In regards to Pit Bulls (I believe one poster mentioned them), while I agree they are good family dogs, IME they are NOT suited for homes that have other animals. Pit Bulls typically IME are super animal aggressive--especially to cats; or, dogs of the same gender as they are. There are always exceptions of course though.
Shane, sorta like kids, you just have to raise them right and take a firm hand if need be. Butch was 4yrs old when he came to live with me. He is food aggresive, but towards other dogs he is a sissy. My 23lb mutt named tugger bullies him around. I have one of Butches sons, named Bandit, he stays in the same kennel as my catahoula male. I think a large portion of controlling these dogs around other animals is being there when they are introd to other animals. I have one pit, a pit cross, a catahoula, a Lab, a mutt, and a blue heeler. The only female is the heeler.
Th problem most people have is when they are 6-8wks old they let them fight, think it is cute, cause no blood is flying. But when those dogs reach 40-50lbs they are capable of violence that far exceeds most other breeds. Older dogs can be acclimated to other animals, "Butch" wasn't much of a fan of cats, but he has learned to tolerate them.
Labs are decent dogs, but most just aren't aggresive enough to stop people and most folks don't realize they will bite. I had one when I was a kid that was horrible towards folks, i've lost track of how many folks she bit. I've owned a few since and none where that way. I feel the same way about Boxers, i've never had a boxer even make me nervous, most come up wiggling their butts wanting to be petted.
Pits are not real fast at being aggresive towards folks,but they by simple bum media wrap are feared by all sorts of folks. Which in most cases is what you want, unless you have a high fenced yard. The perception of aggresion over anything, but in reality a dog that only attacks when you are directly threatened. Amercian Bulldogs, Dobermans, German Shepards, Rotts, and a host of other breeds are really people aggresive and you need lots of training and time to avoid law suits.
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Ladybug if you can get a neighborhood watch off the ground, do it. I simply could not find enough support here, people were mad enough to complain and whine about it, but they didn't want to actually do anything. I found three people willing to help out of about 20 I asked, we are a rural county road.
So out of frustration I finally did what seemed the only prudent thing left to do. Some seem to think it was an escalation of the threat. But they had already shown they would murder and commit arson, so it was them who brought it to the next level.
Lights, Dog, cameras, and unity and you should be ok.
Nasty animals, sorta a go out in the morning and bury the leftover pieces of the thiefs type dogs. 
