Almost all dogs are nice animals most of the time. What matters is how easy they are to provoke. And what provokes them.
When our kids were crawling and afterwards , we had two great danes in succession.The reasoning was that as big dogs they wouldnt feel threatened when the sprogs pulled tails, ears etc and that worked fine. But with ont of them and only on one occasion I got a glimpse of what they could be capable of when hunting in a pack. Not comfortable.
A friedn had a hunt terrier as a pet. Nice animal but bred to be aggressive. SWMBO bent towards the dog to do her usual goosy goo bit and the dog lept up a bit right through her lip and gum. Small aggressive dog.
I am older and more risk averse. Nowadays I wouldnt risk a big dog with kids - how would I rescue them? And I wouldnt risk a small agressive dog either. Dogs arent toys but kids treat them that way. The risk might be low but the consequences can be horrific.
