Pit bull bites off N.Y. 5-year-old's genitals

[Scootaloo]

74. Knowing the animal is definitely important

But dogs are not robots, programmed exclusively to follow their breed history unerringly. Which is what seems like a lot of people are missing in these threads. If dogs are robots unable to deviate from breed history, then we ought to be worrying about several breeds well ahead of pit bulls - bloodhounds and mastiffs come to mind, as both were developed to attack and mangle humans.

All the breed history does, is skew averages in comparison between breeds. On average, an Australian shepherd is more intelligent and more energetic than a pug. On average a terrier is going to be more animal-aggressive than a beagle, and on average sheepdogs and spitz-types are going to be more dog-aggressive than scent hounds or spaniels. There is a broad spectrum of individual variation especially when you're looking at dogs that aren't "breed-certified" (which is the case with pretty much every pit bull you'll ever meet.)

It's the humans in the picture that are the most important factor in a dog's behavior. Let a dog run wild, you get a wild dog. Let a child blunder around a dog unsupervised, something bad could very well happen. Negligent owners and clueless people in general are the biggest factor in dog attacks from any breed (or non-breed, as the case is.)

I agree fully that dogs are not one-size-fits-all for all owners. A demure elderly lady with a fondness for malamutes is a tragedy waiting to happen (and one that has happened in the past, sadly.) But again this comes back to the dog and what it does being hte owner's responsibility. it is up to the human in the equation to know what they're doing, control the situations, and train their animal. The blame does not - cannot - go to the animal, because it's an animal. Extending blame from that animal to every animal with a physical resemblance to it is even more ludicrous.