For everyone’s safety, AEP Ohio, a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), reminds its customers that dogs spending a great deal of time alone or always tethered can often become dangerous, but well-socialized dogs are much less likely to bite.

Although May 16-22 was National Dog Bite Prevention Week, the need to prevent dog bites is ongoing and quite apparent through the efforts of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), United States Postal Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as they continuously work to educate the public on the subject.   

Man and woman´s best friend bites more than 4.7 million people a year, and key experts believe that public education can help prevent these bites. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta estimates that almost one in five individuals who are bitten, a total of 885,000, require medical attention for related injuries.

 AEP Ohio employees face a variety of dogs each day. They may be aggressive, appear to be trusting, harmless, sneaky or even vicious.  “Our employees carry a Bite Terminator, which is a company-approved protection tool, when on the job to help prevent dog bites,” said Karen Sloneker, director Customer Services and Marketing.  “The Bite Terminator is a safety device that meter revenue operations employees and supervisors are required to carry with them at every customer location.”  This umbrella-like safety device provides a barrier between the employee and the dog to allow time to leave the property or make their way to the outside of fenced areas.

AEP Ohio employees are trained to recognize dog-related dangers and how to avoid possible encounters with them.  However, responsible pet ownership is also an important step to reducing the likelihood of a dog bite. A few easy steps they could take to alleviate potential dog bites are to keep dogs safely secured away from their electric meter on the day it is to be read, do not let children play with the dog in the yard when the meter is scheduled to be read since the dog may feel it necessary to protect the child in an aggressive manner which could heighten the dog’s reaction to a stranger and spay or neuter your dogs since this often reduces aggressive tendencies.  Following these easy steps could seriously help to alleviate dog bites.

 For more information on dog bite prevention, visit us on the web at http://bit.ly/csNCng

 AEP Ohio provides electricity to nearly 1.5 million customers of major AEP subsidiaries Columbus Southern Power Company and Ohio Power Company in Ohio, and Wheeling Power Company in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. AEP Ohio is based in Gahanna, Ohio, and is a unit of American Electric Power.  American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP’s transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas. AEP’s utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east and north Texas). AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio. News releases and other information about AEP can be found at www.aep.com.
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