Here's the thing, if you have a large dog and you know in your heart that it has the tendency to bite, keeping it around is like having loaded gun laying around.
My wife and I got an Akita. Had him from a puppy. We researched the breed and learned their characteristics. They rarely bark, and will give little warning if they are going to attack. Not good if the dog is 120 lbs with a very powerful jaw.
Knowing this we took him to trainers and obedience school right from the beginning. We knew having a dog like this was a big responsibility.
He turned out to be a great dog until he was around 5 years old.
He started snapping and became really aggressive to me and my wife. Then he knocked my mother down and looked like he was going to bite her face. (Although she probably deserved it.
)
Around this time we were thinking of having kids, and there were kids in the neighborhood. One day the little girl from next door came over to sell cookies or something and the dog almost got out and got her. I said to her father that we think we might have to put him down.
We called the Akita rescue group in NJ to see if there was anything we could do. They asked us the breeders name, looked them up and told us that almost every dog from that breeder had problems and had to be put down. Crappy dirtbag breeder.
When the neighbor told his wife that we were going to put him down, she came over and being an devout animal lover gave me the card of an obedience trainer and said we didn't have to put him down.
Boy was I pissed, it wasn't like we hadn't tried everything we could. Then I said, if he got out and attacked your kids, it would be your lawyers card you would be handing me instead of this card.
If he ever did get out and hurt someone I would not be able to live with myself since I knew he had the propensity to bite.
So, I took him and had him put down. One of the hardest things I had to do.
People need to take responsibility for their animals even if that means doing what's hard.