back in the day I was a meter reader for the co-op. You're doing it exactly right. I wished more folks had your forethought. You would not BELIVE what I had to go thru every month to read meters. Bulls were the worse (in the country) ...then chihuahuas (in the back yards of homes in the small town that I had to service)...those little suckers will BITE.
big dogs...not so much.
Odd that.