I knew she had several dogs, one a yappy little mutt and her son’s two malamute-husky mixes that she and her husband took in when their 35-something year old son decided to give up his job and sell his house and go to into a seminary. The little yappy dog was annoying but the other two, well every time I came to her house, they were either in the back yard or in the basement or with her son, as she told me, “they aren’t very friendly”.
Later we one day went out for an early dinner.
When we came back to her house, her son had come home and the malamute-husky dogs were loose in the house.
I had just sat down on the couch when the biggest of the dogs walked up to me, his ears laid back, back slunk down low, his fur standing straight up and all his teeth baring and growling a low guttural sound, I could feel his hot breath on me. He was inches away from me and I really thought he was going to attack me.
I knew enough not to panic, not to make any sudden moves and not to make direct eye contact, I just sat motionless.
My friend pulled him back at the last second as he started lunging toward me and screamed for her son for help, at which point he came in and drug him away with the dog now really going berserk, it was all he could do to get him back under control.
I’ve been around dogs, big dogs – Boxers, GSD, Dobermans, but all my life but was never so scared.
My friend apologized and tried to tell me that she saw he was wagging his tail and that he acts that way toward anyone he doesn’t know, so he wasn’t really going to bite me. I didn’t see him wagging his tail but even if he had been, that isn’t a predictor of whether a dog will bite or not.
I politely told my friend that I wasn’t coming back to into her house as long as she had that dog around – either the dog would have to be safely contained or we’d have to meet at my house.
That dog IMO is a ticking time bomb. Being protective is one thing, being viscous and barely controllable is another.
Socialization and training were not a part of their upbringing.
It is odd that those dogs weighed about 125lbs. While staffordshire terriers are larger than pits, they range between 60 to 80 lbs.
If those dogs were bred for fighting, they were most likely an unaltered male and female pair, a potential formula for disaster.
I would wager that most instances where multiple dog homes have violent encounters with dogs that there are unaltered pairs and a female in heat.
If you are really interested in educating yourself,
https://www.caninejournal.com/dog-bite-statistics
http://www.thedogplace.org/Family-Dog/Dog-Bite-Stats-Dokken.asp
The comment section is interesting to as the discussion goes on.