Attention all dog owners – you’re about to get a letter and it would be great if your postie could deliver it with no trouble from your pooch.

Starting this week, letters addressed to more than 314,000 registered SA dog owners will be mailed out as part of a joint campaign from Australia Post and the State Government to improve dog bite safety.

In the first half of this year 114 posties were attacked by dogs in SA, while figures show more than 1000 posties are attacked across Australia each year.

The campaign comes as dog attacks in South Australia skyrocket, with 503 people presenting at a public hospital in the past year from attacks, up from 211 in 2012.

More than 1200 dog attacks were reported to South Australian councils last year but independent research suggests many more are not reported.

The State Government is poised to introduce tough new laws (external site) (external site)and increased penalties for dogs owners whose pet attack people, dogs and other animals.

The Australia Post campaign letters are written from Buddy – the dog bite safety educator - who is on a mission to share practical safety messaging to keep SA’s posties safe and reduce the overall number of dog bites in SA.

Australia Post is delivering the letters free of charge; a service that would otherwise cost about $390,000 in stamps and other postage charges.

In addition to the letters, free bumper stickers and collectible dog safety leaflets featuring Buddy and his friends will be available to collect from SA Post Offices.

Three short, animated videos of Buddy demonstrating the warning signs that dogs give before they bite, and explaining reasons why dogs sometimes bite, have been uploaded to the government’s dog bite safety website Good dogs have bad days (external site) (external site).

Posties will not deliver to a home or business unless it is safe for them to do so and will stop delivering to an address until there is no more danger.

Dog and Cat Management Board Chair David Parkin said all dog bites should be reported to the local council, even if they didn’t need medical attention.

“Any dog can bite and the Board is committed to raising awareness and ongoing education,” Mr Parkin said.

“Our research has shown public awareness campaigns and ongoing education can help change people’s behaviour, but it will take time and commitment to achieve results.

“The Board is committed to ongoing dog bite education for the mid to long term because dogs are part of our families—they provide more benefits than costs and our research is highlighting areas we can target to reduce bites.”

Australia Post General Manager, Safety and Wellbeing Rod Maule said employee safety was paramount.

“With our posties out and about delivering in the community every day, they are unfortunately at risk of dog attacks.

“In fact, one in three dog-related incidents involving posties occurs at a customer’s front door during a parcel delivery.

“With the help of the SA government, Australia Post is utilising its extensive network within the state to deliver more than 300,000 personally addressed letters to dog owners, to help educate the community on how they can help prevent our posties from falling victim to dog-related incidents.”