There's no such thing as "savage dogs". Only dogs that go savage. Insinuating (or stating) that a certain type of dog is typically savage is ignorant in the extreme. The owner, the training (dog and people), breeding, the 'family dynamic', and lack of understanding (ignorance) are largely responsible for incidents of tragedy.

StG,
I can only agree with you, people who insist on buying dogs and having no idea as to how they will behave in later years, should have their heads read, especially when a family is being planned.

Bringing up a toddler in a home where a family pet has taken presidence and been the centre of attraction over a few years, is looking for trouble. Then there's the parents who buy a dog that resembles that of the hounds of Amityville and go leave the baby alone with the dog. It's the parents who don't have a clue!

A dog has roots, it has basic instincts, it still turns in a circle before lying down, it still tracks food from scent...

A dog can also have it's off-days, just as we do, except for the fact of it having teeth and claws. I would not approach another person in a bad mood holding a six inch blade, unless I asked a question or two before hand, he may be having a bad day!

We must all campaign together to make sure that killer breeds such as pit bulls, Rot weiller's etc are gradually eliminated as a breed internationally by all being desexed at birth. They are about as useful as a poisonous snake.

Certain breeds of dog get unfairly vilified by the media. Someone has an agenda and targets them specifically. Yep, Pitbulls were bred purposely for fighting. Unless you know how that dog thinks and reacts under stress I wouldn't suggest getting one. Pitbulls are a loyal, beautifully natured dog.......but they have basic instinctual habits.

The most vicious dogs I've come across are your "toy" dogs. Typically known as the yappy little sods. They would all be put down if they could do more damage. It's like blaming any ill-tempered, badly trained, inbred wild animal for 'losing it'. Unless ya know what you're doing, don't get one.

St G a little bit of thought is needed, some quite wrongly brand my dog breed as yappy.
They are indeed if crossed with the Mexican breed that seems to never stop yapping.
See while your post is about slanted views of some breeds both you and I carry our biases!
Fact is pit bulls are unsafe in some hands, most in fact, they often fall into the hands of idiots who what a dog to defend them.
Rottys in some hands are bullet proof, in others dangerous.
Yes we do need to understand dogs.
We do need to ask why do we have them.
And surely we agree some should not have a dog?, some should not have some breeds?
Some breeds should be controlled?
Yappy snappy little mongrels are not my favorite, truly ,but they are driven by defense instincts to try to tell us they are huge.
Animal instincts are the basis for our problems with dogs understand that and you understand dogs.
Human instincts are the other half of the problem, why have a dog for a status symbol? my dog is bigger than yours ?

Where did I say I owned a pitbull?. If that's what you're insinuating with the 'biased' comment. The rest you're echoing what I said. Can't disagree with that.