Dogs

[nikviz]

I guess that makes the ministry easier, you only have half as much territory to cover. Peple are making their choices and saving us time.

If street work is an option, you may contact these people in other settings. There are a few such stickers in the UK, but not many here in our territory.

We used to have a lovely rough collie (like Lassie) - I had her from 8 weeks old. A sister from another congregation who was a friend of ours visited with her son, who was a terror! Our dog nipped him, but it served him right.

The only other person she ever nipped was the Circuit Overseer who was staying with us! He was upstairs when Bethel rang him on our house phone (I don't think there were such things as mobiles then!). He ran downstairs towards me, and the dog must have thought I was under threat. The CO understood this perfectly and realised that the dog was not at fault. We had a good laugh about it later.

Our territory have 27 small cities and villages. Only in home village have problem. The local priest passed from all house and shared the stickers

[Áine]

Annie...myself and a couple others carried dog treats with us for awhile but then someone made a good point. If a householder is inside and sees us give their dog a treat they might think we are trying to poison the dog and get upset. I have a friend who carries one of those silent dog "thingies" (not a whistle) that emits the sound we can't hear but dogs can. She keeps it in her coat pocket and pushes the button if theres a dog that seems less than friendly. Seems to work pretty well.

I would love to buy one of these.... do have any idea what they are called ??

[surfergirl]

In our area we are advised not to leave the invitation or the magazines under the door mat for one thing. The invites must not be seen from the street. We have three options, one is to open the screen door if unlocked and wedge it between the door and frame. The second is to fold the invitation and slide it between the front door and the weather-proofing/door frame and the third option is to take the address down for the closed-in ones to mail invitations with proper postage.

We have had a legal case in Australia that dictates we are no longer allowed to open a screen door to knock or place tracts behind.

It is considered 'entry' .

The issue of dogs is left to the discretion and observations of each publisher. Sometimes I know the dog and household . .so go in.

Other times I don't feel comfortable so will not enter. My Mother has been bitten and it causes all kinds of problems.

Post box challenges exist because we use letter boxes near the fence (no front door ones in most areas) and "Junk Mail" has become a problem.

Many mail boxes have a sign on them stating mail from Post Office only (or more coarse lingo) so we are not allowed to put tracts into them.

Junk Mail is often bulky and copious . . very annoying for me when my real mail does not fit inside properly and ends up sodden by rain . .but we may put items in the box if it is an RV .

Does anyone else have to deal with a proliferation of "Do Not Knock" stickers? Because of aggressive marketing by telcos, gas and electric companies to gain and switch customers . . these stickers are booming in number. Some people see us arrive and ask us who we are . .but many have become aggressive and send us packing.

Dogs have become a much lesser issue in our ministry now . Other things are cropping up instead.[/quote

I have had a few scary moments with dogs, back home In cronulla Dad had an RV he hadn't done for a while so

he sent myself and my brother. we had to walk down this long drive way, the house was a few good meters near the bay,

we knock on the door and I was looking around for dogs and I didn't see any, we were about to go back to the car and suddenly from no where this dog

was a cattle dog, black and he was hard to see cause he blended in with the bushes, He was going of he was scary, My Brother and I were praying, he kept coming closer and closer and we thought how to get out and we say the bay was only a short drop, then dad comes charging down in his van, and wedged his van, just long enough for us to get in and get out.

Another time I was helping an older sister she was 70 and needed someones arm to help her get around. this day it was I and this house had giant gates. so she was determined to go in and as we opened the gate and was nearer the stairs these 2 dobbemins came charging and It was hard to rush out cause the sister couldn't move to fast and well I was between the two dogs and then the owner came out and saved the day, Since then I don't go thru the gates and well

if you can't see the door, and there are no signs for junk mail I leave a tract. I'm chicken

Jan I have come accross a lot of houses with the do not knock stickers, and often its too late to go back to the front gate quickly.

the first person I met had this sign. and he had the sticker and I thought OH NO! so I quickly said I'm we are not selling anything and his response was yeah that's just for other companys selling electricity and He took the mags. Thankfully. Then another day a friend did the door and the householder was really abrupt and said loud and clear. CAN'T YOU READ? I think people will abuse this to there own use. Some will be Ok but just stay on guard well that's how I do them, I wish they put those stickers on the letter box Instead or the gate. You don't know till you get to the door. All the best, agape`

[Hallett 82]

Gabes story jolted another dog memory for me.

Hubby and I entered a corner property through wide open driveway gates and knocked on the door. We looked around the yard and saw evidence of children at the home but the toys all looked damaged. A very angry H/h roared at us ' what are you doing here? can't you read? that sign means you!' He pointed to a large warning sign on the gate we had just walked past but because of the direction of our arrival we missed it. He looked past us to see his guard dogs both sitting only yards from us, they were silent. The mans eyes got really wide and his voice broke, he said he had not seen his dogs do that before, they should have been eating us by now. He started to say that there must be something special about us but barked an order at the dogs to go out back . . then he let us go. His neighbor heard some of the exchange and then listened to us because we had appeared to stand up to the neighbourhood bully. (truth being - it was not us that did anything)

[surfergirl]

We sure have some Wags Of a tales:squeeze: Jehovah does look after us right?

[Hallett 82]

We sure have some Wags Of a tales:squeeze: Jehovah does look after us right?

Yep. too right.

[lavritt]

What's the consequences if you break?

Our Circuit/district is in New Jersey, so we might be there (in NJ) to preach during the DC campaign if time allows us.

Why would you want to break the law? We do not leave anything in mail or newspaper boxes, ever. It's a federal law. Can you imagine the dishonor to Jehovah if witnesses were brought up on charges for messing with the mail????

Also, here in the South many people have screened porches and we've been advised not to enter to get to the front door as it is part of the house. We also do not call at homes with No Trespassing signs (again, both for legal repercussions), or knock on doors with signs that request no knocking. The way I see it, the angels are directing us and if there is a hearing ear there, they will find a way for us to contact them without our breaking laws.

As far as dogs go, I'm not terrified, but I am wary. Have had to dive for the car a couple of times, and that was NOT fun! Years ago we were working a territory that was rural, but the houses were in walking distance. One brother was being "attacked" by a killer chihuahua....that dog would NOT stop yapping and nipping and charging...following this brother away from the house and down the road. This was back in the day when brothers carried those huge, heavy bookbags. And when Brother Fred finally got fed up with the the dog, he just stopped and set his bookbag down on top of him!!! After several seconds, Brother Fred calmly picked up his bookbag and when on his way! (The squished dog jumped up and went high-tailing it back home...left us alone the rest of the morning!)