People who live on a block of Walker Street Northeast in Cedar Rapids, Iowa have been forced to visit their local post office to retrieve their mail afterthe Postal Service sent them letters explaining that they’re staying away while one Chihuahua mix runs free. AS KCRG-TV9 reports, some people understand the move, but mostly just want to stop having to pick up their mail themselves.

Letters were sent to the neighborhood’s residents on March 27 explaining that after being harassed by a dog for the fifth time, they had decided to place the block’s mail on hold. Postal Service spokesperson Richard Watkins told KCRG, “The dog has interfered, on a number of occasions, with the delivery of the mail in that particular neighborhood.”

The dog’s owner, Guillermo Tellez, says that his pet is friendly, and usually stays inside. His neighbor, Elmer Kasey is none too pleased over the lack of mail delivery. He told, KCRG, “It's a bunch of poop. I think it’s got stamps on it and it says to deliver it, they should deliver it."

Alyssa Taylor, who lives next-door to Tellez, disagrees with the notion that the dog is friendly. She told KCRG, “We got chased a couple times just bringing groceries into our house in our own driveway. And then, we called Animal Control at that point and they did come and seize the dogs because it did not have its vaccines up to date. Two weeks later my five-year-old was bit in the leg in the back of our own yard.” Apparently animal control visited the Tellez home because of the incident. When residents started to call police over the lack of mail service, they said they will cite the dog’s owners if he is seen running around the neighborhood again.

In the meantime, until the USPS can be assured that the dog won’t be chasing them anymore, mail won’t be delivered.

More info: KCRG