Great insight on the canines housemate.  Question: Do you offer training?  I paid for professional training for my Amer. Bulldog in Cali and haven't really come across anyone or any specific type of methods.  The trainer gave us a book, and suggested the use of a pinch collar, which is a novel idea.  Now, I have 2 dogs.  My A.B. is about 2 yrs. old and I have a fiesty puppy rottie (needs training bad!) around 5 mos. old.

It is not the breed, it is the way people train their dogs.

i agree with you also caveman

It is not the breed, it is the way people train their dogs.

It is not the breed, it is the way people train their dogs.

Not so much.  My greyhound was attacked by a pit bull - we were walking on the sidewalk with Patton on a leash, and this dog ran out of someone's home, and attacked.  The owners were all about  "Don't blame the breed, its how people train them."  They also kept saying, "we don't know what happened, he is such a good, loving dog."

Both arguments are correct:

It is about the training first. Any dog has the potential to attack and even kill if it is not trained properly but certain dogs have a higher chance of biting as well as a higher tendency to cause serious damage and even death. Just the facts-

http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/statistics.html

Much like the gun argument:

Guns don't kill - people do-  True but the odds increase based on the gun that is used.  If you are shot by a .357 there is higher chance to die than by a .22  if all other factors are the same.

In either case the owner is liable. Someone having more dogs than the county allows and the HOA allows should be reported. If not,  you are then saying it is okay. If my neighbor told me he had agressive dogs I would tell him- "I have a gun- Your dogs makes an agressive move towards my family and you will no longer have an agressive dog to worry about!"

First, check with your association. I believe there may be some restrictions on how many dogs you can have in your house. 

Second, most homeowner's insurance companies do not insure houses that have certains dogs (pit bulls, wolfdogs, etc are banned by some).  Those that do have special riers (very expensive) covering these dogs.  Don't know what you can do about this, but I would start with the HOA and have them send a letter inquiring about the status of the dogs and to request a copy of the HO policy to ensure he has the appropriate riders.

I..        

I don't own a pitbull to feel tough. you obviously do NOT know much about them. they happen to be very loyal and loving. I don't care what any one says, but ANY DOG CAN BITE!!!!  every one always wants to put the pitbulls on the spot and say that their all agressive. Learn more about them before you just run you mouth.

I don't know if any of you live in Maricopa Meadows Elite Division, but we have had pit bulls roaming the neighborhood with no collars, tags or owners. I recently walked out to put my 2 year old in the car and three of them ran up into our garage. The first thing I did  was grab my son and a driver out of a golf bag. They  cowared at first, but kept coming toward us. I opened the door to go back in the house and one ran inside. I tried to walk out to the car and one started barking and moved closer, I smacked it as hard as I could on its snout with the golf club. It whipmered and turned to run. I was lucky it did not keep coming. As a dog lover I felt horrible, but I did not know what else to do. I called the police and asked about animal control but was told there was no local agency that took care of situations like  having a pitbull stuck in your house. I don't want anyone telling me what type of dog I am allowed to own, I would just like to know who to call.

OMG dude! That is insane! I'm so glad you and your son are ok. Kinda reminds me of the movie Kujo...How did you get it out of your house?

Last weekend I was jogging and came upon a stray German Sheppard mix. I was a little afraid at first because he seemed a little freaked out. I'm sure he could tell I was afraid. Anyway, several cars stopped to try to catch it, including a police officer and I tried to coax it to me so I could stop it from running in the street. The dog ran AWAY from us. It didn't prey on my fear.

This again? Sigh.

First, "Pit Bull" is not a breed. It is an umbrella term used to describe three breeds that share some similar characteristics: the American Pit Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Most people are unable to correctly identify any of these breeds on sight. (Don't believe me? Try it yourself! http://www.understand-a-bull.com/Findthebull/findpitbull_v3.html)

Second, these breeds were NOT bred to be human aggressive. On the contrary, they were bred to be aggressive with other dogs and docile with their human handlers, who often had to come between them during dogfights.

Third, statistics like "pit bulls are responsible for most of the deaths [resulting from] dog bites" fail to take into account several factors, including

1) the relative population of the breed (if Pit Bulls are more prevalent in a population than Dalmations, then there are likely to be more recorded incidences of aggression by Pit Bulls than Dalmations, regardless of which breed is more "inherently" aggressive);

2) media bias, related to the controversial nature of so-called "bully breeds" (even supposedly scientific studies are really just surveys of media reports rather than consistently maintained records, which tend not to exist anyway -- case in point, the CDC stopped tracking which dogs were involved in fatal attacks after 1998, as they were "no longer conisdered to be of discernable value" for all of these reasons!); and

3) owner bias, insofar that less responsible owners or owners who want to foster aggression in their dogs may be drawn to different breeds.