It's not the owner (although pretty often the owner doesn't help matters), it's the breed. I sincerely don't know how many children have to be eaten by these monsters before everyone wakes up to the reality of these dogs. They have bloodsport fighting genetics hard wired into their brains, the same way you can't stop a pointer from pointing or a herding dog from herding. They are the most impulsive breed, and they turn even on kind and loving owners all the time. Pit bull owners will flock to the comments to gaslight everyone about what wonderful dogs they are and how they must have been triggered by the child breathing or blinking and it's not the dog's fault. I'm attaching an image of such an argument I saw today.
I think many pit bull owners secretly like owning a killer dog, and just have some sort of oppositional defiance that makes them want to prove to everyone how wonderful their dog is, and until the dog turns on them will defend them to insane degrees. I think they like seeing people and pets and livestock get hurt or killed. I understand some people get caught up in romantic thoughts shaped by publications like The Dodo of helping a poor abused dog become a wonderful pet, and I totally understand wanting to help, and this isn't their fault, but stark reality sets in quickly when they bring the dog home and it promptly tears apart their cat.
The Bennard family is a prime example, they are middle class people who lovingly raised their pits from puppies, and when they were 8 years old one day the dogs killed their baby and toddler and hospitalized the mom in the ICU. Pieces of that baby were everywhere. Apparently the reason was because the toddler picked up the ball the mom was throwing for the dogs, but she had had to break up a very vicious fight between the dogs shortly before. For that two innocent children lost their lives, from family pets who were lovingly raised.
I know what many of the comments here will be like, but I stand convinced that not one of these dogs is safe simply because of genetics. They are doing what they are bred for, and it's high past time people get realistic about them.
See, that scenario that you described was basically our nightmare scenario... but it was also the baseline that we started from.
IE, if we do not properly train our dog(s), if we do not properly control it, be aware of where it is and what it is doing at all times...
Well, its got a good chunk of pitty genetics, and that means that if we fuck up, our dog will eventually do something like that, and it will be our fault.
It is a very real and serious concern... and fuck, I'm sorry just even hearing that that happened.
But like... if your dog is significantly pitt, and you don't expect that kind of thing happening as a default baseline, if you do nothing to train that out of them?
Then you are an idiot, a public health hazard, you should not have that dog.
I'm not really trying to defend full pitts in general.
You are basically right, they are just very innately impulsive, violent, and disproportionately physically strong compared to similarly sized breeds.
People do not fucking give that the level of respect and seriousness it deserves.
Frankly, its not dissimilar to white trash folks who just leave a goddamned gun lying around and then act surprised when their kid or the neighbor's kid shoots something or someone with it... Americans are way, way too fucking blaise snd irresponsible about violence and things that very obviously can potentially lead to violence.
But, on the flip side of that... there are good dog owners, and, not trying to expand the convo too much unnecessarily, there are also responsible gun owners who get real training, just own like, a gun or two, store them safely, and just enjoy occasional hunting or target shooting...
...not everyone is a wildy irresponsible dog non-trainer with a dangerous breed, not every gun owner is a fucking obsessed nut with an armory and weekly 'kinetic response' style drills just in case they finally get home invaded so they can justifiably kill somebody.
But, there are a whole, whole lot of fucking idiot assholes doing their damndest to show other people that anything associated with them should probably just be completely banned.
Ok, rant over, but back to full agreement:
110% agree that knowing your dog's genetic makeup should define your training approach to it, and frankly yeah, people probably just should not be allowed to own full pitties at this point, maybe keep em in pounds and cross breed them untill full, 100% pitbulls aren't a thing anymore, I dunno.
That would require like, a functioning society that gave a shit about other people, so, la la fantasy world right now, but yeah, ideally, you'd think full pitties would require some kind of mandatory training requirements or something, I dunno.
Waaaay too many lackadaisical doofuses have pitbulls, and they just are a genuine safety concern.
Guess I'm just trying to say that there are at least some partial pitt mutts that are good dogs, well trained, with good owners, and that it sucks that so many more irresponsible people are basically causing people/dogs like me/mine splash damage.
Like... those who can well train a partial pitt are those willing and able to take up that level of responsibility, because we know that even partial pitts are innately dangerous... not because we just pretend they aren't.