HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) -- The US Postal Service has officially kicked off its National Dog Bite Awareness Campaign, and they shared that Pennsylvania ranks 4th for most dog bites towards postal service workers in the country.

According to the US Postal Service, incidents involving dog attacks on Postal Service employees rose to more than 5,800 cases last year alone.

Here in the Keystone State, we had 313 dog bites in 2022, and 334 in 2023, which is the fourth most dog bite incidents towards postal employees in the country. Furthermore, the city of Philadelphia ranked among the top ten cities for dog attacks in the country, with 34 attacks this past year.

As part of the USPS 2024 National Dog Bite Awareness Campaign, the organization has shared information on how dog owners can be good stewards for safe mail delivery and to help ensure the safety of postal employees.

“Letter carriers are exposed to potential hazards every day, none more prevalent than a canine encounter. All it takes is one interaction for a letter carrier to possibly suffer an injury,” Leeann Theriault, USPS Manager, Employee Safety and Health Awareness said. “The U.S. Postal Service consistently encourages responsible pet ownership. The national dog bite campaign is an effort to promote dog bite awareness to keep our customers, their dogs, and letter carriers safe while delivering the mail.”

The USPS says that when letter carriers come to your home you should either keep your dogs inside the house or behind a fence, away from the door or in another room, or on a leash. Pet owners should also remind children to not take mail directly from a letter carrier since the dog could see the carrier as a threat to the child.

Currently, letter carriers are taught to observe an area where they know dogs may be present, and they are trained to:

• Make a non-threatening noise or rattle a fence to alert a dog if entering a yard
• Never startle a dog
• Keep their eyes on any dog
• Never assume a dog will not bite
• Never attempt to pet or feed a dog
• Place their foot against an outward swinging door to prevent a dog from escaping

“Even though a customer’s dog is friendly to most people, it can always have a bad day,” letter carrier Tara Snyder said. “I know, from experience, even when a dog is in the house, customers need to make sure their door is secure so their dog can’t push it open and bite the letter carrier."

For more information on the National Dog Bite Awareness Campaign, you can click here.

abc27 news will keep you updated as more information becomes available.