Quote Originally Posted by fljoe0 View Post
A big problem is that a lot of people want mean dogs (for reasons I can not understand) so there are a lot of bad ones out there. When I'm out walking with my dog and a dog charges me, I have no idea if that is a good dog or a bad one. It is very worrisome when I'm out walking. If you have ever owned a dog, you know that no matter what you do, that dog is occasionally get loose. So if you choose to have a mean dog and live in a regular residential neighborhood, you are taking a risk of hurting someone. I don't understand people that want dangerous dogs.

Almost every instance of a pit bull attack I've read about in my area involves a dog that is not licensed and has not had it's shots. The county takes the dog and the idiot owner just goes and gets another one. These dogs are disposable to these owners. I think that maybe making a criminal assault/battery charge against the owner when a dog harms someone might be needed.
Agreed. And the stats really need a closer look. The only way to know for sure what the breed of a dog is is to have it genetically tested. I imagine that is done in less than five percent of attack cases, and probably that's a generous estimate. Again, the links I posted below will give you a reliable indicator as to how well you can identify a pit. And remember, that's under no stress. When a dog is charging you with teeth bared and growling, your brain is really more into deciding fight or flight and is not so much worried about identifying the breed. I posit that when anyone is attacked by a short-haired bully-looking breed, especially in the US, that person is very predisposed to thinking it is a pit bull. It's natural, given all the media coverage.

Instead of breed-specific legislation, we need idiot-specific legislation. Don't ban pits. Bar people with a history of owning aggressive dogs from getting any more dogs.