Dogs have always played an important part in my life. My family has had at least one dog since before I was born. We have always had purebred dogs until two summers ago when we adopted our first shelter dog from St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center in Madison, NJ. Her name is Greta, and she is the most loving dog I have ever met. She is also a pit bull.

When we first brought Greta home, I wasn't sure what to expect. I never believed anything that was said about pit bulls, but I had never owned one before. Greta has been one of the greatest additions to our family. She is sweet and gentle with my little brothers and demands to sit in your lap and be pet. She hates to be left alone and gets along nicely with our older golden retriever.

I love Greta dearly and would hate to think of her or other pit bulls being unfairly judged. So here are my top five incredibly false pit bull myths.

1. Pit bulls can lock their jaws.

I for one find this myth to be incredibly stupid, but a lot of people believe it to be true. In actuality, pit bulls are regular dogs that just happen to have square heads. They are not even considered a breed, it's a generic term. Don't just take my word for it, Dr. I. Lehr Brisbin at University of Georgia stated, "We found that the American pit bull terriers did not have any unique mechanism that would allow these dogs to lock their jaws. There were no mechanical or morphological differences..." This is a classic example of fear making people come to uninformed decisions.

2. Pit bulls hate kids.

I can speak personally on this since I have a six year old brother who is incredibly rough, and I can tell you that Greta would never show her teeth to him, let alone harm him. Most of the time she sleeps with him in my mother's bed.

3. Pit bulls turn on their owners.

Not only is this statement silly, but it is also statistically wrong. According to the Huffington Post, "There are thought to be fewer than 30 people killed in dog attacks per year—a vanishingly small number, considering that some 70–80 million dogs are owned in the United States." That's an incredibly small percentage, especially considering the fact that an even smaller amount of dogs in general actually attack their owners.

4. Pit bulls are owned by bad people.

That statement is false, and I'm sure Jon Stewart, Tom Brady, and Jessica Biel would all agree with me.

5. Pit bulls are bread to fight.

This statement is wrong. Most pit bulls tend to just be mutts, and the only reason they fall into the pit bull category is because of the shape of their heads.

I hope that people can learn to not let fear get the better of them when comes to anything, especially loving animals. I hope through this article, I have changed any of you who feel that pit bulls are monsters. Remember that you can't judge a book by its cover.