An important, often-overlooked point is that pit bulls are not nearly as likely to bite as many other breeds. The Chow has been the number one biter for years. Negative media coverage surrounds the pit bull, though, and encourages thugs to own them.

Pit bulls being extremely athletic and extremely loyal dogs, when they have great owners they're great dogs. It's when they're in the wrong hands that these traits become liabilities -- and that's what we are forced to read about.

I thought poodles were most likely to bite.

Actually, if you want non-vicious dogs, you only have to look at the ones used in law enforcement. People think of Dobermans and Rottweilers as vicious dogs because they're used for such purposes, but the secret is that police forces find it much easier to train a dog to bite on command than to train it to not bite.

Just like many dogs, pit bulls are much nicer than their reputation lets on. In fact, as I said, poodles (and the perennially favorite Dalmatians) are far more likely to bite.