I have actually not met a pit yet, But I tend to believe that any dog has the potential to be a good dog or a bad dog. -- and I agree that its a lot to do with the training, if not 100%. some dogs are, however, harder to train than others.
When I first met my friend's border collie, the way it was barking at me, even in its kennel, scared the crap out of me.. my friend tossed me a dog biscuit and let it out, the dog started running at me, i held up the biscuit and it stopped running and walked up and took it.. however, my friend's dog is easily excited -- very hyper, but tends to calm down with certain stimuli. After that, the dog never barked at me again, he said it was because I was new. that dog has never hurt a fly, either.
Also, I picked up some tooling for my old man's business and the owner of that shop has a German Shepard. Friendliest dog i have ever seen. greets anybody who pulls up to pick up stuff with a wagging tail and loves attention (of course the owner gives permission) -- thats personally my favorite kind of dog
the most aggressive dog i've seen? a neighbor's bichon frisse (sp?) -- might be a cute little "toy" dog, but that seems to get it away with of stuff, it has bit me before, and bit hard -- didn't puncture skin, but it wasn't a playful bite. but since it doesnt seem to have the strength break skin nobody has complained about it and they never did anything about it -- that was neglect on their part. very poorly trained.
other than that, I have never really been bitten by dogs.
as a fellow minnesotan, maybe I can ask some people i know who are more into animal rights about options of our area to fight it..
