All animals have instinctual behaviours that developed in the wild. For dogs, one of those instinctual behaviours is seeking to be the top dog. Sure, that instinct can be more prominant in some breeds than another, but it’s always there. It just part of their patterns as animals.
When the alpha dog is out with the pack hunting, the dogs left behind still need to be led, so a lesser alpha will fill that role.
Unless your dog sees itself as so far down the hierarchy that its name is mud, it will have those behaviors as well. There are a lot of videos on Youtube that dog owners have put up to show what their pooch does when they are away and its always the same. Owner gone, dog sits or sleeps where owner sleeps or sits or does things it knows darn well it is not supposed to do, like root through the garbage.
It’s just part of being a dog.
You need to realize that dogs aren’t “developed in the wild.” Dog breeds were developed by human beings who were seeking very particular traits.
Pit bulls are bred for their aggressiveness; Labrador Retrievers are not.
My last two dogs were male Rottweilers. Rottweilers are aggressive and territorial dogs by their nature and by their breeding. You don’t have to “train” a Rott to protect you or your home; you’d have a hard time training one NOT to.
My current dog is a female lab mix with another friendly dog breed. She is neither territorial nor agressive - again by breeding - and probably would not fight to protect her property or her family. She just didn’t have that bred into her.
I’ve never trusted pit bulls. I’ve known quite a few people who have had them, and one day they’re gone, and I hear some version of, “The dog was friendly, but it bit my mother,” or my kid, or the kid next door, or the mail man, or the dog next door.
I have a feeling that the woman being pregnant greatly contributed to the attack. Dogs are VERY aware of any change; and the woman probably had a change in odor as a result of being pregnant that threatened the dog. I’ve heard several times of someone getting cancer and the dog knowing even before the test - and becoming either scared or aggressive.
Of all the dogs that are TRULY “aggressive,” Pit Bulls ought to be at the top of the list. And anyone who doesn’t realize that is pretty stupid.
I love Rottweilers. But I love them for what they ARE, not because I live in denial.