I really don't understand why people think it's black & white why breeds/types/species(?) are like they are.
All the nonsense out now and spouted alot here is that it's ALL the owners' fault - or SOME1 in the dog's past.
BS.
Genetics is at least half of it, people. Get real. If it weren't, there would be NO different breeds at all. Part of genetics is temperament/character/personality. Be serious.
Stop automatically blaming some human, and glibly accusing them of "abuse" or "neglect", or even just "poor socialization". I'm sick of this BS. Yes it's all part of it, but ONLY part.
A basically good dog is hard to make bad. A basically bad dog is hard to make good.
That's the truth!
I agree that's why I stated that the genetics of Pits are to fight other dogs not people.
Some of what people sometimes expect these dogs to do is be guard dogs, especially because they are very powerful. Some of the people who notoriously train them this way are not the most upstanding citizens and don't know what they are doing.
Also Pits are lousy guard dogs. The do not have the same judgement abilities as guard dogs like German Shepherds. German Shepherds notoriously can look at a scene and discern what is wrong and make a call.
Pits can be trained to attack but no training is going to give them the ability to assess a situation. Training one to attack is like leaving a loaded gun lying around. They are a potent force. Pound for pound they are probably the strongest breed surpassing many several times their weight .
OTOH I think Pits are actually good with children because of another genetic characteristic. One of the reasons they are good at dog fighting is because they have an unusually high pain tolerance. Thus when children hurt them they are less likely to react.
Still no dog should be left unsupervised with young children.
Also an individual animal can be unbalanced. The only dog that ever bit me was a Jack Russell who I later learned had several such "mishaps" as the moronic owner later told me. Some breeds like Cocker Spaniels, I have read, have a genetic defect that causes some to go nuts and attack. I blame the AKC and some poor breeding standards and practices for that.