Controversy over banning the Pitbull breed has begun as a result of a tragedy in Langdon last weekend, when a woman died after a dog attack.

Dr. Miranda Logan, of Foothills Animal Hospital, says there are many factors that contribute to a dog resorting to an attack.

"Why did the dog attack the child? There had to be a factor. We also don't know, was this dog sick? Did it have mental health issues? Was it tripped over? Was this an accident?" she said.

Dr. Logan says breed banning is counter-productive, and determining a breed by looks leaves plenty of room for mistakes.

"They say it's a pitty boxer cross, but without dna testing, you literally cannot guess what it is. There's been tests that show 87 per cent of the time when we try to guess a breed just by looking at it, no matter how much experience you have, we're wrong," she said.

She adds that there are many contributing factors to a dog attacking a human, none of which can be determined without a proper investigation of the incident.

She says Pitbulls are a combination of muscle breed dogs, and only dna testing can determine what mix is present in a dog.

Her position is that smart breeding along with owner education should be more of the focus.

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