the dog I have now is mostly pit w/ a little lab . yes he is aggressive to people he does
NOT know , but when he knows ya , he's a real sweetie :)

Pit bulls after a LOT of research and meeting them through friends, I decided they are THE DOG for me, they have the best mixture of personality, power, intelligence, passion, and humor(known as a clown dog), not to mention overall a healthy breed and they make for the most loyal & sturdy companion. I have a pittie who is now 2 years old and I wouldnt trade her for the world.

Pit bulls over time have become aggressive bc of mistreatment (http://www.dapbt.org/bite_statistics_study.htm)
Any dog that is treated harshly can attack & any dog can be won over by love (look at every one of michael vick's pit bulls he used in fights that survived- they went to many families who say nothing but the best about how great and sweet they are).

The UK banned pit bulls in the 1990s (think about all the beloved pitties whom were put on death row, leaving their families behind- I couldnt imAgine losing my baby, she would never hurt a fly!) as a result, the number of dog bites remained the SAME.

"Rottweilers, German shepherds, huskies, Alaskan malamutes, Doberman pinschers, chows, Great Danes, St. Bernards and Akitas. (Dog Bite Related Fatalities," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 30, 1997, Vol. 46, No. 21, pp. 463 et. seq.) Since 1975, fatal attacks have been attributed to dogs from at least 30 breeds."

"The most horrifying example of the lack of breed predictability is the October 2000 death of a 6-week-old baby, which was killed by her family's Pomeranian dog. The average weight of a Pomeranian is about 4 pounds, and they are not thought of as a dangerous breed. Note, however, that they were bred to be watchdogs! The baby's uncle left the infant and the dog on a bed while the uncle prepared her bottle in the kitchen. Upon his return, the dog was mauling the baby, who died shortly afterwards. ("Baby Girl Killed by Family Dog," Los Angeles Times, Monday, October 9, 2000, Home Edition, Metro Section, Page B-5.) "
dogbitelaw.com

It is not fair to judge whether a dog will attack or not by it's breed- Every DOG is different.

The American Pitbull Terrier is an amazing breed: loyal, affectionate, athletic and intelligent. We own one and he is a fantastic dog, he loves children and is very sensitive. However too many pits have the misfortune of being stuck with stupid, irresponsible owners who don't understand the nature of the breed, and thus they set their dogs up to fail. Or they end up in the hands of ignorant thugs who try to turn them into vicious guard dogs even though their true nature is to love people. I work for a vet and not one employee has ever been bitten by an APBT, most of the dogs at work who bite are the little obnoxious yappy ones. I'll take my pit over one of them any day.

There are two types of people in the world:

Those who do their research and aren't sucked in by media hype,

and those that don't trust pit bulls.

don't like them..they can't be trusted

Awesome breed!
One of my favorite!
most people think they are mean fighting dogs,but they are not!
People can raise them to be that way though.
It all depends on how YOU raise the dog.

i'm about a year late on this one but clareok you must be a moron to think a red nose pit is a breed of pit bull. theres only one breed of APBT and thats APBT red noses are just a lineage is APBT's. i own 3 dogs a Staffy, APBT, and a Presa all wondeful dogs, althought the presa has a natural distrust for strangers which is natural to his breed as they are a gaurdian breed, oh i forgot to rag on meg@n too they are good protectors they have a natural fondness towards humans, therfore they dont make a good gaurdian dog, if you train a pit bull to gaurd then you have a dangerous dog that can't make the distinction between humans, and prey. drkseph you're a moron too, what the hell is a stanford terrier, are you trying to say staffordshire terrier?, american pit bull terriers, american staffordshire terriers, and staffordshire terriers and 3 completely different breeds of dog, amstaffs were breed to help bring in dangerous bulls from pastures, staffies were breed as a gentleman's dog in england then later used for pit fighting and bull baiting, american pit bulls were bred from staffordshires to fight in pits, they were bred to be larger than staffordshires

My Father-in-law has a pit bull and he is still a puppy, just 7 months old. The one thing I hate about how he treats the dog is the he leaves him tied up all the time and hits him if he barks. The dog wasn't mean at all when he first brought him to the house, at 4 months old, but he is becoming agressive because of the way he is treated. I try to take him for walks and untie him when I can because he is very affectionate and loves to give kisses. When I take him for walks people in the street are afraid of him because of their misconception about this breed. I also didn't like this breed before because many people train them to be mean. It all depends on how you train the dog.

The best breed in my opinion. They are very loyal dogs that stick with their person. They get a bad rap beacuse of those who are irresponsible and train them to be mean this is not the fault of the breed but the fault of the people. Pits are great with kids (I trusted two of mine with my infant son, thy were in fact his dogs, ) they love to play and will put themselves in the greatest of danger to protect the ones they love. I have had a fwe pit bulls and more will be joining my family.

Has become more popular among gangster and inner city people over the years. Another breed where I feel the owners train this particular breed to be vicious and protective. I still think this is one of those breeds of dogs that would turn on their owner one day and I just dont trust them. I hear about this breed of dog in the news more then any other, and its always bad.

they are so beautiful...and they are mistaken for mean dogs but they arent. if you raise them to that way then that is what you get. i have owned 4 pits. wonderful dogs

They are amazing dogs. I run an animal shelter and rescue primarily pits, no other rescues want to. It's ridiculous that people arent educated and immediately judge. Its how they are raised. If you raise a child to be bad they will be bad. These dogs deserve a chance. I love them!!!!!

Best breed you can get. Great with kids of all ages.

Punish the deed not the breed.

While most people have seemed to make assumptions about this breed they fail to look at a dog as a dog, and not as a breed. All dogs have the potential of being aggressive, or mean. its not the breed, is the jerks that TRAIN them to be that way or the idiots that cannot control the dog they chose to get because of how the perception of what the dog can "do" All dogs have teeth and claws. All dogs have a brain and the ability to learn.

Pitt's are a poor example of peoples exploitations.
They are smart and loving and trainable and want a job. People often give them the wrong jobs. They are great with children and other animals when properly conditioned and worked with. They have a great deal of loyalty, and compassion. They are large and most people mistake aggression for being excited, or dominance.

They take someone who is a STRONG LEADER, and willing to take the time that goes into owning a great dog.

Worthless as are most of their owners. Cowards buy them for an ego trip.

The good part about this dog is they have no fear right out of the womb.  This is also the bad part.  My ex girlfriend had a pit, and it loved me, but anyone can see that it often got into fights with other dogs.  It got along with my German Shepherd only because my German Shepherd didn't have an Napoleon complex...At the dog park, the ones fighting were almost always pit bulls and boxers.... I'm sure it's just coincidence...or that by some miracle all the "bad owners" seemed to pick pit bulls and boxers as pets.

As a trainer, the biggest problem I see from Pits is that they pull on the leash and jump up on people. They do this because of their friendly exuberance and its fairly easy to train out. This by and large is one of the friendliest breeds out there, because they are so eager to please they are also easy to train. This breed was very popular in the early twentieth century when they were used as war dogs (not as fighters) becauseof their loyality they would literaly risk their lives to save the lives of soldiars. I have never met a mean one and those that do mistreat them should be shot!

This is not a breed for everyone however, as they are very active they require an active household with lots of excercise. Training should only be positve reward based training (praise is a great reward for this breed).

Okay so I wasn't goin to read a lot of the responses and come to find out when I did I was amazed!  I cannot believe I didnt see a whole lot of people putting them down!  Well I don't believe in the word PITBULL no such thing just a name to describe a vicious dog and all terriers are not mean!  I have an American Staffi Terrier and she is one of the best dogs I have ever owned besides the rotti that I have too!  Amazing dogs very smart but very bull headed just like men...lmao;)  I wouldn't trade mine for the world!  Very loyal!  Gosh she loves kids very good with them!  Everyone I know who has a terrier have been very good dogs!  No complaints!  Not all people can own this breed very high maintenance.  POINT BLANK I LOVE THE BREED!  We need more responsible owners!  PUNISH THE DEED NOT THE BREED.Vote No BSL...

THE PERFECT DOG FOR PEOPLE WITH AN IQ SEVERAL PPOINTS BELOW A FROZEN TURNIP

One of my all time favorite breeds and one of the loving and loyal dogs ever!!!

so pretty

A breed a bit too aggressive to keep as pets IMO

My favorite breed

My red nosed pit bull has to be the best breed of dog that I've ever known. He's protective, loving, not aggressive. I'm so sick of people giving them a bad name.  He has just fathered seven pups with my female Staffordshire Bull Terrier or "Staffy".

You have to be pretty unintellegent or naive to have blind faith in what you read, see or hear from the media.  Everyone in the media has an agenda.  Pits=ratings.  Ratings are all they care about.  If you really think they are reporting the whole story, you are in for a rude awakening.

good protectors

GREAT DOGS!!! BAD OWNERS!!!!!!

i dont own a pit ,but i have friends who have them they are great dogs smart freindly and playful if i could get one thats the brred i would get

Not going to get into it because it is a never ending merry-go-round but, simply put; as a whole, the American Pit Bull Terrier is one of the gems of the K9 world.  Truely!  Did you guys not grow up or your parents grow up watching "The Little Rascals"?  Petey The Pup was a Pit Bull.  He was the first AKC registered American Staffordshire Terrier.  The first RCA dog was a Pit Bull before they turned it into a Jack Russell.  There are people who are now breeding Pits to be huge and wide and sloppy and many people are now thinking that is what a Pit Bull should look like.  A Pit Bull looks nothing like a huge, blue english Bulldog monster.  They should be lean muscled and not larger than 65 lbs.  Nothing scary looking at all.  You ever seen a Shi-tzu?  Now that's scary!  Anyway.  Most people who own Pit Bull's are not trash or thugs but the trash and thugs are the ones that do not try and go anything to help to breed.  Pit Bulls, Am-Staffs, Staffordshire Bull Terriers are all Jack Of All Trades and can do anything asked of them and enjoy doing it.  Weight pull, agility, obidience trials, Search & Rescue, Therapy, Drug Dogs, flyball, Disk Dogs, etc.  Anybody watch Disk Dog?  One of the best dogs in the past few years is a Pit Bull named Wallace.  Check out his website:  www.wallacethepitbull.com.   Also, check out www.lawdogsusa.org to see Pit's that are getting training as police search dogs.  Geez, I could go on and go with resources about positive Pit Bulls.  People think that fighting is what makes a Pit Bull so bad; that is a myth.  A dog wanting to take out another dog or animal (prey) is NOT the same as a person.  Pit Bulls are not guard dogs as they normally will allow stranders to come in.  Why is it that you think so many Pit Bull's are stolen?  They are just that friendly.  Now, are all Pit Bulls or Pit Bull Types dogs friendly?  Of course not!  It is the same with any breed.  The Staffordshire Bull Terrier has been known in English (where it was developed) as the nanny dog.  As far as never seeing a lab or a golden ret bite.  Think again!  That face transplant that they did a few years ago was due to a Lab and I have been bitten by a Golden.  Anything with a mouth can bite.  Do some research; there is a baby that was killed by a Yorky.  Why wasn't that on the news?  Or the little boy that are knocked down and attacked by his families Great Dane?  It happens!  There is a new dog aggression study out now that lists Dashounds as the #1 dog for aggressive and boy do I ever believe it.  Chi's were 2nd and JRT was 3rd.  I could go on and on but other people have said valid things on the side of the Pitties so I'll leave my message at this.

scarryyyy

there is no nicer dogs then pits....it's how you train them and waste their energy.....don't think you are getting a guard dog you are getting a lover. my schoon's da best

pit bulls are awesome! not only are they vicious, but their good family dogs and beautiful too.

And don't give me that line of crap about how the owners are the problem. If one of these gets hold of someone, the dog doesn't let go until the person stops moving. THAT is the problem.

Pitt Bulls are a very grotective breed they are rambontious as puppies but do everything they can to please their owner.Everyone thinks they are aggressive but they really aren't it is all how u train them as puppies and what area they grow up in

These aren't dogs they are monsters bred with dogs

my heidi is the best

i love my pitbull justice =]

Should be illegal... sorry

THEY ARENT MY FAVORITE BUT I DO FEEL BAD FOR PEOPLE USING THEM LIKE THAT

ok

Bulldogs get a really bad rep just because morons breed them for fighting. I do not believe all Pits should be punished for what their owners do!

So adorable!!!

theyre scary..:(

I am a 24 year old mother of 2 children and I own three pit bulls. They are all inside dogs and are THE best dogs I've ever owned. My mother had her retriever mix at my house and he tried on more than one occasion to hurt my oldest one, she never even gave him a second look. They "look" mean is how my mother puts it but her shitzus are constantly biting my dogs have never bit anyone or anything. There are idiots out there who abuse their strong will and power and train them to do horrible things but please don't judge these animals on the inhumane acts of humans.

I'm sorry but they tend to snap. I would only have one of these if I was single or knew I would never have it around children or other animals...I don't want them hurt, but I don't want them around me

the best dog!!!

Never really known one.

=)

never.Evil dogs

Not to be messed with.