*Rant on dangerous pets and their owners*

[Premmy]

Originally Posted by Krylo

No. They aren't.

They have a reputation for being vicious because they were bred to be guard dogs.

Actually Pit Bulls were bred not as guard dogs, but as animal-fighting dogs.

Whereas Rottweilers were bred as herd and work dogs(pulling carts and the like)
In a sense they can be considered "Guard Dog" breeds since I'm sure they were often used to protect owners from strange animals, but they aren't necessarily naturally human-aggressive.

That means that when the breed was first created there were personality traits that were selected for in breeding as well as strength. Amongst those were a strong desire to protect its territory and a 'vicious' attitude in a fight.

well yes, a strong Guard attitude, but pitbulls were actually (originally anyway) supposed to be easily separable from fights by human intervention.

Loyalty was ALSO amongst them, but when a dog starts going senile, or losing hearing and sight with age, welp.

This is definitely one of those "well that goes for almost everything" things and I know you know that

I mean, yes, the people who have said that if they raise a pet properly it will probably be fine are completely correct, but on the other hand there is a reason you don't hear of many people raising wolves even from puppies that don't end with 'and then it mauled a child'.

Apples and Oranges, man.

Personality traits can be given a higher incidence through breeding, and while proper nurturing can repress them it's not a 100% thing and if you have a dog like a pitbull or a rottweiler you should be cognizant of that fact and treat it appropriately.

Most definitely, yes but you have to be sure of the traits you're dealing with and not confusing them for other, similar traits, such as in the case with animal-aggression and Human-aggression

Which is to say keep it leashed or fenced in places, don't let it play with small children (who are likely to yank on its tail/ears/do other things to provoke it--even the most mild mannered dogs and cats can react with violence to this, regardless of breed), and definitely don't let it run around your neighborhood where children play.

yup

Just because they act nice and kind to you that doesn't mean they're going to be 'sweethearts' to anyone else who comes near. Especially if they decide to be protective of their 'pack'.

That's a matter of training will they be aggressive to other humans? that's up to you, do they have a greater chance to be aggressive to other animals? now THAT'S up to breeding.

Edit: P.S. Trained attack dogs are also 'sweethearts' with their handlers, but you better believe they will rip a bitch's throat out if they're provoked in the wrong way.

Emphasis on the "Trained" part of this statement

Edit2: Really even ignoring that they are more likely to be mean to people who they don't recognize through selective breeding, they have ridiculously powerful jaws and are basically murder machines. They are weapons in living form, and you shouldn't ignore that fact just because you think they are cute or they have never acted out before. They are capable of killing someone very quickly.

I really hope you're not citing that "Jaw lock" bullshit, because it is, indeed, bullshit

Both animals were bred for physical strength for their respective duties, and an enhanced prey instinct towards animals in particular and loyalty to humans.

Basically these dogs were trained to be aggressive(Kinda) to other animals first and foremost.

More often than not aggression can be curtailed to an extreme degree when only around humans, though improper socialization can lead to the presence of other animals flipping that switch, so don't keep them isolated from other dogs.