REAL PEOPLE/Dog Day Afternoon
‘If I Got Bit, I Figured, Better Me Than Her’
Letter carrier Rungphet Bodnar conquered her fear to save a child from a vicious attack
Bodnar shares an embrace with Chloe Shanks, whom she rescued from an aggressive dog.
MOST DOG owners say, “Oh, he’s not going to bite.” But then they let go of their dog, and it chomps right on you. I’m only 4-foot-11, and I’ve been bitten more than most—by Chihuahuas, poodles, miniature collies, mutts. So I’m always wary of a loose dog on my route.
But when I turned the corner in my mail truck that spring day, I wasn’t thinking about dogs. I saw kids running around near a house on the corner, and I thought they were stir-crazy because of the weather, which was warm for our part of Michigan. But then I heard them screaming. And I saw a dog dragging a young girl across the lawn by her leg. I realized, They’re not having fun. They’re terrified.
I pulled up and parked, using my truck to shield children across the street from seeing the attack. Some adults were trying to wrangle the other kids, while a customer of mine was trying to shield the girl. I yelled at the other kids to get into their mom’s car.
Then I got my dog spray—a mixture of oil and cayenne pepper—and sprayed the dog in the face. He let go but shook it off and snatched the girl by her arm. I was afraid the dog might turn on me or the bystanders, but I had to limit the girl’s injuries. So I pushed the fear into the back of my head. If I got bit, I figured, better me than her.
Every time I sprayed, the dog let go but ran around me. He was biting the girl’s side, her arm, her hands, anywhere he could get her. Finally, I decided to chase him. I kept spraying until he ran toward the backyard, behind the house. My customer then got the girl into her car, along with her own kids, and drove to the girl’s grandma’s house a couple of blocks over.
My heart was racing, but I stayed on the scene. I knew a school bus full of kids was coming, and I didn’t see where the dog had gone. So I called 911 and stayed till they arrived. It turned out that the dog had probably jumped back into his house through a window.
Later, I learned that the loose dog had seemed friendly at first. The kids were petting him. But when the one girl started running, the dog took off after her. Her grandma told me she had needed several surgeries. When I eventually saw the girl again, she ran to the mail truck to give me a hug. I was so happy to see her.
Letter carriers get to know people. We see things. One time, I found someone in a ditch who’d had a seizure. Last December, I helped lift a customer who had fallen out of her wheelchair. It’s nothing heroic, it’s just what you do. Sometimes when you stop to help, you might make someone’s day just a little bit better. Other times, if you’re lucky, you might help save their life. —As told to Leslie Quander Wooldridge
Rungphet Bodnar, 56—named the National Association of Letter Carriers’ Central Region Hero of the Year in 2025—lives in Flushing, Michigan.