[MineralMan]

"I used to live in an area where there were a lot of pit bulls. I suppose they can be fine dogs, but they rarely are. Nine times out of ten they were owned by sociopaths."

And there you have it. Around here, pit bull owners are generally young guys with shaved heads and a weight-lifter's body. The Death Metal band bumper stickers on their cars or trucks put them in a category I worry about.

Skinheads with pit bulls. A bad, bad combination. Fortunately, my neighborhood has become very stable in the past year, with all the houses lived in by their owners for about three blocks. No pit bulls.

[glory]

In Phoenix, it was a machismo thing(probably the same in your neck of the woods I imagine). I don't have enough fingers on my hands to count the number of barely out of teens young men(usually of hispanic origin) with a girlfriend/wife and YOUNG children proudly walking their wild dog with the family or pondering the idea of either a Rott or Pit. Blew my mind and I felt sorry for the poor babies who would have to live with that beast.