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Pit Bulls were not made to be agressive to humans, quite the contrary actually. They were bred for many things, and the first of these things was not dog fighting. But when people did fight these dogs, they were bred to be non-agressive to humans. The owner needed to be able to control his dog in a fight. Any dog that bit the owner was put down immediately.

We aren't that good. We don't have the ability to breed for a particular, directed, form of aggression. The dogs are bred to be aggressive, and conditioned to be subservient to people. The ones that were uncontrollable were put down immediately because they have no value if they can't be handled, not because they were a flaw breeders wanted to extinguish. This is politically correct doublespeak.

They are not working dogs in a traditional sense. They were not bred to work closely with people in complex tasks. Brains and stability were not important, only brawn and dominance. There is a level of sharpness to many of the police and working breeds, but stability was paramount and aggression intolerable. Police work is not aggression as much as it is herding instinct that was honed. A good police dog is not biting because he is frightened, angry, or after blood... but rather stopping a moving target that his master wants stopped. Those who are too sharp, or turn that training to blood lust do not make it. A German Shepherd is very definately honed to work very closely for man, not himself. A pit bull's only important skill is the ability kill rather than be killed. Very different talent.

I will guard the slippery slope but I won't get on it. Individual dogs can be dangerous in any breed. This breed was created to be dangerous.

http://www.lucydog.com/taylor.html http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/oldtime.html http://www.cpcn.com/articles/031397/article020.shtml http://www.pitbulls.com/USMCpitbull.html http://www.pitbulls.com/PBR/dogstory.htm http://www.endangeredbreedsassociation.org/ http://www.internationalstafford.com/ http://www.thedognet.net/dogsinthenews/issues/0103/articles/010322a.htm http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/ http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/moss.html http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/articles/setfire.html http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/articles/wilsonart.html http://www.pitbulls.com/stuff/press.html Here is some more information that I found on the web, quotes from different people who own the breed: "Fatal attacks since 1975 have been attributed to over 30 different dog breeds yet all the media can talk about are Pit bulls, Rottweilers, Dobermans, or Akitas. Size alone is not an accurate indicator of which dogs are capable of killing and which dogs are not. In October of 2000, a baby was killed by a four pound family Pomeranian dog in California. In February of 2002, a Jack Russell Terrier mauled a 6 week old baby in Tennessee. For an entire category of bites, there is no reporting at all. This is for so called provoked bites. Bites that occur at veterinarian offices, dog groomers, and boarding kennels in many counties are automatically declared to be provoked bites. Those that know dog bite statistics from the inside out are those that work with animals for a living. I recently polled a number of animal shelter workers and this is what they said about dog bites. Most of the bites have been by small unfriendly Terrier type dogs and Cocker Spaniels. Occasionally they have seen a larger dog on a bite case but the vast majority of the bites were from small to medium sized dogs. The dog groomers I spoke to said most of the bites they see are from Schnauzers, Cocker Spaniels, Westies, Scotties, and Dachshunds. Next I polled a number of veterinarians. One veterinarian said to me, "Give me a so-called vicious Pit Bull over a Cocker Spaniel, Dachshund, or even a Lab any day!! These are the breeds I have the most problem with." Another vet concurred saying that in years of working at a veterinarian clinic she never once encountered a single vicious Pit bull yet had problems all the time with Cocker Spaniels and Yorkshire Terriers." The problem surrounding American Pit Bull Terrier's is as much mis-information as it is media sensationalism. My mother was bit by my sister's Black Lab (requiring several stitches to her arm) All the doctor wanted to know was, "is it a Pit Bull?" I witnessed a dog attack outside the office building where I work. An Akita and a Golden Retriever attacked a woman. It was in the parking lot of a local television station. It was on the news for about 3 hours that night. Then the story was dropped, it was never run by any local Newspapers. Not Pit Bulls...not news worthy. By the way the woman was hospitalized for a week. If a person gets shot by a .22 caliber hand gun, does the doctor say that was only a .22...that's not a gunshot wound. NO... he's is required by law to report ALL gunshot wounds. Until all dog bites are required to be reported, until only then can any credence be given to statistics that claim Pit Bull's bite more than other breeds. 90% of all dog bites are family pets and they go unreported. Adolph Hitler would have loved the media campaign against Pit Bulls ... it's called Genocidal Propaganda. He used it quite effectively against the Jewish peoples of Europe in the 1930's. It was wrong then and it is wrong now. The problem stems from punk's who hear nonsense in the News about the dogs and go out and get one because they think it's macho. They don't learn about the breed, they train and handle their dogs incorrectly and the dog's get in trouble because of it. I've met people at dog shows, whose families have bred American Pit Bull Terrier's for over 100 years...and not one of their friends or family have ever been bit by a Pit Bull. And for the record 50,000 people a year get killed in car accidents in America...400,000 people a year die from smoking cigarettes. More people have been killed this year from mosquito bites than have died from dog bites. Get the picture. If you own a Pit Bull, read the books authored by Richard F. Stratton, keeps your dogs properly restrained (chained, leashed or in your house). I own 2 and have never had a problem. Skydog ADBA registered American Pit Bull Terrier show dog Layla (resident couch potato) Thank You Kevin