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I place the blame for dog attacks solely on the shoulders of either the person who was bitten or the owner. I think you'll agree, 99.9% of the time, one or both of those two people are at fault. ANY dog can bit you, be it a chihuahua or a malamute. Maybe I can provide some tips for all you dog owners out there, although most of these are common sense, and I believe that most of you already know these.

Owners: DO NOT let your dogs run free. I see this all the time in my town, it is simply irresponsible and dangerous both for me and your dog. It's a great way for your pet to get run over or for me to get bitten for no reason. Keep the dog on a chain or on a leash. It's real simple, especially if you have one of the more "dangerous" breeds.

DO NOT leave small children (those under 8 and ESPECIALLY those under 4) with dogs unattended. I don't care if your dog is the nicest dog in the world and you can pull his tail for hours without him caring in the slightest. Dogs are, after all, hunters in the wild. Small children look like prey. This one adds up really quickly. Also, small children tend to be rougher with pets than they ought to be. This can also result in a quick bite. Best to be safe than sorry.

For the love of God, train your pet and don't play aggressive games with it. Tug of war can feel like a fun time, and for many dogs, there isn't a problem. However, it can result in aggressive behavior, which is something that a household pet does not need to exhibit. Also, if the dog routinely runs amok in the house because you can't control it, at some point, it might bite someone. Please, folks, train your dog or take it to the Humane society.

I'm sure there's more, but that's a good start.

Passers-by: DO NOT tease a dog. This seems like common sense, but then again, it happens all the time. It's not the dog's fault that you were dumb enough to tease and torment it until it bit you.

DO NOT approach dogs you don't own or know well. If you see a dog on a leash being walked, ASK THE OWNER if you can pet it before you approach. You don't know, maybe the dog doesn't like strangers.

STAY OUT of people's yards. This goes double for fenced yards. There's a reason that fences exist: to keep people out or to keep things in. If it's the latter, you'll probably get an unpleasant surprise.

REMEMBER that a dog is an animal, not a human being. Even the nicest, tamest, most awesomest dog in the world is still an animal. Therefore, there is a slight amount of unpredictability with them. Be smart, if the dog growls at you, stop doing whatever it is that you are doing to it.

These should keep you reasonably safe. I bet, if we all followed these rules, and some simple other ones I don't have the energy to type up right now, we'd all be a heck of a lot safer around dogs.

.... I've caused World War 3... XD

Read the other posts. By reading, you'll learn that things people 'have heard about them' are most likely false.

Those pictures are so sweet. Aw, I love Pit Bulls.. I just hate their cruel reputation. This was my aunt's Pit;

Aww, that's so cute..how could anyone say their evil?

I like your signature, too, is that the same dog?

Oh, and BTW, what's its name?

Yep, that's him with Archie in my signature.

He used to be my aunt's dog until she had to rehome him because she didn't have the time to trian him. He was very sweet friendly and great with children but very hyper. He was called Diesel.

Awww. He's smaller then I thought a pitbull would be.

If I can convince my mom that pitbulls aren't evil, then I'm allowed to get one when we move. Me, my brother and my sister each get our own dog..

He was just a pup, he still has a lot more growing to do. I wish I could still see him now.. when I leave home, I hope to get a rescue dog, depending on career situation. I know that our local kennels often have a lot of staffy and pit bull crosses. I'm not so keen on Staffies but I'd love to actually have a Pit Bull of my own.. just to show others how nice they can be.

Exactly, but it's bad enough that people throw rocks at my dog when all she wants to do is watch them. If I had a pitbull and they threw rocks or garbage at it, I wouldn't blame it if it attacked them, but of course "the kids never did anything" right?

Aw, cute pittie. My aunt owns a pit bull, and my friend used to own a pit bull. It was his 17th birthday gift, but he had to get rid of it due to moving. Well, his parents were, but he moved in with his friend and couldn't keep the dog with him.

I wouldn't mind owning a pit bull, but I would rather have a dog of my needs. Most likely a Border Collie, or german shepherd from a rescue. I mainly want a BC mix.

Chasity.. if kids threw rocks at the dog then the attack would be provoked and therefore the kids had what was coming to them. In the state of Virginia that case the kids would just get stern talking to by a judge probably and some bite wounds ... dog would be safe in this situation.. that is if the kids dont lie about the situation or there wasn't a witness that saw them throw the rocks.

Something else to consider about owning a pitt bull is Home Owner's insurance. Insurance usually goes up pretty fast once you get a breed of dog on the "black list" I believe huskies have been added to this as well as many have caused some good house damage. Probably something your parents should look into before getting a dog then finding out the hard way it's on the list.. therefore paying more.

It's guarenteed that the kids will lie about provoking the dog, nobody around here seems to know how to take responsibitly.

Just like this one time, me and my friend had a german shepherd cross named Maya, (No, I didn't give her the name, she came with it.) now this was before my mom let me have a dog, so it stayed in my friends house and yard, and I bought the food, treats, dog grooming supplies, collars and leashes.

She was the SWEETEST dog ever, she didn't know any tricks except sit, but I was teaching her how to "Shake a Paw," "Lie Down," and "Rollover." She came when we called her and walked perfectly on a leash, I was really nice to her, but when I was gone out, my friend Melissa would apparently hit it and throw stuff at it, I didn't believe the girl who told me that because she has a knack(sp?) for lying. Though, their neighbor, Christina, who is now my moms best friend, made a complaint to the Humane Society about a girl with long black hair throwing the dog against the fence and kicking it, at first I didn't know who it was, but the only girl who would do something like that was Irene, so we told them where she lived, they talked to her and gave us some chains to keep the dog in the yard, since she was not licensed.

A few days after that, Irene had told me that Melissa was hiting it again, and it started to disobay me, but only when Melissa was around, I still didn't believe her until one day, I came to the yard to see Maya and Melissa threw a wooden rocking horse at her!

So I yelled at her and we got into a fight. Maya stayed in my new friend, Danielles yard. One day Danielle came running to my house saying "Maya's gunna attack us! Come calm her down!" so I went over there and held her muzzle lightly, she bit my thumb, Danielles mom made a report to the humane society and she got taken away...

I'm not quite sure if she got put down or not, but the point is, the kids never told them what they were doing to her. They basically said "She attacked us for no reason!" And I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want them to think that I was abusing her, too...

Right on Chasity! ^.^

You know when I started this topic I didn't think the matter would just be aimed at the pitbull. I didn't start this to discuss the breed but just the news to inform you...

It was predictable that the topic would turn out like this. People are always trying to stereo-type breeds. I remember when that Rottweiler killed a baby and that breed was then hated. A women who breeds Rottweilers near me had two of hers poisoned and she was assaulted several times by mum's who said she was sick to keep such horrid animals.

People will always stick up for the breed involved.

Its people's fault they bred them for fighting and aggresion