I bow to the ladies with Actual Experience. Listen to them!

Steph speaks wise.

And, not that it means anything, but in my years as the doggy lama I've been bitten exactly once...by a Dachshund.

I went back and read the bolding in your post again, smonster and, honestly, I would attribute those characteristics to Akita and Chows more than pits.

And just because it is worth repeating, I'm with Steph:

I need to say that there are lots of homes where pits/mixes co-habitate with cats and it's all copacetic. I think it really depends on the specific dog rather than the breed in general, as well as the owner's commitment to training the dog.

eta: HA. xpost of an xpost!

I own Craze. My mommy got it for me. I may throw a layer of that on over the black sparkle polish I'm currently wearing.

I think I may have to get them all. I started out with Glitz, and I maybe got a little obsessed. After that I grabbed Shield, and then on my last trip to Walgreens, Jade and Morbid.

My nails in Glitz [link]

I've been volunteering at the animal shelter here, and in a year and a half, there have been two dogs that my husband and I were unable to make friends with (and keep in mind that we manage, at most, a couple of hours a week).

One was a dachshund, and one was a dachshund mix.

My mom had a middle-aged cat when she adopted her pit. The first week that my mom brought Petey home, he did his grumbly, I'm-the-Alpha-Now routine to the cat...and the cat promptly bopped him on the nose to indicate that seniority is everything. And from then on, everything was fine.

Wrod to the doggy advice. Ozy is little, but he loves to growl and bark. We had to teach him as a puppy that biting was never ok. Not even cute playful puppy bites. Our fear was that because he's so small, people/children would gravitate toward him and though he's little, he is a hound and his jaws are pretty powerful.

ETA: Ha! And Ozymandias is a mini dachshund. He really is about the sweetest, snuggliest boy ever, but we had to raise him that way.

Scary, un-Glitzy link, DJ.

One was a dachshund, and one was a dachshund mix.

THIS is what I'm saying. Many, many months later, I still remember that little bastard. Nigel, is his name. Circled around me and chomped by Achilles Tendon the second I got in the door. I hadn't even had time to cause trouble yet! It hurt for a month or more.

No offense to the wonderful Dachshunds among us but...grumble, grumble, little bastard.

They were both incredibly fearful. And stubborn.

Oh, Shir, I'm sorry.