My neighbor has two or three 120 to 150 pound pits. They look just like
@benchmstr dog, but twice as thick. Heads like brown bears. Seems like a breeding pair and a male offspring. Neighbor is a pot smoking Mexican contractor with 24” rims on his Cummins. Most stereotypes apply.
One day the three dogs come barreling and barking across his lawn, he’s yelling and chasing after them like they just pushed past him at his back door. My kids, I have 7, and I are outside on our property, right by the gravel driveway that separates our properties. There is nothing else between them and us except an acre of grass. Time stood still. Dread drained the strength from my body, I didn’t even know he had those dogs until that moment. From my position I couldn’t get between them and my kids so I just stood as centered in my family as I could and waited for problems. It was all I could do. But it felt like cavalry was riding down on my kids. He’s yelling they’re friendly, but truly had I been carrying, I’m not sure I could’ve stopped myself from shooting them on his property. The wave of relief that flowed over me when they just sniffed my kids was spiritual. Most intense danger experience ever as a father.
When he finally gets there, we chat for a few minutes, he apologizes, and he gathers up his dogs and drags them, 0% control 50% frustration, back up to his house, and locks them in their pen in his backyard.
The point is this, when he got there, he wasn’t just winded from the run, he had a huge, adrenaline dump, too. The reason being, he didn’t “
know” what those dogs were gonna do either. His conscience testified clearly, even as his mouth kept professing their good and puppy-like nature. He was selling himself, not me. Dangerous breed owners know what they have, switches, genetics, and everything else that folks mention, like
@HitEmHard said, “that’s the whole point”. Yes, it is.
I support your right to own those threatening animals, and I don’t feel a bit “bad” prejudging or shooting them.