Evidence against pitbulls high

here has been a genuine outcry about the continued keeping of pitbulls in our homes by people who profess to love this breed of dogs.

Recently, pitbulls killed two toddlers in Gqeberha and have been responsible for other gruesome attacks in the recent past.

On Wednesday, a friend of mine told me a story of his uncle who had to shoot his pitbull after it became very aggressive towards him one night when he returned home.

As he approached his gate, the dog took up an aggressive posture. He called its name thinking maybe it did not see it was him.

It continued growling and then tried to chew at the fence to get to him, and that is when he realised there was no way back. He took his gun and shot it dead.

This echoes another story somebody told me last year, and the dog did attack and bite that man on the arm.

He had no choice but to shoot it as it also earlier in the day tried to attack his

Tchildren while he was away.

In the midst of all these damning tales, there are a few very vocal pitbull owners who swear the breed is misunderstood and they are loving and child-friendly. They will tell you lovely stories about their dogs.

So other than these dogs being genetically disposed towards viciousness, what else could have contributed to the many recent stories of them attacking people they know, and strangers alike?

There has been indiscriminate breeding of these dogs by people who have no knowledge on how to breed animals.

Experienced and licenced breeders use their knowledge of genetics to breed less aggressive dogs which may be child- or human-friendly, though this may not succeed 100% but can lessen the threat.

Dogs were domesticated gradually and through selective breeding became more and more humanfriendly. This was not a random process but a careful and calculated process.

If, for instance, you have an overly-aggressive breed, what do you do if you want to still keep it but lessen the threat to yourself and others?

In every litter, you observe the behaviour of the pups and allow only the docile ones to breed later in life and sterilise the aggressive ones, thereby stopping the aggressive behaviour from being transferred and multiplied.

Amateur breeders do none of this and may end up mating two very aggressive dogs and produce even more aggressive dogs which pose serious danger to humans.

Each breed has different characteristics, so when shopping for a pet, acquaint yourself with these. First determine why you want a dog, where will it be kept, is the breed friendly to children or not, and most importantly, can you as the owner look after it and provide sufficient training and interaction.

Pitbulls are highmaintenance dogs and their temperament is highly unpredictable, so to even think of keeping one in an environment where there are children is unwise and even grossly irresponsible.

If you get a puppy from an indiscriminate breeder, how will you know what kind of a dog you are bringing home?

How do you know whether the puppy is a product of two aggressive parents which will give you a very aggressive dog no matter how much love and attention you give it? You won’t, because backyard breeders have no time nor the knowledge to selectively breed out the aggression innate in this breed.

Should these dogs be banned? I don’t know, but there is mounting evidence they are a threat to us.