Dee, I think you done it right. Forewarned is forearmed. It is totally about responsibility, a commodity in short supply I've noticed as I've gotten older. Seems I've nearly always been delivering something door-to-door. Got my paper route at 8 and my first dog lesson the next day. My Dad handled a dog that I couldn't get past to deliver the paper and though I never forgot it, I never quite got the method down pat. Though I cuold handle that dog, I was always a might timid when the next dog came along. None ever drew blood, just scared the devil out of me. The one that gets you is the little dog that 'never bites'. This happened to be a Shelty, about 20 lbs. Pretty little thing and I had known her for several years. Her owner was an AVON rep and I was delivering for UPS then. I waved at "mom" in the garden as I stepped onto the porch to deliver her order. As I left, the Shelty came out from under the porch and grabbed my ankle, but didn't get through my Wellington boots. The Shelty caught the corner of my clipboard in an automatic reaction and ki-yied off back under the porch. "mom" was very apologetic and so was I; but that dog never got or took a second chance at me. It stayed away when I made my delivery every two weeks. I've owned dogs most of my life, mostly hunting breeds, but a few mongrels. Their nature shows before they are very old, and if their nature is not compatible with our lifestyle, we take steps to correct their nature or we find them a home more suitable for their nature; or we put them down.
Life is too precious to be controlled by an animal or threatened by the presence of an animal. When my oldest girl was still in diapers, we would put her in a swing in the backyard. My retreiver/setter mix at 110 lbs would stand guard by her. So would my two English Springer Spaniels at about 35 lbs each. "Until" another dog roamed into the yard. Those two Spaniels would take off after that intruder and chase it completly out of the neighborhood. On the other hand, that retreiver would simply position himself between the intruder and our daughter right at the swingset; never upsetting our daughter, never leaving her, and never letting any harm come to her. (That retreiver was there long after those Spaniels had found new homes.)
He was the same way with people that he didn't know. He would maintain the barrier until we arrived on the scene. The one acre yard wasn't fenced, and I never found out that he ever left it. He was big and quiet and got it done. Kinda reminded me of John Wayne! To own a dog is a priviledge, not a right. It takes responsibility to maintain that priviledge.
Regards,
Sweetwater