[Sir Francis Dashwood]

...many other types of dog are dangerous when it comes to children.

I have two of the largest dogs in the world. Irish Wolfhounds. They love kids.

[drhogan]

TABLE 1. Dog breeds and crossbreeds* involved in dog-bite-related fatalities, by 2-year period -- United States, 1979-1996 +

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Category 1979-1980 1981-1982 1983-1984 1985-1986 1987-1988 1989-1990 1991-1992 1993-1994 1995-1996 Total

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Breed
"Pit bull" 2 5 10 9 12 8 6 5 3 60
Rottweiler 0 0 1 1 3 1 3 10 10 29
German shepherd 2 1 5 1 1 5 2 0 2 19
"Husky" 2 1 2 2 0 2 2 1 2 14
Alaskan malamute 2 0 3 1 0 2 3 1 0 12
Doberman Pinscher 0 1 0 2 2 2 1 0 0 8
Chow Chow 0 1 0 0 0 2 3 0 2 8
Great Dane 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 6
St. Bernard 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
Akita 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 4

Crossbreed
Wolf hybrid 0 1 1 2 1 4 1 2 2 14
German shepherd 0 2 0 2 2 2 0 1 2 11
"Pit bull" 0 1 0 3 2 & 3 1 1 0 10 &
"Husky" 0 1 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 6
Alaskan malamute 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 3
Rottweiler 0 0 0 0 1 & 1 0 1 1 3 &
Chow Chow 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 3
No. incidents for which breed known 10 20 27 24 22 35 24 25 22 199

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* Data shown only for breeds and crossbreeds involved in four or more fatalities. Each breed contributing to the crossbreed is counted only once.
+ For 1979-1994, data obtained from the Humane Society of the United States registry, NEXIS database accounts, and death certificates.
& One fatality also involved a single breed.

[drhogan]

these are the cdc stats on breeds involved in fatalities. the columns didn't line up right, but at least it shows the relative order.
however, you might have to divide the cdc numbers by the number of individual dogs of each particular breed that live in the US to get a true measure of dangerousness.
and of course, these stats don't control for craziness of owners.

[drhogan]

i don't see Irish Wolfhounds anywhere on this list, so i'm guessing they were not bred for viciousness.
some breeds of dogs were probably bred for traits like intelligence and gentleness, but i don't know enough about dog breeds to know which ones.