[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Soldier Boy

Honestly IMO it's a bit of both. There ARE gentler breeds by nature. Yes it's always the owner's fault but I suppose it's a bit like gun laws - guns don't shoot people themselves, but strict rules on gun ownership stops these things happening with anything like the same frequency.

There's no reason anyone "needs" a particular dog breed. There would be less serious attacks if people were limited to gentle breeds and smaller/weaker breeds. Maybe make it that you need training and back to a licence to own larger more powerful dogs.

This happens too often, and usually because inexperienced (or lazy) people have dogs that are beyond them. And they trust them too much.

Exactly. Big powerful dogs like that need experienced and competent owners not because these breeds are more aggressive than other breeds but because of the damage they can do if they are aggressive. A lot of those types of dogs German Shepards for example are working dogs, they're very intelligent, they'll get bored if they're not stimulated or exercised properly and boredom can turn into destructive or aggressiveness