Sorry but any resemblance between a Pit bull and my pointers is lost in hundreds of years of canine breeding programs.
Pit bulls are bred to bite and can exert thousands of pounds if pressure in their jaws......My pointers are bred to bring a bird to hand without ruffling a feather.....My pointers were bred to be a trusted member of the family even near the smallest of the clan.... but bulls around tots???? Might as well hand them a loaded and cocked pistol as leave them with a pit.......
“Pit bulls are bred to bite and can exert thousands of pounds if pressure in their jaws.....”
http://dogfacts.wordpress.com/2008/02/03/national-geographics-dr-brady-barrs-bite-pressure-tests/
“Domestic dogs: 320 LBS of pressure on avg. A German Shepherd Dog, American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT), and Rottweiler were tested using a bite sleeve equipped with a specialized computer instrument. The APBT had the least amount of pressure of the 3 dogs tested.”
You must have been thinking of Nanzi Pelousy.
My American bulldog was trained to fight bulls in England, as well as serve as a guard dog, and some were used to herd livestock. The two different varieties—`Scott’ and `Johnson’ have different characteristics: my Scott is lean and agile, probably close to what he was in Albion, about the times the Romans required that if they were restrained by a `stout rope or chain.’
But the damned bull lobby ... So they started breeding them with pugs and turned them into the docile sluggards we see today.
In the meantime Americans continued to use them for herding livestock and for protection from varmints—animal and human.
Dogs are territorial. Feral dogs have reverted to wolves, have broken their ancient compact with us and should, as a general rule, be shot on sight.
One reason there are so many `pitbull’ bites (the American pitbull terrier?) is that—there are so many of them, just as Rottweilers, Dobermans, etc. have ebbed and waned in popularity over the years. Another big reason, the owners who have no business owning a dog of any breed. The breed with the largest, overwhelming population in animal shelters? Bulldogs.
A `bullydog’ requires a strong—and kind—owner. I could never own a `yapster’ hairball after coming to know this breed. All my neighbors understand my tall picket fence, reinforced with 18 gauge wire, and why my three gates are marked “Dogs on Premises” and are locked.
My wife is disabled and home alone a lot when I’m working. Anyone asking another to “Hold muh beer so I kin climb this fence ... “ is a trespasser and will be re-climbing the fence a lot faster.
But all that’s neither here nor there, those stupid facts, since we all know about ‘evil pitbulls’, the conventional wisdom, that their jaw strength is actually measured in gigabites, et cetera and so on. Bed time.
Amen brother.
I wouldn't restrict that to pit bulls.
About the only large dogs I'd trust around a child, and NOT unsupervised, are Labs, Border Collies, some Hounds.