I see the same arguments are being made here, as in the replies of the article. All I can say is this... German Shepherds in the 60s, Doberman in the 70s, and Rotts in the 90s... all have had the same bad wrap. There were cries to do away with the breed. Now I know ANY dog can snap, and go after someone. I see it happens more often with the "dog of the day". To me, that smells of bad breeding. The PBT of today is NOT the same as Petey of the Little Rascals. People, for various reasons, have bred the calm out of the dog, and left the violent tendencies in. Responsible breeders, IMO, are far outnumbered by the "thug" breeders whose intentions are to keep the breed vicious. Also IMO, if we did away with this breed, thugs and thug breeders would move to another breed... perhaps back to Rotts.
Having said that, one thing that rings true is that if you see a pit (or any other large dog, for that matter) running loose, there is no way to tell by looking at it if it is a thug-bred pit. Therefore, it's easier (AND MORE COMMON-SENSICAL) to assume it is a bad-bred and owned dog, and stay far away from it. Maybe it is ridiculous to say exterminate the breed. But how do you regulate that much power going into the hands of thugs? Basically all you can do is make the breed so unattractive with penalties... insurance, responsibility if the dog attacks, etc. But again, you're penalizing the responsible owners. Personally, I wouldn't want to be associated with a breed that is so out of whack in the last 30 years due to breeding tendencies.
But that also brings back the fact that thugs will move on to other breeds if this one becomes "unfashionable". So it's not the pit bull I've become afraid of... but what it's come to represent... the thug mentality. I've always been afraid of that, because it poisons everything it touches, including what would be a perfectly good breed otherwise. I'm afraid of the thug, the thug's children, the thug's driving, the thug's dogs, and the thug's mentality in the possibility that it may poison my kids one day. You can legislate the eradication of the breed; but you'll never succeed in outlawing thug mentality.
