Almost every day I see a story in the national news about pit bulls having attacked or mauled an individual.

While I am no expert on the topic of dog raising, I feel there is one aspect of caring for any animal that will have the greatest impact on how it interacts with people, how the owner cared for an socialized with it.

To me, the fault of a mauling falls on the owner. They taught the canine how to interact with people.

I think a little research could shed a lot of light as to whether the animal’s upbringing was the factor that caused the animal to attack.

It would be interesting to compile data on documented dog attacks as to how each dog was cared for.

I suspect neglect abuse is a larger factor in these incidents as opposed to the genetic traits of a particular breed. I feel if a dog is abused it could cause the animal to act out and possibly attack people.

My younger brother owned two dog breeds traditionally considered to be hostile, a pit bull and a chow. Not once did they ever bite or maul anyone.

My little brother had an affinity for those dogs and cared for them as if they were his children.

He fed them, gave them water but most of all loved them.

Modern dogs are the product of human manipulation in planned reproduction to create breeds suited to a particular purpose.

Take a dachshund for instance. It was bred to hunt burrowing animals.

And while there is the possibility that our meddling has created broken breeds, I think the problem lies more in how the individual animal was reared by their individual owner.

In my encounters with any dog, regardless of breed, I always approach with caution. Remember, any dog can become violent if it feels threatened.