Dogs as trainers?

[tiva]

The statistics for injury and fatalities by dog bite do not look good for Pitt Bull breeds. .

Wrong--check the CDC again. I'm a scientist, and a cursory look at the CDC data actually suggests exactly the opposite. They are underrepresented in the population of dog bites (ie, nearly half the dogs in American shelters are now pit or pit mixes, and less than a third of dog bites are by pit/pit mixes.)

All breeds are unpredictable and capable of turning.

Unpredictable? Perhaps. Dogs are another species, and their behavior can be a mystery to people.

Capable of turning? I disagree. Any dog may bite if provoked enough, and different dogs have different stress thresholds. But few dogs will ever "turn", if by that you mean suddenly, without warning, cause harm to a person.

If you were riding or running down the country roads that I do and you saw a snarling square head dog bearing down on you, you would not pause to consider how responsible its owner might be. You would fear for your well being and assume that this animal intends to do you harm.
This is my reality all too often.

Of course, it's never fun to have any dog chase you. No responsible owner allows her dog to run free or chase bicycles or wildlife. That said, a pit bull (which are small dogs, by the way--a pit bull is about 40 to 50 lbs max and quite thin; few people can actually identify a pit bull) is much less likely to chase or attack people than dogs that were bred for those purposes.

But no biker should be chased by any dog--we all agree on that! It's dangerous for the biker, cars driving by, and the dog. I've never had the energy to call the cops on an owner who lets their dogs chase bikes, but if we all did this, the problem would probably be much, much reduced.