NY Times article about Vick's pit bulls

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Cajungator26

Have to correct something here, Deb...

Fighting was bred into them, but aggression towards their human handlers was not. In fact, they are highly loyal and normally very good with children when raised from a young age. Pits are naturally not friendly with other small animals though, and it's normally a risk if you incorporate them into your home when you have another dog or cat sometimes even when you raise them as young puppies. I had a pit bull before and while he was not aggressive, he was what was called 'fear aggressive' (a lot of pits are.) When they feel cornered, they lash out. A lot of research says that something snaps on in a pit bull at around the age of 1 1/2 or 2 with other animals and that this poses a problem because the majority of people who own them as pets (by then) think they're in the clear to have them around other animals.

My newest dog Charlotte is starting to look like a lab/pit mix instead of the lab/hound mix they thought she was at the pound, but she has been fine so far in regards to aggression. (Even when cornered.)

they are bred to be aggressive and to be a killer. i doubt that breeding could teach a dog to differentiate between a dog and a human, they're both just targets for his aggression and killing instincts.
my dog doesn't treat me as a human, but as the alpha female of the pack. she exhibits every behavior of a dog who knows she's further down in the pecking order to me every day, when i come home, when i'm eating, etc. i'd imagine a pit is the same way, until deciding it is the alpha male/female. problem is, unlike many dogs, when a pit goes alpha, there's no stopping it. dogs don't think, they don't point at a human and say not a target, and then at the neighbors dog and say yep, target. so you got lucky with a pit, there are plenty of people who can't say the same.