My buddy visited me several years later and brought his kids to swim in the lake I lived on. My neighbor had a Doberman/Shepherd mix that grew up on a farm with just him and his mom. Never had any kids around. This dog got up in my buddy's kids' faces growling and baring teeth. My dog ran across the yard and kicked that bigger dog's ass. Meanwhile, Chows are supposed to be one man dogs that can't be trusted around anyone else but that wasn't the way she was brought up. My buddy, his wife and those kids all loved her and she knew that.
Now of course, just like people, there are exceptions. Plenty of people have been raised properly and turn into criminals or commit harry carry. Also, animals have strong survival instincts and are territorial so that makes for a different set of rules. My dad always said, you can't trust an animal. I would say, you can't trust an animal that's not yours and you can only trust yours to a degree.
One of the reasons I took that dog with me everywhere was BECAUSE I was living with that family and I wasn't going to leave the dog there with just the wife and kids. She was my responsibility and so was the safety of others from her. Now another buddy of mine had my dog's brother and raised him completely different. He had to keep that dog tied up with a chain and had to warn everyone to stay away and warn that it would kill any other dog that got within it's reach. That buddy thought of himself as a bit of a badass and so he made the dog in his image. Male dogs are different from female but I'd be willing to bet that if he got the female and I got the male, my dog would still have been safer to be around.
Yeah, I was surprised by some of the breeds on that list. I saw a Pomeranian, sad, killed a 6 week old baby girl as the parents slept. Animals also have jealousy, or at least any animal that runs in a pack, herd, flock etc because they have a social hierarchy that they adhere to. They also will kill the weak or sickly of their group due to their survival instincts. Either of those things can cause them to go after a kid. Kids can also be mean so I imagine at least a few dog attacks are really be instigated by the kid.
Dogs can sense people's emotions and that can change the dynamics of a situation. If they sense fear and hate in a person they're going to be wary of that person.
The reason I come on these threads is because I disagree with the whole breed specific legislation and attitudes. That list shows why. Pit Bulls were here long before the German breeds yet they didn't become the most apt to be a killer dog until recent decades. Before that, it was the German breeds and any breed closer to the wolf, like the sled dogs. Now pit bulls do have dog to dog aggression due to how they were bred so you definitely have to socialize them with a lot of other dogs or keep them well fenced.
They were an American icon of sorts. At least one of our presidents owned one. They were the RCA logo for decades. Buster Brown shoes. Little Rascals? Pit Bull. George Patton had one. They represented the USA on WWI posters. Helen Keller had one. Through all those years, they were not a problem. I doubt they're genetics have changed. It's all about who owns/raises them.
