No, a dog is not a hippopotamus

A dog is a dog. It's exactly as dangerous as any other dog of a comparable size with comparable training and socialization. When a dog attacks a human being, it's because that dog is untrained and unsocialized at best, or at worst has been abused until it either sees humans as threats or believes aggression will please its owner. Not because that dog is the Designated Evil Kind Of Dog (which, if you're too young to remember, used to be Dobermans or Rottweilers or German Shepherds depending on the decade). Not because of "genetics". Genetically, that dog is 99.99999% the same exact creature as little Cookie the poodledoodle who lives in your handbag. The most vicious, intractably aggressive dog I ever knew was a little fifteen-pound terrier, and he was that way because he was spoiled fucking rotten. The second sweetest, most laidback dog I ever knew was a pitbull mix (the very sweetest was a greyhound). The only "propaganda" out there is the stuff you've been sold about perfectly…