(10-21-2014, 01:35 PM)Happyflowerlady Wrote: I actually think there is some of both at play here. It is very true that the people who want more of an agressive dog will usually get a dog such as a Pitt Bull.
I believe that most of the dogs that have gotten loose and attacked innocent children or adults, are usually ones that came from this kind of an owner.
The Pitt Bulls that are raised in a friendly family environment are not nearly as apt to just go out and attack some stranger walking by.
However, the natural tendencies of this breed of dog ( as Rebecca mentioned), do make it much more dangerous when it does attack someone.
One of the most likely dogs to bite indiscriminately is the tiny Chichuahua; but even when they do bite, they don't have the ability to do the kind of damage that a bulldog breed can do.
Also, dogs that are perfectly friendly when the owners are home, may be a very different dog when the owner is gone and the dog is left "on guard" of the home.
I must admit the small dog being allowed to behave badly because they cannot do so much damage is a real bug bear of mine. I have kept Rottweilers and GSD in the past and they were of course properly socialize and trained in basic behaviours (the UK kennel club does a good citizen dog scheme to try and encourage every dog owner to do this) so they walked to heel, sat at curbs or if I stopped for some other reason, did not respond to other dogs on the lead, came back off the lead etc. I would run into people with smaller dogs that jumped up, barked, were all over the place on the lead and generally uncontrolled and yet people thought that was funny and cute. If one of my bigger dogs behaved like that it would have been reported as dangerous - in fact I would get people criticizing me for having a dangerous breed while their own little monster was threatening to bite (on 2 occasions other dogs did attack the rottie - she would not start aggression but it only took her to growl and the other animal backed off fast - and I got yelled at for having a dangerous dog)
As far as I am concerned it does not matter whether the dog is too small to do "real damage" (and a chihuahua can blind a child and leave them scarred for life) they should be properly socialize and have basic training.
