I have had/known two truly horrific experiences with these dogs, and would not hesitate to report. I lost a lot of sleep over the first one and it didn’t even happen to me. A friend of mine opened her front door and was in the hallway with her toddler daughter about to go out, when a staff x pit (the owner said), darted straight into their home and savaged her daughter. That dog was about 7-8 yo and had apparently never gone for anyone before. When I say savaged, I mean her face was hanging away from her skull. That small girl had to have firstly hours long surgery to reattach, then subsequent plastic surgery ops, and multiple surgeries on her neck/around her windpipe etc. They both had PTSD and had to move house, as even after she’d healed from the surgery, walking towards the front door sent them both into a terrified meltdown. The dog was out to sleep, the owner was sorry and got a slap on the wrist, but obviously couldn’t retrospectively get rid of that dog. My friend always regrets not reporting the dog in the first instance, as they’d seen it with the neighbour, but it had seemed to be placid and under control, until the day it “turned”. That wasn’t even on national news or anything, just a small section in the local paper! That whole thing made me sick with worry for that family, the mum was a nervous wreck for so long, and the poor little girls face is still slightly distorted and covered in scars. She has lost most of one ear. The second, less horrific thing that happened was to me. Still shows what these dogs are potentially like though. My friend got a pit bull puppy (legal there) when we were both ex pats, when its owner had needed to come back to the uk. When he told me on the phone I did raise and eyebrow and he said yes of course he knows they can be dangerous but it’s the way you raise them etc etc. So fast forward a few months, this pup is then about a year old but absolutely massive. I went to visit friend and his wife, I saw the dog in the living room and as I’m not scared of dogs or anything, just sort of turned as if to begin to greet it - it ran towards me and jumped so hard and fast that it knocked me over and I was then pinned down. Bear in mind this dog was about 1 so not even a fully grown adult dog, and I’m not some frail little thing. It had me pinned to the floor by standing on my chest and I’d sort of desperately turned my head to the side and it was snarling into my ear/neck/throat for what felt like an age. I’ve never been so terrified in my life, the size of its head and jaws, the low guttural sound of its snarling, and the heat of its breath - plus the sheer weight of its body was just the scariest thing ever. If it had decided to bite then that would have been the end of me, I’m sure of it. The other scary aspect was that nobody knew the best course of action. They didn’t want to touch it, and were trying to distract it and get him to go after a toy or something or other. They were calling it away in a sing song voice and it just wasn’t responding. I don’t know how long it was there for but eventually it lost interest and moved away, it was then locked out the back or wherever and I was given a stiff drink. I implored them to get rid of that dog and they insisted it was a one off, I mentioned obviously all the families around their property and the danger it posed. Imagine if it had done that to a kid that had screamed and wriggled, I could just sense that dog was waiting for a movement or something!! If I’d have moved it would have seen reason to attack, is the way I was thinking. They kept that bloody devil dog until my friends wife became pregnant, then of course it had to go as they “couldn’t risk it”.... right, but could risk it for others?! I am an animal lover but I don’t see why anyone would perpetuate a breed that’s know for ‘turning’ and has been bred specifically because of its tendencies of aggression and relentless ability for fighting. What is the point? Why would you buy one, why bring additional risk into people’s lives and environment? The BSL is an imperfect law, that’s for sure, but the idea that it’s unfair on the supposedly nice versions of this breed is just nonsense. Don’t buy them if this legislation is unfair. Don’t breed them. While I feel sorry for the dogs and pups born that will be put down through no fault of their own, the only way to stop this happening is to make it no longer worthwhile for people to buy and breed them.