The neighbors had seen her scrounging for garbage, but no one knew who owned her. When they told me she was a pit bull I almost fainted. In fact, said one book, the early breeders who wanted them for dogfighting culled out any people-biters because they were too hard to control in a crowd. Reading the books, I picked up some useful dog terms. The stats were there, too.
Pit bulls are in the middle group for intelligence, as rated by dog trainers.
By the time it was obvious Maggie's owners weren't going to claim her, she'd been named and was sleeping with us. We have a photo of little Alex poking two fingers into her eyes while attempting to detach one of her ears. You should never, of course, leave a baby alone with any animal, not even a bird. Nothing is safe from a baby. No dog is perfect, but Maggie comes close.