Reddit reviews The Pit Bull Placebo: The Media, Myths and Politics of Canine Aggression

Dogs raised in a loving environment don't even know violence and will never bite. Many pit bulls had shitty humans that made them violent. Humans see a couple dogs bite and demonize the whole breed. First Bloodhounds after Civil War, then Huskies and northern dogs, then Dobermans, German Shepherds in the 80s, 90s they blamed the Rottweiler. Pit Bulls are the dog of choice for today. Pit bulls are bred to be the most friendly dogs, they had to fight and not bite referees or owners, the were easily controllable which made them ideal for the ring when dogfighting was legal. In the early 1900's before sensationalized media, the Pit Bull was nicknamed the 'nanny dog'. The hate on Pit Bulls is completely irrational and it hurts good doggies. There are books written on this. http://www.amazon.com/Pit-Bull-Placebo-Politics-Aggression/dp/0972191410/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329039520&sr=1-1

German Shepherds, Bloodhounds, Dobermans, and Rotts have been portrayed as demon dogs, you may have experienced people being afraid of your family's own dogs due to that. Right now the pit bull, once nicknamed the Nanny dog, is the demon dog. You can check out the book called The Pit Bill Placebo: The Media, Myths, and Politics of Canine Aggression for the history behind all that stuff.

From my understanding, tiny dogs like dachunds and chihuahuas are the breeds behind the most bites. As someone who worked in an animal shelter, I've been bitten by a Jack Russell, two Shih tzus, and a white domestic shorthair cat. The scariest I've interacted with there was an old German Shepherd, a black lab with a crazy stare, and some weird boxer mix with bug eyes. All of them were relinquished by owners that, for one reason or another, rubbed me the wrong way. Labs, pits, dachshunds, it doesn't matter what breed it is: they were all either really scared, calm, silly happy, or just plain mean. It depended on the individual dog. We had a Rott that was so petrified she could barely walk inside her cage though there was plenty of room to move around. Meanwhile, her brother in the next cage over would lunge and growl at anyone who came near him. Two dogs of the same breed from the same household with different reactions. And then we had a stray Rott who was sweet as could be and just happy to be near anyone. Each dog is different, regardless of their breed. Some dogs are baseline nice and some are assholes.

Fun fact: the pit bull and its mixes have the largest "breed" population in the United States. Kinda crazy. Maybe it would be better for these statistics to be in proportion to their populations, like 20% of this breed has been reported for biting, 5% of that, alongside the other stats of bite numbers.

Fun fact number two: since The city of Denver banned the pit bull breed, dog bite incidents have gone up.. Haven't heard stats on deaths since bites bring in the big numbers and the headlines.

Tl;dr : I agree with Annie -- it's a lot of the nurture aspect, not just nature when it comes to dogs. Larger breed owners obviously have a larger responsibility due to their animal having larger teeth, but I will still not go near a daschund until I decide it's friendly. I like my fingers intact!

Edit: added to facts