In my initial post, I was going to say something about pit bulls and being against breed specific laws, but that was off topic, as are the others here on the nature of pit bulls. Since you all started it, I'm going to respond. Many more breeds bite, but are not logged and tracked as pit bulls are. There are many loving, social pit bulls are out there. Do I own one or have I ever? No. But, I did own a Rottweiller. What do you say about that breed? She was the most loving dog we ever had. Scary looking but she was loving. Ever see the children's book series, "Carl"? She was also a registered pet therapy dog and when we bought a house and were asked by the insurance company on the type of dogs we had, and I told them, they didn't want to cover us. I then told them she was a registered pet therapy dog and licensed to ride in the passenger area of a plane. They covered us. Don't get me started on breed specific prejudice. 9 times out of 10 it's the owners. Read your statistics on St. Bernards, biters, and so can be Akitas and Chows, but you never hear about them do you?
The point of the OP's was the bad neighbor not minding their dog and they just happen to mention their fear of pit bulls. Had she mentioned her fear of Chihuahua's, there would've been different responses.