Steve, have you ever heard of Cesar Millan, the "Dog Whisperer"? He has worked through the years with lots of breeds, but really got his start with the "dangerous" breeds, the ones people are afraid of. So when my pitbull arrived, I paid attention and we learned how to walk so I am the "pack leader" - I am in control. They walk beside me at all times, and if I stop to talk to someone they do the "calm submissive" act of sitting or lying down and waiting for me. I scoop in my 1/2 acre yard every few days, they rarely need to do anything other than mark territory when we walk, and I always have bags along for just in case. Yes, sometimes it seems a bit inconvenient, but on the other hand, if we were ever attacked while out there, a bag of dog droppings swung into someone's face is bound to be a deterrent!

The problem is your neighborhood and the attitudes of the humans there, not the dogs. Millan's general rule of thumb is that there are bad owners (or untrained owners) more often than there are bad dogs. If you visited here you would see a different approach to dog ownership and dog walking.