears the mailman no ill will and is harmless. It's Dagwood, zooming out the door in a blind panic, that's the mailman's chief hazard.
* ComicStrip/{{Buckles}} from his self-titled comic strip originally had a rivalry with the Paperboy, named "Rodney" in his last appearance, who always attacks Buckles by throwing his papers at him. The Paperboy was later PutOnABus in 2005 after an incident where Buckles wrecks his BMX bike.

Like cats, mailmen are often portrayed in fiction as a dog's favorite target. Mostly it's harmless encounters like barking or chasing them away. Other times they outright attack them.
Sometimes the mailman gets his revenge or the dog gets his comeuppance.

This is TruthInTelevision, in RealLife some mailmen are authorized to carry an irritating but harmless spray that will subdue an aggressive dog.

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* ''DennisTheMenaceUK'' has a dog called Gnasher who enjoys attacking postmen (for instance, biting their bottoms) whenever they come to deliver letters.

* One of the trials of the postman in ''Discworld/GoingPostal'' is a pack of dogs, and several of the postmen have scars from dogbites. Not only that, there is mention of the other peril of dogs; their shit. Apparently dogshit can be as frictionless as oil.

* Cliff Clavin from ''{{Cheers}}'' has had a number of run-ins with dogs in his postal career, or so he says. (All of the incidents take place offscreen.) In one episode, he tries to impress a girl by comparing himself to Indiana Jones because of his canine incidents.

** Garfield enjoys harassing the local mailman, he even lampshades the trope asking "Why should dogs have all the fun?" Sometimes he just pulls harmless pranks while other times he will violently attack him or catch him in an elaborate booby trap. The mailman occasionally gets his revenge on Garfield.
** A paperboy who is [[TheGhost rarely seen]] often attacks Garfield by throwing his papers right at him, often hitting him hard in the face.

* ''PoochCafe'' elevates this to an almost-religion amongst its dogs, to the point where one plotline has the doggie denizens distressed to discover that their resident mailman foe ''has a dog'' -- which they try to "rescue" and free from what they assume must be some kind of brainwashing. Another plotline has main character Poncho go against the code and try to rescue a mailman who has fallen unconscious in the snow by dragging him onto a train car. They are found by hobo dogs, who screech that Poncho has brought "the enemy" into their midst; Poncho bluffs that instead of ''helping'' the mailman, he had ''captured'' the mailman -- and consequently is made king of the hobo dogs.
* Averted by Daisy, the Bumsteads' dog in Creator/DeanYoung's ''Strip/{{Blondie}}'', who bears the mailman no ill will and is harmless. It's Dagwood, zooming out the door in a blind panic, that's the mailman's chief hazard.
* ComicStrip/{{Buckles}} from his self-titled comic strip originally had a rivalry with the Paperboy, later named "Rodney" in his last appearance, who always attacks Buckles by throwing his papers at him. The Paperboy was later PutOnABus in 2005 after an incident where Buckles wrecks his BMX bike.
* In one ''NewspaperComics/TheFarSide'' strip, a mailman comes through a door with seven dogs hanging off of him. He says to his wife, "Gimme a hand here, Edna... I got into a nest of weiner dogs over on Sixth and Maple."

* Averted by the mailman in ''TwilightPrincess'': if ever you're in wolf form whenever he has a letter to give you, you automatically switch back to human form. Then again, he might not even be scared of dogs, since one of the places you find him in is the very bottom of the BonusDungeon.

* Dog from ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'' attacks mailmen for sport and keeps a piece of their pants he rips off as a trophy. In one episode he has a long going feud with a paperboy who harassed him as a puppy who later grew up to become their mailman.

** In the ChristmasEpisode where Timmy wished for it to be Christmas everyday, there was a scene where a newscaster says that the worst of enemies are now the best of friends, as it is Christmas. When he said that, we are shown on a postman a dog becoming friends with each other. After it ceases being Christmas every day, the newscaster says that the worst of enemies are back to being the worst of enemies and we see the dog and the postman again, who are now enemies again.

* One ''WesternAnimation/HuckleberryHound'' episode has Huck as a mailman dealing with a dog who won't let him make his delivery. A big case of FurryConfusion, as Huck is a dog himself.

-->'''Newman''': I see many dogs on my mail route. I'll bet there's not one type of mutt or mongrel I haven't run across. If you ask me, they have no business living amongst us. Vile, useless beasts . . .

-->'''Kramer''': Look, Beauford, it's the mailman. You remember the mailman, don't you?