I think you're right on target, R42, and it's one of the topics many or most of my friends have a hunch about how I feel, but because it's me who looks like the unhinged one, I usually hold my tongue. The pit defenders, even many of my friends (good people; intelligent; many brilliant) have a collective blind spot for pits, and really, any breed. "It's not the dog, it's the owner," is their familiar refrain.

My neighborhood used to be very nice as I was growing up, and during that era, pit bulls were not really a popular breed. My neighborhood now is hard to describe. I'll be charitable and call it middle class, and as the area has had a slow and steady decline, an uptick in the number of pit bulls. I'd guess national stats would show that to be the case throughout the country. My supreme pit defender friends live in better areas, and whenever I visit, there is not ONE pit. I don't envy their Peyton Place neighbors, but the area itself, compared to mine--I'm envious. These fucking pits might be the reason I eventually move before I desire.

Three times in the past half year, pits ran after me. Thank God they were all young, and their owners were nearby. These particular pits had "friendly" faces, so I didn't feel truly threatened. My friends made little jokes ("He just wanted to say hello!") or gave me blank stares, along with a variation of the "owners."

It may be true that owners and shitty dogs go hand in hand, but when they're loose, I don't have time to administer a personality profile to determine which ones just want to play or show genuine affection. And here's another point I've noticed about when they're loose. When I'm walking/running/biking, I now am acutely aware of "sketchy" type people getting out of a car with a pit, emptying their garbage, checking their mailbox, etc., because that is often a time that if the pit sees you, it races toward you, owner oblivious. I don't

I'm not even scratching the surface. I do love many dogs, I do, but pit bulls are a notable exception. I purchased some pepper spray recently--though I have doubts of its true effectiveness were I to need it. Damn all these fucking pit bulls.