"I wish those vicious creatures could be banned." ***WARNING: GRAPHIC***

[haele]

183. I was bit hard by a neighbor's Irish Setter when I was 13. 7 stitches and a lot of bruising.

And bit by another neighbor's elderly Cocker Spaniel at the age of 5. No real injury there, it was just a nip that caused a bit of bruising and a small scratch. I admit blame for the Spaniel (do NOT pull on ears like you do with Grandpa's mutt), but the Setter was an intact male and was pretty much unable to be handled because he had just come back from being bred.
The neighbors had him out with them in a side yard, and he jumped the low fence to go after us kids playing on the street.

The other dangerous dog case I'm intimately familiar with is that of the St. Bernard male that was the father of the dog we had when I was growing up. He got in with a pack of dogs that were allowed to roam free in their neighborhood - a Dalmatian and a yellow lab - and tore up two cats, injured a miniature poodle that was being walked down the road, and bit a toddler before he and the others were relegated to indoors unless controlled.
He had been a very friendly dog, but once he got in with that pack, he was deadly. They ended up putting him down because it became too difficult to control him after he went on his rampage with his buddies.

Owned my own stupid, sweet natured dog (Shari of blessed memory) for 15 years. She was a Australian Shepard/Heeler/Golden/Boxer mix of about 45/50 lbs. She had a vision problem, and would nip at people in suprise if they came up behind her - we always had to watch her around children and smaller animals. My husband and I were bit occasionally when we were trying to control her if she was hyper-focused on something; sometimes just when putting her leash on her. She'd always be contrite afterwards...she was just startled.
If she was a "Pitt Bull", she would be considered a dangerous dog and people would be howling to put her down. But because she was a Shepard/Heeler/Golden mix and didn't have that nasty punched in looking face, everyone thought she was just a sweet, stupid dog that barked alot and nipped occasionally.

I've never been harassed or bit by a "pit bull", even though I currently live in the 'hood where pretty much everyone who has a dog has either a Staffordshire Terrier ("pit-bull looking&quot mix, a Rottwiler mix, or a shit-load of Chihuahuas and small yap dog mixes. The Chihuahuas are usually the ones who are let run free and attack people, but they don't do much damage.

In my experience, the dangerous dog category is:

Any excited intact males
Dogs in packs
Any un-confident dog attempting to impose dominance
Dogs trained to guard/attack who are approached too closely
Any "Momma" dogs who might feel their babies are being threatened
Any Elderly or injured/disabled dogs who is surprised or threatened.

I have never found a "breed" that was naturally aggressive, just aggressive dogs (either because they were alphas or trained to be aggressive) that are capable of doing significant damage because they're bigger or in packs.

A human being can tear off an entire ear, part of a nose or some loose underarm skin just with their teeth in a fight (and I have seen a drunk bite the ear off another in person when I was in shore patrol!).
Then realize what a creature with three times the mouth size of a human being and born with a full set of canine teeth made for killing or tearing into prey can do.
That's one of the primary reasons why dogs are licensed - someone who owns a potentially dangerous animal that can run loose or become uncontrollable should be required to take responsibility should that animal cause damage.

And for those who want to ban "dangerous dogs" by breed, the reality is that you pretty much need to ban every dog over 15 lbs.

Haele