A local rescuer and friend of mine likes to tell the story of a family she knows with a pit bull terrier. Apperently, the house was on fire but not badly yet while the family was asleep. Thier pet pit bull saved the family by barking non stop and by dragging the young girl (their one child), down the stairs to safety. My understanding is that pits are extremely smart and that is why they are the dog of choice for training. They are easily trained. But like any animal, things can go wrong- once the training is in- it's up to the dog to be able to differentiate when attacking is ok and when it isn't. They can train them to commands but there is no telling what other triggers in the envirnment will set off the trained behavior. (So that does this mean they are not so smart dogs?) It is interesting to learn about and I love the post from Clara!!