Anonymous Question: Are Pit Bulls really as vicious as they are portrayed on the news?

Answer: No one breed is "vicious", there are only vicious dogs. All breeds have been bred over hundreds of  years for specific jobs. Some herd our cattle, some catch rodents, some guard our property, some are lap dogs, and some are bred to take down lions. American Pit bull Terriers and Staffordshire Terriers were bred to work. They helped catch and hold bulls until their owner told them to release. They were also bred to be gentle with their families when they got home from working. Often times people used them to protect the property and children from intruders (human or animal). They were bred to be an extremely loyal breed with a high pain tolerance. It has been said that a Pit Bull's best attribute is their worst attribute... LOYALTY. They will do ANYTHING their owner wants them to do; from a house and family dog to a fighting dog. So maybe we should we focus more on the human aspect of the equation??? Professionals are finding more and more that humans are playing a bigger part in dog bites than once believed.
      Any breed of dog, that seriously injures a human, does so for four reasons... Lack of training and management, poor living conditions, poor breeding, or an unfortunate accident. Go through and really look at the dog bite fatalities over the years. You will find a few common denominators... The bigger the teeth and the smaller the human, the worse the bite can be; Domestic violence and/or drugs in the house; Wild dogs; Lack of adult supervision; or again, just an unfortunate accident.
      So, are pit bulls really as vicious as they are often portrayed? Do some investigating. Don't just believe the first or most popular news report. Look at multiple reports. You just might find that the words "Pit Bull Attack" are used to draw in viewers and the real news stories after the investigation aren't quite as publicized. You just might find that humans are almost always at fault when it comes to dog bites. You just might find that more education is needed when it comes to what our dogs are really telling us everyday.