Speaking of cute little Toto's, our next-door neighbors had a Toto-esque Yorkshire Terrier. That thing bit every ankle or hand that came in striking distance, including those of its owners, whose daughters cuddled and kissed the thing constantly. The good thing was, its mouth was too tiny to do any damage. But the desire to attack was definitely there in its beady little eyes.
Some people have nasty little dogs (and awful big ones) but the point not to be understated is that kids need to be supervised around dogs for two reasons, one, to make sure the dog behaves... but just as important, to make sure the CHILD behaves. Little kids are mean to dogs. Some intentionally, some just lacking in awareness.
Two of the dogs I've had in my adult life have snapped at children, both times in self defense. One was a cocker mix, and the child visiting had chased her around the house with determination, after being told by me repeatedly to stop. I got no support from the parents at all. When we heard my dog yelp and turned, the kid had fistfulls of hair and was pulling the dog out from under a chair. Zulu snapped and gave the kid a red mark right on her nose. Thinking she was in trouble, Zulu then ran away, while the child started wailing.
My large dog Gidget also bit a child who I found out had been chasing her around the yard with a whiffle bat, had grabbed her collar, and when she rolled over submissively, the kid fell on her. She bit the source of her pain, the kid's knee on her leg. Neither of my dogs left a mark on the children that lasted more than a few minutes.
A child also did something cruel to my Labrador, grabbed his [balls] and proceded to twist them around and around. Now, my Labrador, like most Labradors, had the patience and constitution of a saint. He cryed and scrambled to get away, but he didn't bite her. I don't think it'd be in him to bite anyone any time for any reason.
I think most family dog bite situations involve culpability, if not real blame, in the child's behavior. They need to be taught how to treat dogs, and most family dogs who snap are trying to do just that, in the same way they'd discipline rowdy pups in the pack.
It's silly, Ditter, to say they 'don't recognize young children as humans". We can't know what a dog's sense of self and family really are, but stable normal dogs most certainly understand babies. They know exactly what children are, I believe, and most have great patience with them. But dogs, particularly little dogs, are very vulnerable to being hurt by kids, and they will quite naturally snap at them if no other relief is offered by parents who should be stopping them from being "innocently mean".
Why do pit bulls snap in such a radical and lethal way? Well, personally, I think it's because Nitro is volitile by nature. I do not buy the premise that the aggressive nature is so finely tuned that they can be called 'only' dog aggressive.... Aggression is not that finely tuned by breeding, only perhaps by training. A pit bull has in him an ancestry that fought to the death, I don't think hoodlums in back alleys that are breeding these dogs are as sophisticated as you give them credit for.