@Stigma

Meant to respond to this when I first saw it a day or two ago but my kidneys have been... less than cooperative lately. At any rate:

I've had a lot of encounters with aggressive dogs in my life. Enough it's colored my opinion of the species as a whole to some degree.

Virtually every time this has come up in the course of general conversation someone has invariably responded, usually in a tone dripping with condescension, that I can't blame a dog for being a dog. They're just doing what their instincts dictate. The real fault lies with the owner.

Which is true to a degree, though it's my experience most canine defenders have convinced themselves dogs are purely beatific beings with no aggressive animal nature of their own that can't be blamed on a human.

But I digress. On the one hand, yes, dog's gonna' dog. On the other, while it's all well and good to know poor training and socialization has probably contributed a fair amount to the unpleasant disposition of the snarling beast in front of me, knowing this does absolutely nothing to help me actually deal with the snarling beast in front of me.

All of which is to say it's really easy for some people to get on their high horse and pontificate as to the root cause of a dangerous animal's violent behavior when they're not the ones actively facing and fending off the violent animal in front of them.