Several people come to our local doggy park with their pit bulls. I have never seen one of them showing any aggression to either the other dogs or the owners.
Of course I am sure that these are well bred and well trained pits.
I still have a tendency not to turn my back on them, though........
Actually, the most aggressive dog I have encountered in the park in the 10 + years I’ve been taking my dogs there is a Doberman mix.....there are several Dobermans that visit the park, but this one in particular just went a bit bezerk and went after a much smaller dog.
The owner was right on it—controlled his dog right away, left the park and I’ve never seen him there again.
The smaller dog had some pretty serious bites and spent a few days in the vet clinic, but got over it, and still comes to the park and plays well.
In my experience, the most aggressive dogs are the small, yappy breeds. I admit I’m a large breed fan (and I also love mutts). When I look at a lapdog, or one of those tiny pups women stick in handbags, I think “fuzzy little animal”, but not “dog.”
My opinion on pitbulls and other very powerful breeds is this: if your pitbull bites a person, you go to jail for something along the lines of attempted manslaughter. I think they should be licensed just as much as other potentially deadly animals such as bears, big cats or wolves. I know people will tell all the stories about good owners etc etc, however, I have never read a story where the owners said that their pitbull showed signs of aggression. It is always, "well he was always such a good dog, I really can't believe he killed that 5 year old."