The first Pit I ever met I had never heard of them and didn't know they were supposed to be mean dogs. I went to pick a co worker up who was having car trouble. As soon as I stepped in the door a brindle dog came up wagging her tail and gently grabbed my wrist. She pulled me to a closet, and proceeded to pile her hours old pups into my lap, while nearly drowning me licking my face! Granted, almost all animals like me on first sniff, but I hardly think a vicious dog would have behaved that way. In the 30 some odd years since I've met many pits, and the majority have been good natured people loving dogs. The few who were not, all it took was a look at the owners to understand why they weren't, poor babies.