The breed has a better temperament now, but blame it on the Irish during the Industrial Revolution that worked in Britain. They started the brutal dog fighting with this breed for cheap entertainment. Btw, the Pit Bull isn't anything compared to the Serbian SDD (Serbian Defensive Dog) which is stronger that a PB and is trained to attack people and animals on command. In the Balkans, the Serbs tried to unleash a pack of them on German soldiers with Lynx protection. The Lynx gunner with MG-3 turned them into hamburger in seconds! The Heer killed these dogs on sight. They are banned in most nations.

Another similar killer fog is fila brasileiro, which is a prohibited breed in Finland. It was originally bred to hunt runaway slaves in Brazil.

Right on! Amen! Welcome back!

I remember the stigma of owning a Doberman in the '70s and a Rottweiler in the '80s! That went away, but the Pit Bull image and temperament problem persists. I live in Cali, so even homeless have Pits for protection.

Rob, Susanna, I have no doubt you are correct, but those dogs are not promoted by shelters and defenders in America as "safe family pets". Shelters are full of them so they promote the heck out of them and almost give them away to families. Then tragedy strikes. Even responsible owners can't control them, they are too powerful and unpredictable. Who really needs a bazooka when a can of mace will do? Every day the news has some horror story of a person or animal attack, and look at the picture of the attacker? Most of the time a Pittie. 36 deaths last year.

Haha the one day a year I pop by and look who's here? Good to see you still writing! And of course as a mailman I approve this message wholeheartedly -- good stuff

HI Claude! Good to hear from you. I was a lineman for many years. You still writing? Of course! Can't keep a down man good!

oh for a second I thought you were talking about banning Pitbull the rapper banning either one's a winner for me I mean I'm a dog-lover and all but... sheesh gimme a break! 5's

As a devoted jogger/runner I've had my share of close encounters with the barking unkind, luckily not ever bitten bad, but circled and herded by a bigmouthed loose sheep dog has to rank up there with dogs-out-of-control episodes. (And no, I wasn't at the time doing research for one of my sheep shagging parodies, he-he).

The general problem seems to lay with stupid owners who don't understand the difference between themselves being seen by their dogs as pack leaders, and everyone else being their own potential pray. The amount of stupid people out there who shouldn't be allowed to have dogs, or breed themselves for that matter, is astonishing!

Attacked by a Vallhund were you? LOL!!!

Saw a story on TV about a woman in San Francisco who was killed by a Preso Canario, another misbegotten breed kept as a status symbol by lowlifes. I've had a lifetime of bad experiences with dogs. Fortunate never to have been bitten. Always carry a gun when walking. The KCK Police have Belgian Malinois. Cops say they will run themselves to death to attack someone. They will even bite their own handlers. Other cops are scared of them. They have been told not to shoot the dog if it bites them. Screw that! Bad dogs usually have bad owners, but they are also creatures of instinct. A lot of people mistakenly attribute human characteristics to them. Of course, a lot of people act on instinct rather than reason, too.

Patrick, you are probably referring of Diane Whipple's case who was killed by two Presa Canario, owned by a couple who are psycopaths. You can learn more about this very telling and chilling case on Youtube under "American Justice, the San Francisco mauling".

Interesting dog story: http://strangevehicles.greyfalcon.us/Krieghund.htm

I must confess I am a dog lover. (And cat and horse lover too.) I have had a dog, a cat and a snake as a pet, and I must say there are two great risks having a dog: a) the dog has an inherent psychological character flaw and b) the owner is irresponsible. Most dog bites are due to b) and usually small fifis and pooches whom their owner have no control over. People tend to underestimate "nice" and "small" breeds. But there are indeed really dangerous and problematic breeds, and pit bull is one of them. Pit bull and fila brasileiro are prohibited in Finland (too many character-flawed dogs), while American Staffordshire terrier (same breed as pit bull but different lineage) is legal. Amstaff and pit bull are very demanding dogs, and certainly not suitable for any light-hearted owner. Rottweilers are very popular in Finland, as the Finnish lineage is very docile, and as amputating the tails and mutilating ears has been prohibited, now only serious dog-owners will have Rottweilers and Dobermanns as pets. I grew up seeing only bob-tailed Dobermanns and Rottweilers with cropped ears: now as those doggies have their full tails and ears, they are incredibly beautiful dogs and not scary at all.