can dogs kill a human

It all depends how the dogs are trained. If a dog hasnt eaten for a long period of time and are allowed to run lose i can see how it would happen but mostley its how a dog is trained. If its trained to be protective and a child gets close i can see it happing.

I agree it has a lot to do with the dogs' upbringing. There have been a lot of reports in the news of vicious dog attacks leaving some people terribly maimed. We had a dog, a beautiful loving black lab, who was stolen from our property. 6 mos latter he made it back to us and he was terribly disfigured. I had 2 small children and was afraid to keep him because of what he had gone through I was afraid he would turn on one of us. I felt so guilty when I called the animal services, after all that he went through and had to do to find his way back home. The animal people said it looked like he was stolen for the dog fight "industry" so I know it was something I had to do, but still. it was wierd because when he came back he was so glad to see us and friendly as can be, but when the animal control got there he'd like to have torn their heads off.

Some people torment dogs as a training method to make them savage. Some even breed their dogs so that a nasty temperament is dominant. We have a lot of pig and roo hunters where I live and their dogs are not safe to be around. They are all trained to behave around humans but you wouldn't want to take any chances. I used to own German Shepherds. The neighbours believed that these were viscious dogs because that was their reputation. They would hit them with stricks and throw rocks at them and torment them. My female had puppies and the children next door were teasinfg and yelling and pretending to take the new born puppies. Sheba became overly protective so that I could not come near. She had to be destroyed. Dogs are taught to be viscious or become so in order to survive if they have been mistreated or neglected.

It happens more often than you'd like. People forget that dogs are basically predators. We have trained and domesticated them to a great degree, but at heart, they are still hunters. Sometimes dogs turn on humans because they've been abused or tormented, some are trained to attack, and some just turn for seemingly no reason at all.