Blame the deed -not the breed. I have had a pit bull, an AmStaff and an American Bulldog - they have all been great dogs. It's usually the owner / breeder's fault - ANY breed of dog can be made into an angry aggressive dog.

"There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damn lies and statistics." I think Mark Twain said that. If one is going to use statistics like that it should be kept in mind the popularity of certain breeds - Pits are extremely popular, so their biting incidence would be greater. There is also the method of collection to be looked at - many biting incidents are not reported if it's not that serious - unfortunately most biting incidents with pits will be serious simply as a function of the dog's strength. Also the fact that many people who shouldn't have anything more potentially dangerous than an aged hamster chose pits because of their athleticism. They are not responsible owners and the dogs are poorly (to say the least) raised. I'm sure that the statistics at some point in the past would have shown both dobermans and shepherds as being the Bitin'-est Dogs when they were The Dogs to have.

And the UK no guns, no knives (of any worthwhile type or size) brigade strikes again. Dobermans, like all large dog's require the instant application of focused deadly force to stop. And the shotgun (only firearm most British Citizens are allowed to own) is locked up in the gunsafe.
Result: one dead child.
Of course, anyone inflicting harm on the dog's then has a prosecution for causing animal suffering hanging over him. Probably brought by some well meaning idiot who cannot, or will, not see the differance between some......... (insert term of your choice here) who gets their sick kicks out of hurting animals and someone dealing with a deadly threat.

If I sound P.O'ed, you would be quite right.

Most bad dogs are bred by bad breeders and owned by bad owners. When a breed becomes popular, the puppymillers and backyard breeders start breeding every dog they can get their hands on. It all about money, and only money.

There are an enormous number of people who won't even attempt to control their kids, and people think they're going to control their dogs? Dream on!

Teaching kids how to act around dogs will never happen -- it makes too much sense. Parents think nothing of letting their toddler run up to a strange dog and grab it around the neck. If you block the kid with your body, the idiot parent gets offended and says, 'He won't hurt the dog'. HEY, STUPID! I wasn't worried about the DOG getting hurt by a two-year-old!

Children act like prey: they're small, they're fast, they make a lot of quick movements, and they make high-pitched sounds. They run in panic, encouraging even nice breeds with high prey drive to chase them.

And it isn't just the kids. Most adults don't know how to approach a strange dog, or one they don't see very often. The very first thing they want to do is to pet it's head, which appears as an aggressive move to many dogs. They don't know how to read dogs -- all wagging tails are not equal: there is a lot of difference between the full-tail wag and the nervous, uncertain tail-tip wag. Unfortunately, most people don't seem capable of learning very much.

The kids pay, the dogs pay, but the people causing the problems go merrily on their way.

Sue

I always find that the BEST thing to do with a dog when you first meet them is TALK to them - yes, talk.

Stop 5-10 ft from them and talk. At that point, I find (at least with ME) one of 2 things usually happens. The dog stops (and possibly sits), and gives me the "head cocked to the side" look, or the dog approches carefully. I just keep talking in a crooning voice, and depending on their reaction, leave my hand out at my side palm UP, or I'll crouch a bit, and put out my hand palm up, LOWER than his head. From there it's usually only a few minutes till the dog is getting ear scritchies, and the owner is shaking their head going "I don't know how you did that"

Of course, there are the dogs, you look at how they respond to the talking and you say "I think I'll pass on the petting - best leave this one alone" You do have to learn to read THEM