Why are people afraid of Bully breed dogs?

I personally love pitbulls, and Pitbull mixes. They have been the kindest, and most lovable of the 200 + dogs my wife
and I have had come through our rescue over the last 30 years.

I understand if someone was bitten by an untrained dog, any dog can bite. The majority of dogs in America by far, are
bully breeds. They make up 20% of all dogs in America. The AKC has over 200 breeds listed, not to mention all
the mixed breed.

Pit-bulls do not bite as often as most dogs, but the fact that 1 in 5 dogs are the big head types it only makes sense
that most dog bites are from bully breeds. If they were real biters, that number we be much higher.

I have a picture of my father in 1926 when he was 3 sitting next to his family dog
a Staffordshire Bull terrier, which is always confused with a Pit Bull.

Hopefully I can find it.

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

22Michelle · 70-79, T

It is how the dog has been raised, trained and treated that determines how it behaves. That said I've always found it puzzling how many people are so keen to own large powerful dogs, especially those with what we can only describe as bad reputations.
I love dogs, have owned dogs and am currently looking for another. I prefer bigger dogs to smaller ones, but I think many owners should be far more careful about what breeds they may be interested in, and how they treat and train them. And to be honest there are far too many people who should never have dogs. They are dangerous to themselves, the dogs and any other people and dogs they may come into contact with.

DogMan · 61-69, M

@22Michelle You are right on the money. I also like big dogs, but of the 200+ dogs we have had, I have not "Picked out"

a single one. They came to us through many channels, and we took them all. We kept all the disabled ones ourselves,
because we couldn't trust that people would care for them correctly. We had what I called a "Trainer dog" he would take
dogs that were unsocialized, mistreated, kept in a cage their whole, etc and he would teach them how to be dogs again.

It made me cry more than once watching him interact and train other dogs. It was truly amazing.

That's him giving the side eye to my paintings.