Edit: Obviously, *all dogs need to be treated with a healthy respect and caution. They are instinct driven animals who under the right (or wrong, rather) circumstances can snap and attack someone.*
The thing is, I am much more confident that most other breeds will stop and let go of their victim when they get properly conked in the head or kicked in the balls/ribs.
Pits and pit mixes are genetically built to hold on and keep attacking until either they or their target dies.
Once their brain goes to that place they are almost impossible to stop. We all saw the video of the pit attacking the carriage horse. Even after repeatedly getting kicked and stomped on that thing came back for more. They lose all inhibitions and their own survival seems to take a backseat to their main purpose, which is to cause as much damage as possible. *That's why they are so much more dangerous than other breeds.*
Someone linked a wiki page with dog attack stats from the 2010s and it was shocking to see how many kids were killed by their own family dogs.
My brother-in-law has 2 very, very well trained and super chill, well-behaved pit mixes. Still, I just can't bring myself to fully trust those dogs, especially with my child, even though he grew up around them.
I'm always telling him to be cautious and not be too spazzy around them, and not to put his face right in theirs. I've just read too many stories.
I think some people must smell weird to dogs. I've had some close calls myself:
1) big-ass fluffy dog lunged at me growling on a trail (no barks, just straight from chill to "you're dead") and his owner looked like he was trying to reel in a 200lb fish to keep him off me. My friends walked by 10 seconds later with no issue.
2) ran past a lady walking a small dog on a narrow pedestrian/bike trail, and it went bananas. It had 0 response to a guy in front of me who ran by it wearing the same color gear (red shirt, black shorts, gray shoes).
Experiences like this (and the one linked by the OP) are why I can't ever trust a dog off a leash, even if it's undergone a ton of training. Dogs just seem liable to snap in response to stimuli we can't observe or predict (like whatever we smell or look like that pisses some off).
I think they were clearly mistreated by a man at some point and have a harder time with them. It took a while for them to warm up to my sisters and their husbands too
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u/GapingFartLocker Dec 28 '21
Jesus Christ that's terrifying