I hate it when people ruin a dog. The entire pit bull breed (American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier) has been wrecked—trainers I know say that whenever you get a pitter there’s a 50-50 chance it will be an attacker. I don’t know if that’s true, but if a friend of mine wanted to get one I’d advise them to be very, very careful about the owner/breeder and learn a lot about the dog’s parentage—several generations back, if possible, I’d never let a child I know get near one.
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We’ve had several Staffordshire Bull Terriers. Hands down (along with my bulldog) they’ve been the best dogs with children we’ve had. My now adult kids love Staffys because of the way they were loved on by this breed. In fact they’re the only AKC breed that I know of whose standard includes their gentle temperament and fondness of children. The American Temperament Test Society has tested for some 40+ years and found the Staffy to be one of the top 10 kid friendly dogs. Europeans call them the Nanny Dog.
Now Staffies have to be watched carefully with other dogs. Very carefully. But they know the difference between a dog and a child and act accordingly, at least in our experience. We’ve never had a Pit Bull Terrier or American Staffordshire for comparison.
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This just an excerpt. The whole thing is worth reading. It is short.
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As I think I’ve mentioned, I’m spending most of my summer at the old farmhouse I have in southern Idaho, restoring old out buildings, and doing projects I waited 30 years (for retirement and family responsibilities to be completed) to be able to take on.
My wife, somewhat a city girl, was slightly less eager to spend so much retirement time in a small town, (we’ve planned and will continue to do many other things) but recently, made a new friend that has eased our immediate dilemma.
Meet the neighborhood female Border Collie, who answers to José (?) and lives near us. She spends her time working with her owners on the cattle ranch or the fencing business they run to augment their ranching income. When not working with them, she spends some of her day with a neighbor up the street, who owns the house in which she was born and lived the first two years of her life (she’s three).
José resting in the shade, in front of my 1887 shop building.
When both of those two options are done for the day, she heads to our yard, looking for anyone with whom to play. The friendliest dog in the world, she approaches whomever she sees, and if there is any friendly eye contact, she immediately finds something, anything, that can be thrown and fetched, drops it at their feet, and looks up pleadingly. Should you engage, she will wear you out. She is literally the most tireless athletic, dog I’ve ever seen.
My wife loves to play frisbee, a sport neither I, nor our son have ever taken to, but to the dog, a frisbee is as good as a stick or ball, so they instantly bonded.
She has spent enough time with use in the last month, that I’m worried about having trouble with the owners.
My wife is allergic to dogs, and so although she loves them, has never been able to own or get close to one. I had dogs when I was young, but learned to live without them for a wife who could not live with one.
José never tries to come into the house, the car or even the garage, so my wife’s allergies never come into play.
This is a very long way to completely agree with the old post by @LAUte above, about the dog/human bond. My wife has literally never experienced it, and it’s been 40 plus years for me, but the minute it happens, or re-happens, you know or remember, how unique a thing it is.
I’m starting to worry that when winter comes, my wife may not want to return to SLC 
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