It should be illegal to breed & sell pit bulls. These dogs are bred to be vicious & this cannot be removed by training. At the very least, there should be a law that all pit bulls must wear a muzzle in public.

Dish the dirt on the dog owner. He is the one and only responsible party on all of this.

... between a pit bull terrier and an American Staffordshire (Amstaff) terrier. It is clear from the photo that the dog in question is a pit bull. The Amstaff is a friendly, loyal and nonviolent dog. Pit bulls are suspicious of anyone except their owners, and very violent. The pit bull that attacked this girl must be destroyed. He's only going to do it again, first opportunity.

I'm always concerned and annoyed to see young kids trailing after large, strong dogs. They are not physically or mentally capable of handling big dogs. I hope this young girl is not terrified of dogs forever after this. Well trained and looked after dogs are mans best friends.

always the problem with dogs is the owners. all dog owners should be licensed and owners of known dangerous breeds ...very selective - and conditional - licenses.

I have been logging fatal and disfiguring dog attacks on humans in the U.S. and Canada since September 1982. Of the 4,053 dogs involved in fatal and disfiguring attacks on humans occurring in the past 30.5 years, 2,509 (62%) were pit bulls; 3,259 were of related molosser breeds, including Rottweilers, mastiffs, boxers, and their mixes, as well as pit bulls. Of the 507 human fatalities, 254 were killed by pit bulls; 375 (69%) were killed by pit bulls & other molosser breeds. Of the 2,241 people who were disfigured, 1,438 (61%) were disfigured by pit bulls; 1,836 (82%) were disfigured by pit bulls & other molosser breeds. Of the total deaths and disfigurements by pit bulls, approximately half have occurred in the past five years. Surveys of dogs offered for sale or adoption indicate that pit bulls are less than 5% of the U.S. dog population; molosser breeds, all combined, are 9%. This is, in short, a repetitively predictable phenomenon which is occurring more & more often, and, incidentally, is resulting in about 10 times as many animal deaths & disfigurements by pit bulls as are suffered by humans.

Pit bulls are killers. All of them. They should be totally exterminated from the earth. I respect you for being an animal lover. That is a good thing. However, it needs to be tempered with education, intelligence and common sense.

Guess what, humans are killers too. Let just exterminate them as well. Any poorly trained dog can be violent, but that isn't the dogs fault. Your comment was not thoughtful and lacked any sort of common sense. Next time you talk about exterminating anything, maybe just do us a favor and exterminate yourself.

Pittbulls should be banned in Israel. it is an animal. It attacked a human; no excuses.

I have a Pit Bull, also had a Rottweiler for 13 years, both dogs were brought up with love and discipline. Both dogs love/d children and never attack/ed people. The Pit Bull breed originated in Wales, UK, where the dogs were used also as Nannies for the children of miners. Please do not blame the breed, blame the owners who, as I have witnessed myself, here in Israel, have no idea how to handle these breeds - they just love the idea of having a dog that makes them feel like big macho's! These people use their dogs to cover up their inferiority complex, and should be banned from keeping and breeding all strong breeds!

I wish her a speedy recovery. Poor thing.

"Pit Bull" is an umbrella term that refers to several different kind of "bully" breeds. This includes the American Pit Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire terrier, the Staffordshire terrier, the Bull terrier, the American Bulldog and sometimes, even the English Bulldog. I assure you as someone who worked for a "Pit Bull" rescue group, you can NOT tell the physical difference between an American Pit Bull terrier and an AmStaff. Anyone who can claim to see the difference from the picture above has no idea what they are talking about. The differences between those two breeds, both referred to as "Pit Bulls" are so insignificant there is hardly even a reason to distinguish between them. They both tend to have the exact same traits in terms of physical appearance and personality. Neither are suspicious of people, neither were bred to be human aggressive and neither had a bad reputation until about 30 years ago.

Only a few weeks ago a teenage girl was killed by dogs here in UK in someones house while eating a meat pie.This case is not unique. Here children are being regularly attacked and killed in the last six months by dogs.These breeds are not really pets they are hunting killing dogs even when you think they are well trained.

- the Dog would be put to death. That is what they do in Sweden with all Dogs attackin sombody or even another Dog. And of cause the Dog ownwer would be punished, by not a being allowed to Own another Dog, and also pay a Fine if He or She was negligent, or if Delibretly putting a Dog at sombody, would be charged with Aggrawaited Assault or Manslaughter or Murder if the Attacked Died. Arn.Sweden.

Thank you for your extraordinarily informative post. I trust that your research has found the American Staffordshire to be well distant from the pit bull. Would be a lot like blaming a miniature bull terrier or an Amstaff or a French bull dog for a mauling. That just does not happen.

Oh, I can tell the difference. Perhaps you need to go back and do some more work for the rescue group. You may wish to pay attention to temperament this time around. The bull dog was originally bred to bait bulls. Most of the breeds have been bred down to gentleness and sweet temperament. That has very definitely worked with the English bull dog, the Amstaff and the English Staffordshire terrier. The American bull dog is a delightful dogs. I tend to be a devotee of working dogs and the sporting breeds, but I know enough about dogs generally, because we did an incredible amount of research in order to find the perfect breed for our family. We settled upon golden retrievers -- mostly because they tend not to bark too much, and we live in an apartment building and do not wish to annoy our neighbors. But I know enough about bull terriers to inform you that you are full of sh*t. The Amstaff is a delightful dog. The pit bull has been bred to thoroughly to fight, and since its popularity has spread throughout the world, all pit bulls are suspect. Never mind the fact that it frequently takes a crowbar or an injection to pry that mouth loose from a victim. Pit bulls have been bred to be aggressive. Unfortunate, of course, but a fact nonetheless. You are full of dogsh*t.

Attack dogs ("Class 1") These include the pit bull breeds, Bandog, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Tosa Inu. These dogs and their mixes are not permitted in the city of Munich. Result= no dogs attaks. few years ago in vacation in Russia , my nephew was attacked by a dog , the police came the officer reached for his gun and gunned the dog,.after the owner complained , the officer said , shut up or you are the next. I thing a great solution.

The dog will likely be put down, which is a shame because such dogs only attack when they think their owner is in danger. My best friend had a pit bull who was a sweetie---they attack only when threatened or if they've been mistreated by their owners. This doofus should never have let the dog off his leash!! We have three dogs we walk in the parks all the time but they ARE NEVER OFF LEASH because while family pets, we don't know what might frighten the dogs! Bad owner! Bad owner!

It seems you have never been on the receiving end of a pit bull attack. I narrowly escaped that fate by quickly shutting the front door to my home. The neighbor across the street had a pit bull. I opened my front door to step out onto the poarch of my home and that dog charged at me growling and snarling and gnashing his teeth all the way across the street so fast that I was barely able to get inside and close the door. Yes, that is a loving breed all right. I can understand your defense of them since it appears you are of the same personality, desiring me to kill myself. You will be in my prayers. I send you love in HaShem!

Could not agree more.

And also, the dogs are not to blame in any case. Pits are eager to please (also uncannily smart) and as such are easy to train to be gentle and mellow, I imagine that is the case with Amstaffs as well. They are strong and stubborn, though, so I do think that some kind of mandatory obedience training would be a great idea.

but pitbulls are anything but vicious. We have a lovely pit at home and she is the sweetest, most loving dog I have ever had (and I've had amazing dogs in the past). She absolutely adores children and will do anything she can to gain their affection (which makes some of the walks kind of tiring because she will try to approach every child she sees). That being said, she has been trained (regardless of her mellow disposition) and we're very serious about boundaries and obedience. She's always on a leash, just to be on the safe side, and she's been spayed, too.