That's because you chihuahuas don't lock and shake, and can't take your arm off, or tear your throat out. If a chihuahua goes 'Manson' on you, you just kick a field goal with it. Pit bulls? Not so easy.
Pit bulls are like big trucks. When handled properly they are perfectly fine, but when handled recklessly they cause great damage and suffering. When a big truck is involved in an accident, people scream rabid to get them off the road, get them regulated, get them under control, get them smaller and less dangerous. They're big and ugly and dangerous. Same with a pit bull.
Thanks to media frenzy, people believe that every pit bull on the planet either has or will attack someone, probably a child (although most people who are attacked are over 21). It's such a frenzy that even when pit bulls
scratch someone it makes
headlines.
They key to
any dog is to maintain them as resident dogs inside of the household and as part of the family. All dogs are protective and territorial, and if you raise a dog as part of the family, it will be protective and territorial within those bounds. A dog raised as part of the family becomes socialized and learns to not overreact to the actions of people.
If you maintain a dog outside the family, like left to roam free, or chained up (constricted and angry) or fenced in and ignored except for feeding time, for purposes other than as family pets, like for a guard dog, intimidation or some warped status symbol, the dog will be territorial and protective within those bounds, too. This isn't good for any dog, but it's especially bad for a dog like a pit bull which can do some devastating damage when left to think on its own due to a lack of training and socialization.
When my mom and stepdad first got married, my stepdad had a real problem with dogs (and cats and whatever) being inside the house. All of his dogs were always outside dogs, more or less roaming free. He mentioned on more than one occasion that the reason he didn't like dogs inside was because most of the dogs he grew up with could be a little mean at times. Good thing he didn't have pit bulls. Well, he married into the wrong family, as all of our pets have been a part of the family, living in doors same as us. Took a little getting used to, but he sees the benefits of that now. My mom died a few years ago, and he still has the dog in the house with him.
I was born to two parents who already had a year-old pit bull, and I grew up with that dog. It was gentle, loyal and loving, and slept in the same bed I did for years. When I was 5 years old I was attacked and bitten in the face by a viscous little "wouldn't hurt a flea" Cοcker Spaniel owed by the family of the then-reigning Miss Kentucky who lived a few doors down the street. My dog grabbed the Spaniel off me and tossed it across the yard, didn't kill it or even really injure it, but got it's attention, and wouldn't let that dog come near me again. Ever.
Helen Keller owned a pit bull. So did The Little Rascals. It's not the breed, it's how you handle it. Hey, just like a big truck!
