I'm of the opinion that there are no bad dog breeds, just bad owner/trainers! Our Buster was born to a pure breed water spaniel with a german shepherd (maybe mixed) father. The mother's owner was going to shoot the "unpure" puppies unless his wife found homes for them! Idiot! Buster is incredibly smart to the point that he understands a lot of what we're saying. He's sweet, playful and bold. My daughter did a lot of his early training with huge amounts of love and patience. We never trained him by hitting, just positive reinforcement. He does get the bad rap due to his looks as he's got Rottie coloring so people think he's vicious. I agree with the comment that the up side is that it keeps the salesmen at bay!