would just like to add, first of all the uncle of the 5 year old girl who was killed has been breeding pit bulls for fighting, and the police have taken the other pits away.
where people are talking about training i dont think that will always work as we all know are dogs have there own personality and nothing will change that, my scampi (yorkie) was the sweetest dog to me and i could do anything with him but if he didnt like someone he would bite, in fact it was is hobby, biting men he didnt like, and i dont mean a nip on the leg, i mean he would jump for there neck or man dangly bits
and most of the time he was right about them, they normaly didnt like little dogs and he knew it, you know the type of man who thinks little dogs are a waste of space and yappy ankle biters, well it was scampis mission to show them that size doest matter and no matter how tall you are he will bite something that really hurts
no ammout of training would of stopped scampi from biteing, it was just him, part of his personality and was nothing to do with being scared and protecting his self.
i would not had him around kids as he could do damage as he would bite hold and shake and go for the neck, and i think the same of big breed dogs that where bred to fight, if its in them its in them and no training will change that.
however saying that i do think if you have a nice natured dog of any breed and it is trained well you will not have a problem.
small dogs bite more oftern than pits, rockies, staffs and all the other big dogs put together but we dont hear about it as they havent killed.