Working in the yard today and I hear my nieghbors dog barking accross the street. I look and see the gas meter reader going into there back yard with a billy club??? I watch and he holds it in front of him, then takes a few swings in the air and then spins it like a BILLY BADA$$. He does not hit the dog, no problem. Well about 1 hour later. My dog takes off around the corner barking, then she starts screaming, yelping, and barking!! I take off and my wife is yelling what's wrong with the dog?? Well there is the meter reader in my yard. and he maced my dog! As I approach him, he is taking the reading from my meter. He looks at me, then as I approach my dog is pretty pissed off, she gets in front of me snarling at him (yellow english lab who is overwieght) I grab her by the scruff of her neck, and then he starts spraying her again!?!? Well I let her go and I went after him, threw him out of my gate and told him I was going to, INSERT WHAT YOU WOULD SAY HERE AND DOUBLE IT! The nieghbors are coming out, cool weather all the windows are open, I just thought if I stop yelling at this man I am going to hit him. The whole time I am watching the hand with the mace, If he lifts that hand at me, it's a legal A$$ whopping he will have. He never did and played stupid and refused to give us his name. After we called his office with his tag number and truck number, the customer service and crap we got, it would of been worth a simple battery charge!
Al

 

my mom was home alone one day, and all of the sudden the dog started raising all kinds of cain...she opened the door and there was an (what she said severely) overweight man in our back yard reading the meter, so he came to the door and asked if he could go through the house, and she told him that he could get out the way he got in...

 

ALSAIR. . .

It's times like what you posted, that makes you want to go out and buy a cattle prod.
You see. . . it's a matter of voltage.

File a formal complaint with the utility. In fact, I suggest writing the President and/or CEO of the utility. Tell them that you will NOT tolerate THAT meter reader on your property, again!
Tell the utility to put that in writing, on your account information sheet.

 

Wow, bad deal guy, hope your dog and you come out of this one alright. He had no right to spray your dog while you had it restrained. It will probaly be one of those "who is telling the most truth " deals. The gas company will apologize probaly, but only so much. These meter readers have a hell of a job, especially with fenced in yards with dogs. We have all heard the old " he wont bite, he just barks, yeah right. Too late after the skin has dog teeth marks in it , ...

So the utility companies will not ask their readers to risk a dog attack , and they pretty much leave it to their meter readers to ascertain when they feel threatened enough to use force. This guy does sound like he was overzealous though, good luck. jmo



P.s. A utility company does reserve the right to pull a meter if they feel their meter reader is put in a bad or dangerous situation.

 

Heres the kicker though. I saw my gate open last month and his truck out front. As I am watching him look threw my fence to read my nieghbors meter, I tell him, I don't mind, just next time knock on my door, I have dogs (they were inside at the time), and make sure you close the gate. There were 4 cars (actually 4 trucks) in front of the house??? The windows were open??? He did'nt even bother to knock or yell or anything this time! The old meter reader would knock, and eventually built an understanding with my dogs. He would say that they are just letting him know that he can't go any further, and he respected that and understood that. They never tried to bite him or attack him, just notify him.
Al

 

You should have pepered him a couple times, Spray "how do you like that ****" "huh" spray," i can hear you" what"

 

we had a cop decide he needed to mess with the dog. we keep him on a chain and the cop decided that the dog barking late at night was a bad thing. it turned out the dog was warning of a robbery taking place next door.

 

People who do not handle themselves well around strange dogs should not accept positions wherein they come in contact with them.

Best mailman I ever met carried treats with him on his rounds by choice. He knew every puppy in town on a personal basis, and liked them.

 

I got heated just reading that! I woulda ended up doing something id regret if i was in that position! some of the meter readers are real jerks,i had one guy tear out of my dirt driveway as i was...get this...FIXING THE HOLES IN IT. Some people...

 

They'd have been looking for a new meter reader!

 

When I was a kid, our letter carrier did that! Everytime my dog was in the house and he came by, my dog was ticked that he couldn't be outside to get a milk bone!

 

They make short range RF meters now, so they don't even have to get out of the truck, just pull up out front & pick up the signal. Why they aren't using those is beyond me.

Take your dog to the vet & send them the bill!

 

They installed one of the new meters at my barn in the spring. Now they pull up to the bottom of he hill and read the meter from 150 feet.
Today they installed one on the house.

Check with the local police, many have laws about abuse by utility workers!

 

They really ought to go wireless. There's a company called Sensus that is outfitting many utlities with wireless transmitter meters that beam the readings though a repeater to the office. They have them for gas, electric - whatever. Gets rid of the worthless guys they pay minimum wage. Next time you call to complain, ask them when they are going to this system. (I'm sure they know about it. Sensus to utility companies is like Ford/Che^y to us. If they play dumb, the person you're complaining to is too far down the ladder to help you anyway. Ask for a supervisor.)

BTW, it's almost cold enough to open the windows here, too... Be a rough winter if you have to put on long pants this year. Your meter guys are probably all whacked out from sunstroke.

 

Well, maybe, just maybe he was a new guy and didn't know all the dogs on that route on a personal basis? Maybe he wasn't new? That's a tough call.

But put yourself in his shoes: hopping from yard to yard, hoping that each dog you come across is not gonna rip yer face off and is hopefully up to date with all shots. Yer only defense is a little stick/club or mace. The stick is good deterrent but if the dog is unphased you will have to rely on mace/pepper spray which reaches farther to keep the dogs at a better distance. Also, keep in mind not all home owners keep people friendly dogs. How is he supposed to know which ones actually have a bark worse than their bite? And which ones will cause him to end up on the national news as another person attacked by a dog? If you've ever been bit by a dog, that might make you even more cautious around dogs you don't know. (Yep, I've been bit. It ain't fun.)

If you knew he was in the neighbor hood could you have put your dog on the chain or indoors for awhile? Don't know if I would have put my hands on the guy; that could too easily lead to legal troubles. It was weird that he didn't want to give his name, though if I had some strange dude putting his hands on me yelling at me and not knowing the whole time if his dog was gonna lunge at me, I could understand that. It's a tough call and there is a lot of grey area there.

I agree with the others that all cities should have the electronic meters to be read from a distance. That could save a lot of time and trouble.