Dogs can be very aggressive towards one another, as many people will have witnessed in public places. But in South Africa aggression between dogs occurs more often in people’s homes.
We, a group of South African veterinary scientists including epidemiologists and a behaviourist at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, set out to understand the drivers of dog-on-dog aggression in dog bite patients. One of the reasons for doing this is that international studies rarely represent African settings, yet dog-keeping practices profoundly influence behaviour.
In South Africa, for example, dog ownership is driven by safety concerns and a guard against crime. Typically owners keep multiple dogs, select more aggressive dog breeds and combine large breeds for protection with smaller “alert” dogs meant to raise the alarm.
