Not much is said about the Lubao market, a market whose main commodity of trade is dogs and which has since risen to be one of the biggest in the Western region, owing to its early establishment.
Located only six kilometres from Kakamega Town in Kakamega County, operations at the market which has been in existence since the mid-1990s begin as early as 8am.
Here, traders parade their canines for willing buyers to see, the majority of whom appear to prefer the hostile ones.
According to Jackson Makanji, the market chair, the demand for fierce dogs has forced the dealers to go to greater lengths to convince buyers that they have exactly what they need.
This, he says, is because the most fierce canines attract the highest prices, and are on high demand.
Consequently, he says, some dogs are thoroughly whipped before being put on display since the pain makes them hostile, consequently convincing the customers that they are the best.
“Buyers come for aggressive dogs and some of us might want to achieve that by any means so that they can sell,” says Makanji, who adds that this is the trick used to convince those looking for guard dogs.
Some traders say that some of the animals are given bhang to achieve the same, which Makanji says has in some instances seen them bite people for no reason.
"We have had situations where dogs just bite people out of the blue and owners are forced to compensate and pay for the victims’ treatment,” he told the Standard on Wednesday.
He adds that sick dogs, which are easy to identify, attract very low prices in the market that serves people from as far as Uganda and Tanzania.
The chairman said that the dogs fetch between Sh800 and Sh5,000.