We had a huge Rottweiler that was the sweetest (and at times the dumbest) dog ever. Will never forget when he found a bunch of baby rabbits in the fields. He collected them all and brought them one by one to my dad who didn't realize what was happening until it was too late and the little rabbits were well-drenched in Rottie slobber. Can't remember now what we did with the rabbits....think we gave them to someone who had experience with wild orphans...but that was a long time ago...not sure.
We always thought he was just a big softie, a total sweetie, but one day my mom came back from taking him for a walk in the park and she was visibily shaken. She said that he was just walking along nicely (meaning, dragging her every which direction) when a group of boys (meaning, young thug-looking males) started swaggering up in my mom's direction and using some foul language. My mom did not feel directly threatened by them, but she said that Fritz appeared to increase in size, got a very scary look in his eyes and gave a low, but VERY menacing snarl. She said that at that moment, she could understand why so many people are afraid of big Rottweilers and that she was in fact a little afraid of him.
Needless to say, the "boys" disappeared rather quickly...walking backwards very quietly the whole way. Fritz got some extra pats and praise, mainly for not taking after the "boys" to teach them a lesson. And none of us (except my father) ever took him for a walk alone again as we all knew that we were not strong enough to stop him if he ever tried to go after someone.
Big dogs scare me despite the fact that I grew up around German Shepards and Rottweilers. It takes time for me to warm up to a large dog. A LOT of time. Not that I believe any particular breed should be wiped out. I can understand people's fear, but I cannot understand how they choose to deal with that fear.