The New York metropolitan area recorded no dog bites of letter carriers last year.

After the New York metro area, next safest was Alaska with 2 bites, followed by Honolulu, 3, and Maine and Montana with 9 each.

At the other end of the scale, the Santa Ana, Calif., area led the nation with 96 bitten carriers, and three of the top five spots for carriers to get bitten were in the Golden State.

Following Santa Ana's 96 bites were Houston, 94; Sacramento, 82; Los Angeles, 77 and South Florida, 71.

That doesn't surprise Juan Barrios, a carrier in Long Beach, Calif., who needed 50 stitches on the right side of his face after being attacked by three dogs in 2001.

"I fought off two but one got in a lucky bite," Barrios said in a telephone interview.

"Unfortunately, the customers think because the dogs are docile to them, they will be docile to everybody else," said Barrios, who nearly lost an eye in the attack.

"Every animal needs to be protective, but its up to the customers to keep them trained," he added. "Here in California they just seem not to do it."

Some customers try to introduce their dogs to the regular carrier, but that still leaves the substitute carrier vulnerable, he noted.

Carriers are trained in how to defend themselves, he said, and are discouraged from petting or getting close to dogs.

The 2001 case wasn't the only time Barrios has been attacked, he said, but other times he has been able to defend himself with his mail sack or spray.

It's not unusual to hear jokes about carriers being bitten, but it's no laughing matter to them or the post office, which holds regular dog awareness programs.

Indeed, the post office kicks off dog bite awareness week on Thursday with a ceremony in Long Beach.

In 2006, some 3,184 letter carriers were bitten by dogs, the agency said, down slightly from 3,273 the year before.

Dog bite advice from the post office: