If I'm not mistaken, German Shepherd are #2 on the list as far as dogs who attack and kill people.
I'm familiar with at least three different incidents here in South Florida with police dogs—German Shepherds, specifically—who attacked the "wrong" people.
The hysteria surrounding pits is due at least partially to the fact that there are an incredibly popular breed. I haven't seen the statistics, but I do know that they are one of the most widely owned breeds in the country, and every single pit I've known has been a great dog, and grown old and died without any problem. So I'm not going to jump on the anti-pit bull hysteria bandwagon.
The number of people killed by dogs in general—and pit bulls specifically—pales in comparison to numerous other causes of accidental death. Thus, the issue is more one of emotionalism than anything else, and a handful of tragic horror stories every year doesn't convince me of any compelling need to indiscriminately put down every pit bull in the country. By that hysterical criteria, there are a lot of other things in our free society which should be even more readily banned by knee-jerk nanny-staters...
I also have heard (from a vet) that the GSD’s are very high on the “bite list”. I think that due to their popularity, they were irresponsibly bred for many years.
“If I’m not mistaken, German Shepherd are #2 on the list as far as dogs who attack and kill people.”
Back in the stone age when hardly anyone had black and white TV I had an encounter with a German shepherd. As about a 10 year old lad I was walking home with a bag (paper in those days)of groceries. The prize inside was a package of hot dogs. A pack of loose dogs led by the alpha Shepherd started walking with me. Out of nowhere rin tin tin took a chunk out of my butt. I yelled, dropped the bag and took off. Looking back the bag was in shreds and wienies going down the hatch. Apparently thats all they wanted as they just went away. Have been extremely wary of German Shepherds ever since.