WATERLOO, Iowa – An entire street in Waterloo has not had their mail delivered to them for weeks. This, after an incident with a dog and a mail carrier.

The homes are on Patton Avenue, between West 9th Street and Randolph Street. Postal Customers say this has been going on for almost a month.

They say they received a letter in the mail that reads in part, “We were unable to deliver your mail because an unrestrained dog threatened our carrier.”

Neighbor Ramana Hodzic says she heard a carrier got scared when a dog ran at him.

“He kind of turned around, and what I assumed had happened is he pepper sprayed the dog, and the owner ran out and get pepper sprayed herself from what I heard.”

The dog’s owner told KWWL her pit bull mix did wind up in the front yard, which isn’t fenced in. Now, neighbors have to go downtown to pick up their mail at the Waterloo post office.

Hodzic says, “We have disabled people on the street, people that have healthcare workers come in, and help them because they aren’t able to do things themselves. So I think it’s a huge inconvenience.”

The regional spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service responded with a statement. She says, “We have had three separate incidents with a customer’s dog on the loose. Unfortunately, when a dog is on the loose, we have to temporarily stop delivering mail to all those on the block as it is unsafe for our carrier to deliver where a dog freely roams.”

The postal service says they are working with the dog owner to relocate the mailbox so mail delivery can resume. They think this will be resolved soon, but couldn’t give KWWL a time frame.

The postal service says it apologizes for the inconvenience, but that the safety of their employees is their priority. They also say there were more than 5,700 dog attacks against postal workers last year alone.