They aren't born killers, but it is in their nature to fight to the death. I've been working with dogs and breeding for twenty or so years and have been bitten by many different breeds, never been bitten by a pit. Your actually more likely to be bitten by a chow, or cocker spaniel,ect! But unlike these breeds that snap and quit, pits don't stop, they will keep attacking. I have seen several very aggressive pits that I wouldn't want to see running loose and I've seen many that are overgrown lapdogs. I think they should put breeding restrictions on this breed so only professionals who are breeding them for show purposes can breed them. That way it would cut down a great deal on the number of them that are being bred in backyards by anyone who decides they can make a little money. They also need to put tougher restrictions and punishments on the low lifes that fight these poor animals. That would also help to faze out the unstable temperments common in this breed. There is really no easy answer, I would hate to see any breed banned, but they do need to be kept under control. Too many people and pets also are mauled and killed by pits, usually due to irresponsible owners and bad breeding. The breed has become a status symbol, people think it makes them look tough or cool to own one. They don't realize the responsibility involved in owning this type of dog. They have a great deal of energy and need a lot of training from a young age.

Yes, but banning the dog is not the answer, we need to start getting our legislators to pass stringent animal abuse and neglect laws, AND then ENFORCE them against the people that do this.

Let me give you a good example of what I'm talking about. We have a female Chow, (Bear), that the original owner had until she was 10 months old. We had given him a 40 lb. sack of dry dog food for her because he was unemployed. They kept her chained up in an 8 foot by 8 foot back yard, with no shelter, nor food or water outside.Bear was actually eating her own feces to survive while the 40 lbs. of food sat unopened inside the house. His next door neighbor called the police on him because he was whipping her with a chain leash, for," staring at him through the patio door". We even found out later, that the owners son used to throw lit firecrackers at her while she was chained up in back. The animal control officer knew us well and asked us if we would take care of Bear, naturally we took her in with our Pit Bull and Yellow Lab. The S.O.B. that abused her was fined $150 and required to take 1 week of anger management. He then went back to court to force us to give Bear back to him. Luckily, I was given the opportunity to speak with the judge, and I explained to the judge that we had had Bear in our home for 2 months, and that she was part of our family now. I also pointed out that all he wanted was to get her and kill her for causing him trouble and that I would not allow that. I pointed out that, I didn't care what the court ruled, that Bear was in fact staying with us permanently. Thankfully, the judge ruled in our favor and Bear is still with us.
But, Candle, this is why I say absolutely NO to a ban on ANY dog. But, it is past time that we started initiating extremely strict animal rights laws and even stricter enforcement of those laws.

The issue of Pit Bulls being "Natural Born Killers" is ludicrous at best. For every "professional" that states they are, I can show you just as many that DISAGREE vehemently. The "nature" of any animal, just as children, is strongly influenced by how it was treated and raised. This exact same argument was raised against German Shepherd's in the 70's, Doberman Pinscher's in the 80's, the Rottweiler's in the 90's, and now the Pit Bull. We have owned, throughout the years, German Shepherds and Pit Bulls without ONE SINGLE incident, and have raised 5 children and 12 grandchildren around them. The fact about the Pit Bull that escapes media attention is that a nursing Pit Bull pup will actually quit nursing and leave its mother to be around humans. A Pit Bull doesn't just desire human attention and affection, it desperately craves it. Thus, the jerks that take a Pit Bull and chain it up and ignore it, are in fact creating an antisocial animal. These facts come from the Animal Shelter where we adopted our first Pit Bull pup in Buena Vista, Colorado.
Also, a few more facts for the "Professionals"; these statistics and more can be found at; http://www.dogsbite.org/bite-...

Study highlights

* Biters are 6.2 times as likely to be male than female
* Biters are 2.6 times as likely to be intact than neutered
* Biters are 2.8 times as likely to be chained as unchained
* Biters were significantly more likely to be German Shepherd or Chow Chow, male and unneutered, 50lbs and above and under 5 years of age
* Biters were significantly more likely to reside in a house with one or more children and more likely to be chained while in the yard
* Children aged 12 and younger were the victims in 51% of all cases; the median age of all bite victims was 12 years (range 1-83 years)
* 64% of bite victims were male
* 76% of the bites were recorded as minor and 24% as severe
* 50% of bites occurred on the sidewalk, street, alley or playground; 30% in the owner's yard; 14% in the owner's house and 4% in the victim's yard

Mary,
I'm glad to see that you say that you need more info to make a decision. Here is a great book; The Pit Bull Placebo by Karen Dellise. Published by Anubis Publishing in 2007. This is one of the best books I've read on the Pit Bull.

The following is an excerpt from the book;

First it was the Bloodhound, sensationalized in the dramatizations of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Then it was the Doberman, symbol of the Nazi menace. Today, it is the Pit bull that is vilified for the depravity of his masters. Today, police chase down fleeing Pit bulls in the street, firing dozens of wild shots in response to media-fed rumors of supernatural Pit bull abilities. Politicians coach and nurture this fear with their own brand of rhetoric used to assist in the passing of quick and ineffective legislation created to pacify communities ignorant of the real cause for dog attacks. Hundreds of animal shelters throughout the country kill all unclaimed Pit bull-looking dogs, as they are deemed "unadoptable" solely on their physical appearance. This has occurred because the human/dog bond, the most complex and profound inter-species relationship in the history of mankind, has been reduced to a simple axiom: Breed of dog = degree of dangerousness. We have come to accept that hanging entire breeds of dogs in effigy for the sins of their owners is an acceptable solution to canine aggression because we have been placated by a Pit Bull Placebo. Like the pharmacologically inactive sugar pill dispensed to pacify a patient who supposes it to be medicine, eradication of the Pit bull is the placebo administered to ease the public's anxiety about dog attacks. The book, The Pit Bull Placebo: The Media, Myths and Politics of Canine Aggression, explores how our views and beliefs about canine aggression have changed over the last 150 years and how our perceptions about the nature and behavior of dogs has been influenced by persons and organizations who often times disseminate information about dog attacks which is tailored to further an agenda unrelated to the improvement of the human/dog bond. We are in the midst of a social hysteria about Pit bulls because we have abandoned centuries-old common-sense and have been duped by inaccurate reporting from the "Pit Bull Paparazzi" and by politicians who traffic in rumors, myths and pseudoscience in their efforts to pass legislation that demonizes dogs while exonerating criminal and abusive owners. If we truly believe that the extremely rare cases of fatal dog attacks merit extreme measures in the management of dogs, if our concern and shock is genuine, then we must be equally genuine and sincere in seeking out and addressing the real causes for these incidents. Only by stepping back from the swirl of present-day hysteria surrounding isolated cases of severe canine aggression and examining the problem from a broader and more objective perspective can we hope to understand and address the human and canine behaviors which contribute to these incidents.

Well i see that you stated that you work in an animal hospital and you "see more bites from these animals than any other breed" that may be true where you work but i myself have worked at a HUGE animal clinic in memphis tn and have been there for 7 years and there has only been 2 "mean" pitbulls amungst over 100's of "mean" dogs from a different variety of breeds..... So its not right to pass judgement on this breed and this breed alone THERE ARE MEAN AND "VICIOUS" ANIMALS IN EVERY LAST BREED THERE ARE. i have owned pitbulls for years and have never had an agressive one period and my female sleeps in the same bed as my neice which is 5 years old and that is her absolute best friend so for yall to say they are natural born killers and they are all "unpredictable" is absurd!!! and yes you may be right that the american pitbull terrier hold the highest RECORDED bites and yes that is because 1,000s of people mistake different dogs for pitbulls EVERYDAY!!!! And do you think that people call and make police reports everytime a Lab attacks?? well of course not its "the all american breed" in which it isnt anymore, do your research and you can see that that that has changed dramatically because they are over populated and bred wrong and are becoming more aggressive so maybe you should do more research on ALL breeds and not focus in on the pitbull like everybody else in this world. everybody has thier opinions on different breeds of dogs and thats fine your entitled to that BUT if you dont like them then dont knock the breed just dont own them...because me being an owner i know how they are and how loyal they are to family and even strangers that you alls encite on them is totally off and you should really do more research rather then giving the breed more negative display, like it already doesnt have enough..Nobody is forcing you to own one so why waste your time trying to make it be known that they are "HORRIBLE" i wish you people that think things things would get one and own it for a few years and then come back to me and tell me your opinion on the breed because until then your opinion doesnt matter because you have no clue what your talking about. you just go by he say she say...

Now with saying that no i am not saying that a no pitbulls will attack because some will just like in every breed... but the REAL percentage of them that wont over weighs the ones that will by FAR..

Just putting in my incite as a Pitbull owner, since my opinion counts and your doesnt.