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Originally Posted by 4X4
Ooooh kay. I don't know that you can respectfully call me ignorant when you're the one that's missing the point. The point is that there are breeds that were bred to kill and/or protect, and there are breeds that were bred to be pets. No, I haven't heard of cocker spaniel rage, but I'm sure that in the history of the world, there have been a few cases. But there have been many, many more cases of pitbull rage. So....
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I'm not missing the point at all - you had an "aggressive breed" dog that you judged to be docile, and it exhibited aggressive behaviour. You've now gone on to own dogs of indeterminate breed, and have again decided that they are unlikely to be dangerous. Your experience with the first dog though shows that in unusual circumstances even a dog that "wouldn't hurt a fly" can be dangerously aggressive.
It's ignorant to assume any animal won't cause harm when startled, cornered, accidentally injured, or when it misjudges a situation, as happened to you. The breed has nothing to do with it.
From the CDC:
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Each year, 800,000 Americans seek medical attention for dog bites; half of these are children. Of those injured, 386,000 require treatment in an emergency department and about 16 die. The rate of dog bite-related injuries is highest for children ages 5 to 9 years, and the rate decreases as children age. Almost two thirds of injuries among children ages four years and younger are to the head or neck region. Injury rates in children are significantly higher for boys than for girls.
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http://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreation...factsheet.html
Given that pit bull type dogs are a tiny fraction of the overall dog population in North America (statistics I can find would put pitbulls around 0.3% of all dogs in the US, for example), you are _far_ more likely to be hurt by a dog other than a pitbull, despite your opinion to the contrary.