Jerry, you did make some good points. However I am going
to have to stick with Serowbot on this one.
No, noone asked me to take sides. It is not a question of that.

I have always had dogs in my life. I have had small, med and large
breeds. My 3 dogs now consist of a Dachshund, Lab and Rott..
Guess which one has bitten me more than once and drawn blood?
The Doxie has. My Lab nor Rott never have.
My Rott does the exact job he was trained to do. He alerts me or us
when someone or something approaches our property. Our neighborhood
has some drug activity at times and, what I refer to undesireable people
in it as well. When outside, the large dogs are inside a 6 ft chain length fence.
Fence has "Beware of Dogs" signs just in case someone decides to come inside the fence.
Yes you can come and go from the front door without the dogs having access to you. However, his reputation keeps peole out more so than
his temperment.
He ( John Wayne) love the name, was raised with love and has never been
hit nor abused.
I enrolled him in "Puppy Preschool" when he was 8 weeks old. I had never had
a Rott and knew he was going to be huge. I wanted to make sure from the
get go that he knew he was not the "boss."
Would I leave a baby with him alone? Hell  no, nor would I leave one with the
Doxie.
Any dog has the potential to be aggressive and yes can turn at any time.

Bill, those dogs are being used to torment you it sounds. Be careful taking any action against them, unless they come on your property.
To give yourself peace of mind, a fence may be the best investment in order
to give you some peace of mind and keep yourself safe.

As far as I am concerned, the owners need to be "taken care of."
Unfortunately it is the dogs that will be euthanized or hurt due to
the owners stupidity.

John Wayne may act aggressive when you first come to the house. He is
afterall alerting me that someone is around. Just like the Lab and the Doxie.
When he is taken to the vet, he is the dog that lays there quietly, head on
floor, and waits patiently to see the Dr.
He may be an exception yet again he was raised with love and understanding.
He knows if I do raise my voice, he has done something wrong and immediately sits down. I can count on one hand the times this has happened.
I don't think it is fair to assume that a certain breed is anymore aggressive
than another. Again my Doxie has been more aggressive acting than my Rott. I raised the Rott and not the Doxie. Doxie was a rescue dog and has shown some signs of abuse. His understanding that it is love here he receives
and not abuse has helped him with his aggression problems.

My Mom had a Pitt for 11 years. Loved everyone, Mom could do anything
to that dog. Reba the Pitt, never growled at my Mom once.
Again a dog that was rasined with love and understanding. It makes a
difference.  kim

Kim dogs don't bite the hands that feed them normally.

We had a lab cross that bit my son when he was a toddler. My wife took the boy to the hospital and I took the dog to the vet to be put down.
The dog was insanely protective of my wife to the point that it would growl at me when I got into bed with her. It also peed on my pillow and speakers.
My son has scars from the puncture wounds on his cheeks and lip.
We also had a lab pittbull cross that was afraid of her own shadow, but probably would have defended my wife if she was ever threatened. We have had two purebred labs, both very gentle. One saved my sons life about a year after he was bitten by the bad dog. The one we have now is a 7 year old rescue dog that has medical problems that her previous owner who also had a disabled child was unable to deal with. She is extremely patient with my grandkids. I trust her with them completely.
I do keep them away from her when she is not feeling well, which is easy as she extricates herself from their company on her own.

This whole thread is exactly why laws regarding dogs is so difficult.  There are strong opinions both ways.  And rightly so!

Kim, I hate to disagree with you, but my cousin's german shepherds had been raised with loving care also.  They got them as very young pups.  They were very well-behaved for years!  They were NOT taught to be agressive in any way.  They never dreamed such a thing would happen.  So why did one attack my little cousin to the point of facial scarring which required extensive surgery?  I don't know the answer.  They don't have an answer either.  Cousin was right there with the kid, no provocation, and it happened in an instant!  I just believe that there is always that animal instinct in any breed (repeat, any breed) of dog.  Granted, I also believe that owners should be responsible, and in most cases, incidents can be avoided.  And this was an exception to normal.  But I will never forget the underlying possibilities.  
  

I still wont allow my grandson unsupervised with our little dogs, & by Supervised, I mean that if He can touch one of them, there is an adult Right There,, monitoring how he touches the animal & ready to stick a hand in to control the situation & hes been here with us no for 20 months,but as much as the dogs are loved & as much as I wish I could just trust there to be no problems, they ARE animals & they do have Teeth,, & he is a toddler, not understanding that ears arent to be pulled & eyeballs arent marbles,,


Im pretty sure this kid didnt hurt either of these dogs..



Pit Bulls Chew off Baby's Testicles
Police say the 6-month-old boy was strapped in a baby carrier and left alone with the animals.

The problem with Pitbulls is the breed itself.  They are loyal and dedicated to a fault, they will do anything to please their master.  If violent behavior and aggression is what does the trick, that is what they will do.  They are also very strong willed dogs and it takes consistency and dedication to get a response from them, and left to their own devices they WILL establish their own dominance hierarchy and you won't be a part of it.

Just because your the human and he is the dog, does not mean that he will feel that you are the boss. He just sees you as another animal in the pack and unless you are in control, he will be.  Owning any animal is a great responsibility, owning a large animal is even more and sadly, many who do are not up to the task.

Thankfully a lot of places who enacted breed specific legislation are realizing the fallacy in it and are replacing it with behavior oriented laws.  Instead of instantly saying an entire breed is bad, they are punishing the owners of dogs that actually exhibit dangerous behavior and correcting it.  Cleveland recently repealed their pit bull ban, great step in the right direction!

I have a 3year old spade female pit. She is well behaved and just love any attention you give her,heck she even likes the UPS man. We do not leave her alone with children,but she really responses to kids. I feel that the majority of people only hear the bad side of the pit stories. These dog are use as rescue animals, handicap assistance dogs and search dogs. Owner need to understand the nature of their animals and work with them on training them appropriately. I love our dog unconditionally,but with that love goes respect to the breed.

Half the people that have dogs want them to scare people...

Pits are very popular with them... so are Rots, Dobeys, Chows, German Sheps, Great Danes, etc...

One of his dogs was found chained in the yard... That tells a lot...
I'll bet the other was usually, too...
Any chained animal will go crazy and be aggressive eventually...
Keeping a dog on a chain is illegal here,... don't know about where he lived...
They don't like to be chained any more than we do...