Okay... I begin this with facts.

In my life, I've had a German Shepherd and a Puggle and both have been intelligent dogs.

Others (including many of my friends) have tried to deal with pit bulls and boxers. Most of these pit bulls end up in the SPCA due to the fact that pit bulls are aggressive in nature and they DO attack anyone. That includes children (especially when it involves food). Pit Bulls are wreckless pretty much all the time and will plow things over if they live in a small enviroment. Nice dogs, but you have to know how to take care of them (not to mention children) if you own a pit bull.

One of my best friends, Shaun, owns a female boxer. She isn't super large, but from an early age she has been food aggressive, and a very hyper dog. She tends to get a fierce look in her eyes and attack anyone but her owner if there's food around, or if you're too close to Shaun. So when she's out of the room, which is very rare, i have to watch where i put my face and I can't get close to my friend at all because she's THAT protective of him.

It's no superstitious myth that these kinds of dogs attack people and sometimes its for something they won't even eat, like a carrot or a shrimp. I believe that the upbringing of those breeds doesn't even matter at all. They will tear up a child no matter how you attempt to teach them.

This isn't meant to totally 'diss' these breeds and others such as Rottweilers, which reminds me, I grew up with a Rottweiler named 'ace' and one day that dog suddenly tore my aunts face open and was immediately put to sleep and he was middle aged like maybe 8 years old.

Now let me point out that I never have and never will agree with dogfighting. LOL!!! Michael Vick is obviously wrong and has many years of apologizing to people still ahead of him.

What I am saying is...

People who claim these breeds are capable of normal housedog lives just might be wrong. I've seen many cases where these dogs can be raised and trained as house pets and still want to kill a toddler if the food bowl is involved. Kids get their faces scar'd for life by Pit Bulls and Rottweilers and I KNOW because I've seen it.

I guess I said enough on this I hope someone has a story or 2 to relate to me on how I view the "tough" breeds of dogs.

If I havn't said enough I'm adding one more thing... I HAVE SCARS ON ME FROM DEALING WITH PIT BULLS AND BOXERS. I have one scar right on my face because i was attacked... and thats just one attack. I've been through more. Owners of big aggressive dogs NEED to be responsible or else someone could be wounded, possibly mortally.

Another thing with Pitbulls is they lock there jaw so when they bite, the only way to make them let go may be to kill them. My buddy has a Pit and she's like the nicest Pit I ever seen. I do agree with you on most of this but that is only because of the way the dog is brought up. If you raise a dog good then most likely it will be good when it grows up but a lot of Pits don't get that luxury. They seem to have a habit of coming from bad homes or getting placed in them. Basically the history of Pits and the relationships with owners haven't been pretty ones.

@JustReaL
Thats a common misconception pitbulls do not lock their jaws, their skulls have been studied and theirs jaw structure differs from no other dog. They just have very strong jaw muscles.
@axemurderboy
It sounds like the boxers owner didnt desensitize it from its food. I have it so that I can grab my dogs' food or bone at any time even while its still in their mouths. But my dogs are still aggressive with others dogs about food, i havent gotten them to break that and dont think i will.
But on the note of them being randomly violent thats true, if you dont raise your dog right. Anyone can raise a dog but it only matters if you really know what your doing, especially with strong dogs. Thats the problem alot of people get these dogs and raise them horribly and ruin it for responsible dog owners. If you want to own a pitbull or any other kind of 40+ lb dog people should have to undergo a exams to make sure you know what your getting themselves into.

And if they are as untrainable and just downright vicous why does my pitbull have no problems with cats even the 4 month old kitten my mom just got(ill have to get some pics of them playing)

Dogs such as pit bulls have been bred for aggression and power, and need to be treated as such. Unless you know how to properly train and raise one of these dogs, you should not by any means get one. A dog is a living creature, just like me or you, and if it hasn't been properly taught that attacking is bad or being oversensitive about food is bad, it won't know. If you never told a child that liked to hit people it was bad after they hit someone, they wouldn't have a reason to stop hitting people. A dog bred for aggression will be predisposed to it, just like some people are born with a sociopathic personality, but they can both be taught how to control it. If a dog attacks someone, the majority of the time it will be the owner's fault for letting the dog get like that, and the minority may be because it is in some form of pain and lashes out to protect itself.

You need to be a licensed breeder to be able to raise aggressive dogs like that. Most people can't, and they end up giving away said dog, making it even more aggressive and moody. However, some Pit Bulls or German Shepherds have naturally quiet dispositions (I've met a few) and won't attack unless you try to hurt them or, in some cases, their master.
Think of it in a different way. Humans are a naturally viscous breed: we've been fighting for superiority within our species and with other species since (almost literally) the dawn of time. That doesn't mean that all humans are born killers. I think that dogs like German Shepherds and Pit Bulls aren't born killers, just misunderstood or mistreated.

ugh. babies and aggressive dogs do not mix. have the heard the story of how the young couple left their baby home alone with their young, aggressive dog? It chewed all the baby's toes and the top of its foot off. That's why you should have to pass a test like a driver's exam before having kids. at least try to weed out the dumbass unfit parents.

kind of like how all the dumbass drivers aren't allowed to drive????

yeah... it would pretty much not solve the problem

This isn't only with animals but humans too. How many times have we seen people who know murderers talk about how nice they were and could not imagine them doing something so sickening.

Tests don't censor peoples stupidity, anyone can pass a drivers license test and still be extremely stupid when it comes to driving. Give a 30 year old man a drink before driving is like letting a 4 year old drive a car. And of course some people don't need drinks to be horrible on road

If I was attacked by an aggressive dog, I'd punch it in the throat to kill it. Sorry folks for the morbid answer, but its my life or his.

They're not exactly playing in this pic, but you can see the hate in the cats eyes.

And now that I think about it, you guys are right. Having tests and such probably wouldn't do much to fix the problem. Maybe if a dog attacks someone there should be heavier punishment then just, "oh we're going to put your dog to sleep for trying to maul a child". I think that might be the only thing that would work, increase the fines and in some situations jail time.

Cats are luckier. If a cat attacked someone pretty viciously, it would just get thrown out on the street. Poor dogs end up getting killed.

What about humans? If you knew that some person absolutely killed someone, how come they have to go to trial? Why aren't they put to sleep just like a dog? Instead of putting a dog to sleep, it should be given a trial, just like a human or a chance to be redeemed. I'm not saying all dogs can be helped, but they should all be given a chance.

Surgiac : Some people might say that there is a pretty big difference between a dog and a human. If a dog attacks a human viciously, its pretty much done. It would take years of training, to make that dog adoptable. Not to mention how much money it would cost for the food and housing. And that is something that a lot of animal shelters do not have. They have a hard enough time trying to get well behaved dogs adopted. Let alone some dog that tore apart a 5 year old.

The only thing that could deter irresponsible people from getting dogs, is heavy punishments. Thats the only thing that i could think of that would make people wise up and raise there dogs correctly.

tonetone714 : Repairing the damage a bad human can cause is more expensive than food & housing for a dog. Not to mention the years people spend in jail & quite a few don't change. Some even get worse. But if a human can spend years in prison & change, someone could spend years retraining a dog. I'm sure dogs can change just as much as a human can.

Surgiac : I doubt retraining the dogs is that simple. It would take years of work and lots of money, something that, quite frankly, not enough people have. It would be nice, but at the moment it's not possible really.
Bobbynibbles : ...and how would you go about enforcing the consequences of failing said test? Forced abortions if the woman happens to get pregnant (because no contraceptive other than pure abstinence is perfect... and like people would actually live like that)? That's something I wouldn't stand for. But I'm getting off topic, so I'll end there .

Surgiac : Like I said a lot of people would argue that there is a huge difference between dogs and humans. And the cost to rehabilitate a dog that is aggressive to humans out weighs the benefits. If the dog is only aggressive to other dogs then its not really a problem. But we are talking about dogs that have attacked or killed humans. Giving the dog a trial would not be effective, the dog cannot argue his/her case. Goto your local animal shelter and ask them how many non-aggressive dogs they had to put down, because they couldn't afford the costs for food and housing. And ask them if they would be able to afford having their workers constantly training a aggressive dog. Im sure they will say "we wish we could" but they dont even have the money to run their regular operations. Trust me I know I used to volunteer at the animal shelter in orange county.

In alot of cases it would be more benefical to rehabilitate a dog, the retraining would actually stick and they could become guard dogs.
I would rather see murderers get put down then be "rehabilitated" as most of them are scum and are leeching off the system and will never contriute to the comunity or will continue to commit crimes.
People have cognitive reasoning, dogs dont, so it's hardly fair to punish the one that has no choice over the one that had a choice.
People can argue that there is a huge difference between humans and other animals and they might be right; animals dont kill for pleasure or perverse reasons like humans do.

tonetone714 : Sounds to me like people don't want to do it because it doesn't benefit them. I'm not saying that's you. It just looks like people are too greedy & yet all an animal wants is to love & to be loved in return.

My mother & I are well aware of the costs too. We currently have a dog with seperation issues & a one-eyed cat. I wouldn't think of putting either of them down. They're the most loving animals I've seen. If people were just a little more willing to go out of their way & give a little of themselves, there wouldn't be anything to worry about.

DarkHyren : Thats kind of the problem with guard dogs. In 70% percent of dog attacks the dog is considered to be a guard dog. Which isn't a problem if you live in a rural area and have good fencing. But when people in the city raise their dog to be a guard dog, its just asking for trouble. And I would also say some dogs do kill for pleasure. Not killing humans for pleasure, but other things such as birds, rabbits and other animals like that. Thats why dogs love squeaky toys. Because it gives them the feeling of biting a animal and hearing it shriek.

Surgiac : Yea its just all about the costs right now. Trust me if the money was there they would be doing it. But there are hundreds of dogs that have never done anything wrong getting put to sleep. I feel more sympathy for the dogs that never did anything wrong. Its messed up though, because its not the dogs fault for being improperly raised and attacking someone. But thats why I think that the owner should face charges, not just have the dog take all of the punishment.

tonetone714 : well the killing of other animals is instinct and they shouldnt be blamed really, it's a territory thing.
Seriously, animals dont kill for pleasure, and if you train a guard dog well you can make it that they dont attack other animals that come into the property.

And you know, if my guard dog killed a human intruder that came onto my property I would reward it, cause there is no excuse for people to illegally come into my property.
If they are there legally I would obviously be home, so there would be no problem...

DarkHyren : Yea if your a good dog trainer you can make your dog do just about anything. Dogs dont get in trouble for killing someone on the owners property, its when the dog gets loose and runs around the neighborhood. But me personally I wouldnt reward my dog for showing any kind of aggressiveness towards humans, that could lead to him mistaking someone for a intruder that isn't one. But it also depends on your lifestyle, like my dogs are always around little kids so thats probably why I wouldnt.