[West Ender]

That's part of my point about responsible ownership. A well-trained dog will behave well but a dog is a dog, not a human, and has canine instincts. No one with an ounce of sense leaves a small child alone with any dog.

In the case of pitbulls, these dogs are bred from fighting stock. They are, almost without exception, owned by morons who think it's cool to have a vicious dog at their command. The average bull-terrier is not particularly aggressive, if well trained, but the pitbull is rarely trained to do anything but show aggression.

Years ago it was the Alsation that had the bad reputation. People saw it as a villain. Then it was renamed as the German Shepherd (its old, pre-WW1 name) and it was recognised as an intelligent breed as well as a useful guard dog. You still hear of "rogues" but they are, like the pitbull, generally owned by idiots for "macho" value. Any dog can be a dangerous dog in the wrong hands.