Quote Originally Posted by .sarah
What a wonderful post, and so true.

What I want to say to you, Jess, is that you're not looking at the whole picture. Pit Bulls have the most publisized attacks and this is the only reason people hate this particular breed so much. I cannot tell you the countless numbers of Pit Bulls that I have met at work and have not been bitten, scratched, nor tormented by any of them. Just last Monday I was bitten by a Lab. I've been bitten by TONS of small dogs. I've been bitten by German Shepherds. And, yes, I have been bitten by a Border Collie. It has to do with the owner and breeding that the dog comes from. Besides, Pits that were trained to fight were taught to fight other DOGS, not humans. The dogs had to trust their owners so that the fights could be broken up and not have the people get hurt.

I know this was already posted in this thread, but did you look at this site? It really puts the whole thing into perspective.
http://www.understand-a-bull.com
I agree. I worked at the boarding kennel (and I'm going to start working there again this week)...because of their dog aggressive nature, we don't let pits board there, but of course there was enough that slipped through with being called a lab/boxer or something, and some that debated they were AmStaffs..blah blah yeah, I never felt threatened by any of them, whatsoever. Some of the breeds that I specifically remember being nervous around (I'm not discriminating against them, just making a point), was two boxers, a border collie, two chows, a couple shepherd mixes, a couple GSDs, a Rottie Mix, a couple Dachshunds, and a Bichon. Plus some of the labs were quite mouthy, and would push you over in a second, and a lot of goldens are flighty and not all there mentally...they would bite you in a second if you're not careful. The worst was the Bichon, which actually got me, a chow that came after me, and a Boxer that starting lunging and barking at my legs. The pits-absolutely NO problems with. It's not just pit bulls, it's all dogs.

The point is, they are so discriminated against, that a lot of them are only owned by people that have them, just to have a mean pitbull, the dog gets loose, and the news stories happen. You don't hear about the lab that attacked someone, or the Poodle, because it's not eaten up by the media. This is a media based fear. They were NOT bred to fight people, they were bred to fight dogs. When Pit Bull fighting first came out...any dog that turned on a handler, was immediately killed. Not so anymore, but please understand where I'm coming from. It's the good people that own pits that are being punished, the bad people aren't even being touched. They don't care if the dog is taken away, they'll just get another one, or some other breed. Banning pit bulls is NOT the answer. Licenses to own them, fees, spay and neuter contracts, is the answer.
"When pit bulls are outlawed, only outlaws will own pit bulls. "

This is a very heavy topic of mine.