My 2 cents:
I have been around Pitts and AMSTAFs (american staffordshire terriers) all my life. I have owned them as pets, and have regrettably been around dog fighting earlier in life. I love this breed of dog more than any animal on the planet.
First I understand people hear stories and watch specials on TV and everyone loves dogs, so you feel free to speak like you know what you're talking about when it comes to dog-fighting. If we were having a debate on quantum physics or molecular biology I doubt everyone would be so quick to judge and have know-it-all opinions.
95% of the Pit Bulls/AMSTAFs you see out there are not and never could/would be fighting dogs. The honest to God truth of the matter is that the real fighting dogs are the best tempered and least dangerous (large) dogs to humans you'll ever meet. In real dog-fighting, both owners are in the ring and their hands are on their dogs throughout most of the match. These owners have to have complete faith and trust in the dogs and in their competitor's dog. Any ring dogs that ever show any aggressiveness towards humans are immediately fixed/destroyed to keeping them from passing down any aggressiveness towards people trait.. Today's fighting dogs come from bloodlines that have gone 200years without ever having one instance of violence towards a human. Also, in real matches, these dogs are NEVER fought to the death, only to the clamp. To say they are well-practiced killers is just wrong.
The dogs that you hear about on the news are the inbred and poorly bred/raised dogs of ghetto/white trash individuals. They beat and torture dogs thinking it make them tough or something when in reality they are just forcing them to hate humans. On top of this, these people are the same types of scum that will make any type of $$ they can. Then after they torture these dogs they breed and overbreed the hell out of the monsters they've created and then sell the pups to morons like themselves who will reperat the cycle. It's truly sickening. Look at the details that have surfaced thusfar regarding the Harrision attack. The dog is kept in a pen within the house and only let out to go outside to stretch or go to the bathroom? The man is incarcerating his dog. That is not a pet, but more of a slave. Looks as though he keeps it just so he can feel like a badass for having a Pit. Very typical for pro athletes.
Sure there are tons of unsafe Pits out there, but should that really come as a surprise. If drug dealers and lowlifes could make more money off of poodles than pits they would become the most feared dog. Look at the kids that come out of these homes. The saying "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" is applicable to more than just human beings. When trashy individuals have children and raise (or fail to) they normally turn out to be trashy individuals. When inbred and violent dogs have pups, they do pass down those genes. When have you seen an upstanding citizen complaining of a pit bull attack from within their own home? You dont. When Pits bite people they usually belong to either an idiot pro athlete (who would likely be on public assistance if they weren't genetically blessed) or some inbred out in the sticks. Well bred dogs just dont do this sort of thing.
Purchasing a Pit Bull is just like buying a car, house, tools, boat or really anything. You get what you pay for. If you spend 5,000 on a brand new Kia, are you really gonna be surprised when it doesn't perform on par with your neighbors BMW and breaks down after 20,000 miles? If you buy some pit Bull you found in the newspaper or through a friend of a friend and it either has no papers or the papers list bloodlines you've never heard of then dont be surprised when it eats you kids. Would you bring in a stranger off the street that you knew nothing of to live with your kids? That dog could be a four-legged Tyranosaurus for all you know. If you bya Pit I reccommend getting a 24 generation ancestry list with your paperwork. If this dog has Colby, Crenshaw, Alligator, Watchdog, Eli Snooty or Mountan Man bloodlines you are getting as pure athletic, well tempered, patient, loving and fantastic animal as this world has to offer.
With all of that said, I would never keep any even semi-agressive dog in a house with young children. It's not the dog I dont trust, but rather the kid. The kids however, are the number 1 priority. I love these dogs and if my kids want one when they are older, that's their choice, but as far as kids go I am in the "safe beats sorry" boat.
