[masraum]

Originally Posted by LWJ

I had (past tense!) some neighbors with three large similar breed dogs. Not pits. Similar. Can’t recall what they were exactly but they certainly got your attention.

Female neighbor walked them and they were the light of her life.

Until one day something snapped. And two of them took after her. She was on the roof of her car screaming for help.

After she was rescued. Her marriage dissolved. Then she moved.

I talked with her one time and she was absolutely CRAZY about how the dogs were her babies.

I guess the dogs saw her as dinner???

I think we all recognize that the same way that people have personalities, animals also have personalities. I think that our personalities are largely nature, we are each born with different levels of different tendencies and those are the foundation for our personalities. I think animals are similar. I think that "nurture" can shape/mold our personalities, but that they are intrinsic.

Just as there are people that tend to be more violent than the average (get in fights, go looking for fights), I believe there are animals that are more violent. I also believe that some people are genetically predisposed to some day "snap" and do something crazy or terrible, I believe that is also something that an animal can experience. It may be that animal husbandry over the years has increased tendencies either intentionally or unintentionally, and that those are more likely to be shared within breeds.

Just as we all know that stereotypes are not a good way to judge people, they likely come from some sort of observation. So while not all pit bulls are ticking time bomb people killers, there may be more of them that are than there are of other breeds.