May 26, 1963 - What does a mailman do after getting bitten six times in two weeks? He bites back, that’s what. Only postman Ken Lincicome first got himself a bigger set of teeth. After the sixth bite, Lincicome hauled his bleeding body back to his Fremont, California post office station and started telling the boys he wasn’t going to take any more of it. He would fight fire with fire. So, Lincicome leashed and harnessed a German shepherd male dog and named him Schann. “Now,” Lincicome says, “those mutts stay away from me.” Lincicome hikes a 17-mile route in Irvington, just east of the south end of San Francisco Bay. He said his worst enemies were a big collie and a pair of beagles. “Those beagles,” the 28-year-old letter carrier remarked, “would like to eat me up.” The collie would hop over a fence and pin him against a wall for a 10-to-15-minute bout every day. Other assorted canines would be less direct, waiting until he had his back turned before jumping him. All of that ended when Schann came along. At first, however, Schann — just 2 months old and all nose, tail, and feet — did not bother the opposition. They just looked at him with contempt. But then Schann grew, and grew, and grew, and he’s still growing. Now a year old, he weighs 102 pounds, only 50 pounds less than his master. The collie no longer hops the fence, the beagles stay in their garage, and Lincicome, once a bitter man, even whistles while he works.
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