What is WRONG with this Picture?

I agree with this entirely up to that last sentence. The breed is certainly relevant because it dictates how reasonable its owner was being. In other words, if you own a dog you know to have no prey drive and that is not otherwise dog aggressive, chaining him up in a backyard, in a fenced in area may not be the brightest thing you can do, but it's not nearly as irresponsible as doing the same thing with a pit. As far as I'm concerned, if you own a pit bull, you have to assume your dog is dog aggressive and prey driven such that you cannot give him or her the slightest opportunity to be out of your control when there is a possibility of another dog being close by. In other words, I think pit owners have to be held to a different standard of what is reasonable.

True, I agree with this, just didn't want my post to sound like I think aggressive is synonymous with pit bull.

For the record, I live in a rental, do not have a fence (and have no right to fence the rental property), have a sliding door that I leave open when it's HOT outside, and do let my dog in the yard off-leash.  I never let any pet outside unsupervised, and before my dog was allowed off-leash play, she was taught the boundaries of the yard and tested for recall.  I have recalled her off of two skunks, 4 rabbits, and one large dog that was charging us.  She has never left our yard even though there is a large dog tied up in the next yard that barks at her all the time.  I take her to training classes and keep up with her health.  I know the leash laws and where I'm allowed to have her off-leash (OUR rental property!).  I won't change my lifestyle because other people are too irresponsible to think beyond themselves and what's easy for them (I'm talking about the pit owners who knew their dogs had problems and left them in the yard unsupervised).  This thread scares me b/c it could easily be two dogs that come charging onto my porch, into my house, bite my dog and I get bit trying to help her and then I would get criticized for not doing this and this and that.  The bottom line is that there were two dogs who had already attacked another dog (the pap), shown aggression towards other dogs (the sheltie), and were allowed to be outside unsupervised even though the owners KNEW they were problematic (they had to know, why else would they say that's why the one had to be chained?).  It's THEIR fault.

ORIGINAL: Liesje

 The bottom line is that there were two dogs who had already attacked another dog (the pap), shown aggression towards other dogs (the sheltie), and were allowed to be outside unsupervised even though the owners KNEW they were problematic (they had to know, why else would they say that's why the one had to be chained?).  It's THEIR fault.

true true, it still comes right back around to the owners of the two pits. there was a history there and it was well known to everyone.
BUT .. this woman also said that one of those pits was constantly trying to attack her sheltie. constantly? that tells me that she knew this was a potentially explosive situation, it had exploded in the past. its like when you take the same path every day and you have to cross a rotten bridge with holes in it.... its not your bridge to fix, you can keep stepping over the holes and rotten boards, or you can fix it yourself and save yourself the trouble of one day stepping on to a board that USED to be safe. its being proactive that saves your life and the lives of others.
if i had neighbour's with problem dogs like that i would do everything i could to protect myself, my family, my dogs and my property. and the other way around.... if my dogs were known to cause trouble then i would make sure they could NOT ever get loose to hurt someone's pet or live stock.

i dont look at this woman as stupid, or dim witted. not at all... but i am looking at it as a learning experience. its ok to forget to shut the door sometimes, you cant help that. but there should be safe habits and routines. my mom raised me to lock doors at bed time and before leaving for the day. even though i have my guard dogs i still lock my doors at night. not just because i am afraid of a break-in, but because i have a toddler that is learning how to escape and open doors. for me its the best thing i can do to protect my kid is to go through my nightly routine of shutting doors, locking them, making sure he cant some how climb out of his crib and over the baby gate. he's only escaped once, right under everyone's noses.... had a house full of people... and he toddled out the door, down the steps and was heading towards the forest out back..... that one incident was minor but it was enough to set me on edge for good.
i'm pretty sure the woman involved in this attack feels the same way. she suffered some bites, and one dog died.... it could have been much worse.
then again... these two bulldogs will probably end up being PTS, which nixes her problem until these stupid neighbours get another dog [8|]

You said "Is definitely odd"?

I am a guard for a large estate. Coyotes have adapted to their new habitant with humans. Yes, they will attack humans if the person is small or weak, like a small woman, even on a one-on-one. It there are more than one coyote, they will now even attack a grown man unless he has a weapon. IF THEY DON'T RUN WHEN THEY SEE YOU, THEY ARE DANGEROUS EVEN TO A LARGE MAN. Regarding fenses, they will continue to circle until they find a weak spot to dig under. Rest assured, they will continue indefinitely until they leave the area; but will pick up again when they return in a later season. Your best bet? Reinforce your fence, & get rid of small trees, sheds, etc. they can climb to get over the fence. A layer of gravel makes a good bedding for a fence. Expensive? Yes, but so is a fence.