A lot of them do “go off just like that”. Other kinds of dogs can do that too, but the pits seem to have a bit more of that tendency, and their incredibly powerful jaws result in much more severe damage than most other breeds are capable of inflicting.
What is to be expected? A dog bred SPECIFICALLY to kill in the fighting arena - bred with thick and powerful jaws - and with a killer inborn instinct to kill...
And then people act surprised when their little “Fi-Fi” Pit Bull mauls or kills someone “without warning”.
Let me just go get a .357 revolver, load only one round, then spin the cylinder and aim it at someone at random and pull the trigger. I might get away with this for a lifetime... or I might get a “surprise” and blow away a person’s body part or their life.
Some Pits remain sweet and loving their entire lives. Unfortunately, this gives people a false sense of security (that they frequently throw in people’s faces). And then something like this happens.
No dog is “perfect”. Even some otherwise awesome “family” dog breeds have a bad apple every so often (nearly always a case of seriously bad breeding or horrible mistreatment). But I go back to my original statement in this post - start off with a loaded weapon...
You are right. Dogs are dogs and I am thankful that when one of mine bit me he was a Belgian Sheepdog with a slender snout. I still ended up with 300 stitches to the face. Not pleasant.
10 years later my scars are pretty insignificant. I thank God an excellent plastic surgeon was on call that night.
Word of caution: If you have an elderly dog, don’t bend over to pet him goodnight. Let sleeping dogs lie.
I think one of the problems with Pits is that they don’t just bite, but when they attack its to kill...Its in the breed.
It’s not “powerful jaws”, but the desire to keep at the attack, as if their own lives depended on it. That is the real difference between PB types and other breeds and types.