http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19937995/

This has always saddened me. As a Rottweiler owner for 11 years I have felt the stigma placed on such breeds by the ignorant. I have always been the first to tell most people not to go buy a rottie because they like my dog. There is no argument that any dog with a strong guarding instinct combined with size and strength requires a higher level of commitment and training. But whats happened to the public image of these dogs and what some have used them for are deplorable

good article, check out this article from a 10 year old case in Australia.

Chopper is a loveable brindle dog with a big dopey grin and a tail that won’t stop wagging.
Two weeks ago, he would have crushed your hand without a thought if you went to pat him.
Chopper is a Pit Bull Terrier, the same breed of dog that mauled 76-year-old Toowoomba woman Barbara Stringer to death on December 27 last year.
But to look at chopper, who has undergone 2 weeks of intensive training and is now everyone’s best friend, you wonder how much of the talk of banning the breed is a knee-jerk reaction?
After Mrs.Stringers horrific death, local councils and state governments began an intense campaign to solve the dangerous dog problems in our cities.
If local councils have their way, dogs like Chopper will become an extinct breed, the Do Do of the dog world.
Are Pit Bulls that much more dangerous than attack dogs such as Rottweilers & German Shepherd, or is it a case of “no such thing as bad dogs, just bad owners?

Full story: http://www.edba.org.au/courier.html

According to national figures, around one-third of all dogs coming to shelters are pit bulls, up from 2 percent to 3 percent 15 years ago.

shelters have so much of a problem getting these dogs adopted they often list them as "lab mixes." i rescued my pit a little over a year ago. she had been kept in a cage for months and was afraid of just about everything. the dogs have an abundance of energy that, when misdirected, can become aggression.

it's a disgusting practice that creates an animal so scared it will attack anything. there is really a lot of nonsense being spread about pit bulls (which by the way is one of three breeds: american pit bull terrier, american staffordshire terrier, or bull staffordshire terrer) and the public is for the most part misinformed by a media hungry for a juicy story.

i was walking my dog downtown one day when a man asked me if i had to train her to be nice
-'no'
-'why did you get it?'
-'i liked her'
-'did you get it because of where you live?'
-'? no. she's a nice dog'
-'oh so everyone should get a pit'
...and so on

breed-specific legislation has to be one of the worst ideas to come along in a while. aggression varries from dog to dog and is found in almost every breed. there are breeds much more dangerous to humans than the pitbull; i would hate to see what the cane corso could become with a decade or two of genetic mutilation by ignorant dogfighters.

a decent article on dog owner rights by the nytimes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/us/23dogs.html?ex=1342843200&en=51709438f452f8f7&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

among other things, it says that dog bitings over time have remained steady and are not rising as the media-frenzy will have you believe

oh and here's a picture of my "dangerous beast"