It’s tempting for many to chuckle at the legendary confrontations between postal service workers and animals, primarily unruly dogs. But the people who have been involved in such conflicts, some of them crippling or even fatal, see nothing to joke about.

Recent data indicate that while dog bites are down slightly among mail carriers, more than 3,000 bitings and attacks still occur each year. Oddly, the New York City metropolitan area recorded not a single dog bite last year. Santa Ana, Calif., led the nation with 96 bitten carriers. Juan Barrios, a carrier in Long Beach, Calif., needed 50 stitches on the right side of his face after being attacked by three dogs in 2001.

Says Barrios: “Unfortunately, some customers think that because their dogs are docile to them, they will be docile to everyone else. Dogs can be particularly hostile when they think they may need to protect family children from us. I and a lot of my colleagues can tell you how wrong it is to assume an animal will treat others as it might a family. A lot more training is needed, and there must be greater awareness of our risks.”

Suppose a “trained” dog, or dogs, gets docile enough to be no threat to a carrier. Will substitute workers be treated as kindly?

In the Lawrence area, there are not as many “foot soldiers” in the mail delivery trade as there once were. Many carriers go from box to box in vehicles, a practice that rules out most attacks. But they still could face an untrained canine when leaving their vehicle for a delivery.

In 2006, there were 3,184 reports of letter carriers who were bitten by dogs, a slight decrease from 3,273 the year before. Some carriers can use mail sacks or sprays for protection, but then they could face the ire of pet owners who refuse to believe their animals could do anything wrong. Lawsuits have resulted over such face-offs.

The postal service is observing Dog Bite Awareness Week, and it is not something that should be taken frivolously.

Any mail carrier can tell you that he or she gets terribly tired of jokes about dog attacks in their business. For them, it’s far from a laughing matter.