[msnimje]

In my experience, it is the mentality of the owners that causes most problems with these dogs. If the owner is smart enough to have the males neutered they are generally smart enough to keep them from harming people (which the neutering plays a great part).

[Syntyr]

"In my experience, it is the mentality of the owners that causes most problems with these dogs."

ding ding ding we have a winner!

Any dog can be taught to be mean. I have a 100 lb German Shepard who gets pushed around by a 5 poung Yorkshire Terrier.

Granted getting mauled by a Yorkishire Terrier is usually not a life an death matter... and I don't like Pit Bulls at all(ugly dogs) but sad to see others being penalized for the actions of a few idiots.

[Tailback]

In my experience, it is the mentality of the owners that causes most problems with these dogs.

I agree completely. I worked as a garbage man in Portland, OR for 5 years and it's still the old fashioned walk into the yard and empty your can into a carry can and take that back to the truck routes. I was bitten by one dog and that was a golden retriever. The dog was loose in the yard with the owner and she said "Don't worry, she doesn't bite". I made two mistakes, I believed the owner, and I entered a dog's territory with it's master nearby. The dog only got hold of my pants leg and I beat the crap out of it with the garbage can lid till it let go.

A friends ex-girlfriend had a highly trained and well socialized Pit-Bull (Sammy) and one drill weekend I stayed at her place rather than drive the hour and a half home. (we had a few adult beverages) Sammy after knowing me for all of 20 minutes slept with me in the guest room while my friend and his girlfriend stayed in the master bedroom. Yeah I got the raw end of that deal but it goes to show that it's not the breed that's the problem. My 60 pound black lab mix scares the crap out of the 150 pound rottwiler (Bear) across the street. Bear is a big teddy bear while my dog has been encouraged to be aggressive within our property. When the wife and I take our dog to the no-leash doggy park though our dog doesn't even look funny at even the most annoying and aggressive dogs running around. It's all about proper training.