A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to present a program to all the Public Service of New Hampshire meter readers. More than 130 PSNH employees gathered at Bear Brook State Park for their annual meeting, including the 104 meter readers who cover the entire state, from Nashua to the Canadian border. My topic was about avoiding dog bites — a serious problem for these men and women.

Before I got this invitation to speak, I had never thought about the plight of meter readers, and I learned some astonishing statistics. Each meter reader enters approximately 7,800 properties every month to read the electric meter. If you consider that about 40 percent of homes in the United States have dogs, this means that a meter reader will be entering the property of about 3,100 dogs every month. That's more than 150 properties with dogs every day!

Think about how your dog acts when someone comes on your property. Does your dog bark at the window when it hears the mailman? When it sees a pedestrian walk by? When someone knocks on your door? While not all dogs are territorial or protective, even if only 10 percent are, that's 15 dogs a day presenting potentially dangerous situations to every meter reader. Is it any wonder that the topic of how to avoid getting bitten was a popular one?

Regular readers of this column know that I'm not a fan of electronic fences. Consider that the meter reader doesn't know there's an underground fence line, so he or she might be unaware there's a dog loose within the perimeter of the underground wire. Suddenly a dog appears from the other side of the house and finds a stranger invading its territory.

Dogs with access to their yards through a dog door also pose a danger to the meter reader, whether or not there's a physical fence. The meter reader could be faced with a dog that after entering its yard is surprised to find a stranger right by its house.

Fortunately, most dogs won't immediately bite, and I hope my advice will prevent injury, but how much better it would be if the danger could be eliminated.

At the start of my talk, I asked for a show of hands to see how many of the meter readers had ever been bitten on the job. I was shocked to see the majority of hands go up.

While I gave recommendations to the meter readers, dog owners also have a responsibility to protect both the meter readers and your dog. We each have a responsibility to protect our dogs from ever taking that “first bite.” That bite changes your relationship with your dog forever. In one brief second, a dog that has never bitten anyone becomes a dog with a “bite history” — something we all want to avoid. Dogs will be dogs — and we sometimes need to save them from themselves by taking steps to foresee and prevent potential problematic situations.

Some meter readers have been bitten when the homeowner opened the door to talk to him or her and the dog ran out past the owner. Or when the homeowner was holding the dog by the collar and the dog pulled away. This scenario is problematic because most dogs become more aggressive when restrained by the collar, so if the dog does get loose, he's more likely to bite. You can avoid these situations by shutting your dog away before you open the door. If your dog uses a dog door, consider shutting it when your meter is scheduled to be read. You'll find the approximate day of your next reading (within a day or two) on your current bill, or on the PSNH.com website where you can view your bill.

An ounce of prevention will be much appreciated by your meter reader, and just as important, will protect your dog.

Gail Fisher, author of “The Thinking Dog,” runs All Dogs Gym & Inn in Manchester. If you would like a topic addressed in this column, email gail@alldogsgym.com or write c/o All Dogs Gym & Inn, 505 Sheffield Road, Manchester, NH 03103. You'll find past columns on her website.