This will be my only post "defending" the breed of dog I now have so if you don't want to hear me yelling from my soap box, skip to the next post.
Growing up I was a little weary of Pit Bulls, I too had heard the stories. There was one a few days ago about a "nasty" Pit Bull who had attacked someone. ANY dog can be trained to do just about anything. Case in point... http://youtu.be/BWAK0J8Uhzk.
I've seen large dogs, small dogs, dogs with one leg, blind dogs, all types of dogs doing all types of things. I have seen small dogs go after larger dogs like their life depended on it and I've seen large dogs jump into people's laps and lick their faces. The only thing that matters is the owner. Of course people can have their own judgements on anything, but like all other things in life, I would hope that they draw from their own experiences and do their homework before judging something.
On to better things!