Pit bulls: The good, the bad and the ugly

A month ago (November 8), Caxton Local Media reported on the spate of fatal dog attacks across South Africa, with pit bulls featuring in almost all of the cases. Since then, there have been at least five more fatal attacks involving pit bulls and drastic calls for the immediate banning of this power breed have increased.

These were the fatal pit bull attacks in the past month:

• November 12: Olebogeng Mosime (8), Bloemfontein
• November 20: Keketso Innocent Saule (3), Henneman
• November 23: Reuben le Roux (15 months), East London
• November 27: Zimkhitha Brenda Gaga (37), Port Alfred
• December 3: Floyd Metsileng (39), Mogwase.

Animals 24-7, a non-profit group and information service reporting on attacks by pit bulls, other dogs and exotic pets, has been listing fatal dog attacks in South Africa (using media reports) since 2004. Of 56 victims of fatal dog attacks in South Africa since then, 38 were killed by pit bulls. The 18 other fatal attacks included seven by rabid dogs and not more than four by any other breed of dog.

Vocal opponents of pit bulls have called for an immediate ban on the breed. Dr Quixi Sonntag, a lecturer from the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Pretoria, told Caxton Local Media that this won’t work.

“Who would identify the dogs that need to be banned? Would these people have training in recognising dog breeds? The difficulty with bans is in the identification of the breed. Some pure pit bulls may not look quite like a pit bull, and some dogs that look like pit bulls could be crosses with no pit bull in them.

“There could, for example, be a licensing system whereby owners have to prove that they know something about dogs. Similarly, breeders should be encouraged to critically evaluate their breeding strategy and their responsibilities to the people who buy puppies from them, and to the puppies themselves.

“Ideally, all stakeholders should have a conversation and collectively come up with effective, innovative ways of addressing the situation.”

To understand the history of pit bulls in South Africa, the characteristics of the breed and misperceptions about them, Caxton Local Media spoke to Taryn Blyth, an expert animal behaviourist and dog trainer with an advanced diploma in the Practical Aspects of Companion Animal Behaviour and Training through the Centre of Applied Pet Ethology.

• History of pit bulls in South Africa: Pit bulls in general are descended from dogs that were originally used for bull and bear baiting. They needed to be able and willing to bite and hold onto very large animals and so were selected to be extremely strong and tenacious. When this sport was outlawed, pit bulls were specifically bred for dog-to-dog combat. The dogs we have in South Africa are descended from these dogs, which were imported from other countries. Here, they have been crossed with boerboels and other larger bull breed type dogs to increase their size and make them more intimidating and a bigger status symbol.
• Characteristics of pit bulls: While dogs today are scavengers rather than predators, they retain certain remnants of predatory behaviour, known as the predatory sequence. In full, this sequence is EYE – STALK – CHASE – GRAB BITE – SHAKE BITE – KILL BITE – DISSECT. As humans selectively bred certain types of dogs for specific jobs, they exaggerated some of these traits and did away with others. As pit bulls were designed to kill each other, the elements of the predatory sequence selected for them were EYE – GRAB BITE – SHAKE BITE – KILL BITE, with nothing in between. They also have a very low threshold for arousal, which means that they react quickly to stimuli and appear to go from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye. It is recognised that these dogs have a propensity towards dog-dog aggression and are risky around other animals; when a human triggers this behaviour, unfortunately, it tends to have tragic consequences.
• Misperceptions about pit bulls: I think the biggest misconception is the idea that it is ‘just how you raise them’ and that genetics don’t matter. We accept that other breeds have certain breed characteristics which we selected into them for the jobs we designed them for, but people think that being honest about the traits that we selected for pit bulls is somehow a form of breed prejudice, says Blyth. The other misconception is that the motivation for most attacks by pit bulls is defensive aggression, when I believe it is more likely that the dogs are engaged in predatory type behaviour. Indeed, when observing behaviour in attacks that have been filmed, the dogs tend to look as if they are having fun, rather than fighting for their lives. This does not mean that they are monsters. We created them and they are simply doing what we created them to do.

This is something Robyn Eshelby-Theart, an experienced canine coach, echoed in a Facebook post earlier this week:

“This needs to be said, again, and louder… I will never stop saying this. Never… Thinking you can love the genetics out of a pit bull is probably the most naive thing you can do. By thinking you can do this, you put other animals at risk. While your pit bull’s life matters, so do the lives of their victims… I am not saying pit bulls are not nice. I am saying that pit bulls, like all breeds, were engineered for a purpose. And their purpose does not correlate with the lifestyle desired by the average dog owner… And if a dog professional tells you that they’ll socialise your pit, know that what will happen is SUPPRESSION. Your pit will never be social, it will simply (temporarily) suppress its instinct to fight. This is usually achieved through aversive methods. Suppression never lasts. All it does is get you to the point that you let your guard down, and then the tragedy occurs… We need to stop this madness.”

If you have concerns about the conditions in which a pit bull is kept, or are afraid a pit bull may be harmed, or want to surrender your pit bull, please contact your local SPCA. In certain cases, you may be advised to contact your local authority.