WATCH: Bulawayo’s canine maulings: A wake-up call to revisit the relationship between humans and dogs

BULAWAYO has over the years witnessed a series of gruesome deaths caused by canine maulings, which has brought the age-old saying “A dog is a man’s best friend” into question. While dogs are known to be protectors and guides, what happens when they end up on an antagonistic path with humans?

To shed light on this enigmatic phenomenon, Saturday Chronicle spoke with Prichard Mugula Moyo, a self-employed business owner with over five years of experience in training dogs. Moyo specialises in obedience training, behavioural modifications, breeding, grooming, and aggression
management.

Moyo’s expertise in dog training provides valuable insights into the complex relationship between humans and dogs.

His experience can help us understand how to prevent such tragic incidents from happening in the future.

“I subscribe to the notion that indeed, to a larger extent, canines are man’s best friend. Canines aren’t naturally aggressive but there are underlying factors which trigger them. The issue lies with the owner of the dog. If he/she keeps the dog chained/caged all the time, which would make it more aggressive.

“Dogs reciprocate and whatever the owner exposes the dog to, the same is likely to happen to them. The owner shapes the dog’s behaviour so people need to train and exercise their dogs more and people need to understand why they keep dogs and which ones best suit the purpose.

The goal is to have more trained dogs to offer for security services and train dogs for home protection and educate dog owners on which breeds to keep that suit their family needs hence if we have more trained dogs and trained dog owners, the rate of people getting killed by dogs will decline,” said Moyo.

“People need to know what types of dogs are ideal for them to keep before they buy any puppies as this will help them know what works for them and what does not. For example, pit bulls are active canines which need not to be leashed too much as that would lead them to being very aggressive,” warned Moyo.

Last year, Moyo and his wife, Sibonelo Nkosi established AK9-Unit, a company which specialises in training, handling, and grooming canines to help security companies and for crowd control where hordes of people meet, pet care services, and rescuing stray dogs.

Moyo said they work closely with the Zimbabwe National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

“Since we work hand in glove with the SPCA, the bigger picture for us is building a rescue park where rescued dogs from the streets would be kennelled, cared for and trained as I also work with veterinarians to help in the scourge of people being mauled by their pets,” he said.

To date, Moyo, who is the head of the canine unit at wholesale shop, Budget Cash and Carry has trained quite a number of dog handlers and believes that if well-trained, dogs can be benign and be at their friendliest.

AK9 Unit has five German shepherds, two rottweilers and toypom maltese.

Moyo recalls a near-death experience when he was bitten by a puppy malinois and its teeth sunk into his flesh and also an incident when he was training a dog and the retractable leash loosened leading to the dog breaking away but luckily no one got injured as he was able to restrain the dog.

When he speaks, dogs listen to him and do whatever he says, something he believes every dog breeder must be able to do to ensure their own safety and that of others.

Moyo said his canines provide security at Palace Gardens and have been summoned to control crowds at gigs such as the Amaroto and Naqmusic’s gig.
— @MbuleloMpofu