Pitbulls Used to Be Considered the Perfect "Nanny Dogs" for Children --

[Honeycombe8]

260. My ex's Springer Spaniel bit a neighbor boy, and he growled & barked at me....

So any anecdote can prove or disprove just about anything.

Toyotas are reliable cars? Well, ask around, and you'll find people who will have examples that HIS Toyota was the least reliable car ever.

Anecdotes are really not scientific. Even if true, which is often not the case.

I have a dog that growls at strangers if they look at her in her eyes. Weird. She is scared of strangers (no, she's not trying to protect me, as people often think). A few people have asked me if she's a pit. They ask because they're not sure. She's not. Although she's a mutt and I can't swear she doesn't have a drop of just about any breed in her, she is clearly a Jack Russell Terrier mix. She is the spittin' image of a JRT, only larger...except that her legs are short, feet turned outward, and paws are hare (trait of the greyhound and other runners). The only reason people may think she's a pit mix is her color: she is white with tan spots on her enormous satellite ears, with hazel eyes and brown nose. And her chest is muscular, relatively speaking for her size. But her chest is mainly deep....not broad. Again, the chest of a runner, like a greyhound, only miniature. Her muzzle is long and narrow (not shortish and wide), like a JRT. Her eyes large and round. But she is lean, which emphasizes her musculature, so she looks muscular, but she is lean and narrow. Just no fat hanging around. People don't know what a pit looks like, so some ask me if she's one. They ask, though, because they sort of know she's not. She's very cute, though, and of the two (her and my cocker spaniel), SHE is the one that people fawn over. I think she's kinda odd looking, but there you go.

JRTs are notorious for having nasty temperaments with other dogs. My dog likes to play with other dogs, but I've seen where if another dog presents a challenge to her "brother," my other dog, (which happened once when a dog ran up and stood completely on top of my cocker) she will go up and low growl to warn that dog to back off from her brother.

Because of her growling at people, I have to treat her special, to ensure she never has the opportunity to do more than growl. IF she bit someone, she would be called a pit bull mix, I'm sure, EVEN THOUGH SHE'S NOT. She's just a short haired JRT mix.