Years ago we had two Rottweiler/Catahoula Leopard cross dogs that were bred to hunt wild boar and bear. We trained them extensively and kept them as pets and guard dogs. We live on a farm WAY out in the country. If these dogs hadn’t been well trained they could have done serious damage. The small one was over 120 pounds. We got both when they were 6-weeks old. They wouldn’t let anybody but us touch them and had to be muzzled to go to the Vet.
Guess what? Neither of these dogs ever bit anybody. They were so highly trained that if a person approached me they would sit at my feet and growl until the stranger stopped. If the stranger started coming toward me both would stand up and show teeth and raise hackles BUT, neither did anything more if I told them to stay. Since we were on a farm they ran loose but never left the property.
We thought we might have a problem when my granddaughter was born but both dogs fell in love with her and would have died to protect her. Still, she was NEVER left alone around either of them. Even as highly trained as they were no child should be left with a large dog due to the size difference.
The big one had to be put down because of bone cancer but the smaller one lived to be 16.
To me the difference is training, training, training, and lots of love.
A scary majority of people owning Pit Bulls and dogs like them are the wrong people that have bad intentions. The dogs are encouraged to be mean. They are never taught the difference between protecting and ravaging.
I have never owned a Pit but I have been around several that seemed to be big cuddle bugs. IMO, any dog over 50 pounds can be weaponized by mean indifferent people with bad intentions.
As a Vet tech many years ago I was around all kinds. I saw good friendly Pits and others that were not. All of them that were not were owned by chain wearing, gold tooth, types if you know what I mean. Several of the dogs were mistreated in my presence. Put a badly bred dog into the hands of a stupid mean gang banger type and you have a tragedy waiting to happen.
Hopefully, the truth is a ‘scary minority’,
but the truth might be a function of the locale, area or region in which you dwell.
Any snout nosed muscular terrier with short hair over 15 inches tall at whithers is today considered a pit bull type dog and I think anyhow may be our most common dog.....at least most common that folks think are identifiable
Pit bulls that fit the so called standard are actually either really Staffordshires or pit bull defined by markings like blue nose or red nose of spanky eye patch etc
It’s arguably America’s classic dog along with the old southern white whip tailed bulldog today called the Scott bulldog.....the sort of dog found in Currier and Ives
Besides Spanky, Nipper was a pitbull too and so forth
As a result of their numbers they are everywhere and do end up disproportionately with thugs and wiggers...no question and they have been fought historically but not just them...other breeds too
I’ve had a lot of experience with them and have owned some in the past and my daughters in laws breed them and Malnois professionally
What freepers don’t realize is counter intuitively dog aggressive dogs are not de facto human aggressive
No question an uncut male Pit like an uncut male Rott is likely to be willing to hit another male pretty quick
But that doesn’t mean it’ll bite people
I’ve had dogs freepers hate all my 60 years and never bitten though my brother was bitten by our giant schnauzer and my middle boy bitten by our ifirst bulldog
I’ve seen kids but growing up before leash laws in the 60s
Freepers just don’t like DDBs as a rule period.
You have to use caution with any DDB especially with children