I’ve come across a lot of myths and mis-information over the topic of ‘pit bulls’, even among self-proclaimed pit bull experts. Between the media trying to scare the shit out of everyone, breeders trying to sell their accidental litters for a decent price, and plain uneducated guesses, there’s a lot of confusion swirling around this animal. I’m no pit bull expert, but I have some knowledge on dogs and enough know-how to read up on a subject, so maybe I could try my hand as an educator, at least when it comes to animals. Many people don’t even know what a pit bull really is! Let’s start with that, shall we?
A pit bull is, well, anything you want it to be! No, really. A pit bull is defined in many dictionaries as an American Pit Bull Terrier, a bully breed, a mix of bully breed or any dog that appears to be a bully breed or mix of bully breed, a dog used for dog fighting, and an aggressive and tenacious dog. Those were about all the definitions I could find relating to the animal, but I’ll break it down bit by bit.
Firstly, Pit bulls are a recognized breed of dog under certain kennel clubs, formally known as American Pit Bull Terriers. The shortened word for American Pit Bull Terrier is often Pit Bull or even Pit, and APBT is the common abbreviation. It is true that pit bulls were registered under a different name (American Staffordshire Terrier) due to the name ‘pit bull’ being controversial (‘Pit’ referring to the area used to fight dogs), but the American Staffordshire as a breed began to drift away from the APBT and eventually became a separate breed all together. This makes APBTs and American Staffordshire terriers separate breeds altogether.
The list of bully breeds are mainly compromised by terriers, mastiff, and bulldog type dogs. All bully breeds originated from molosser type dogs, and are bred to have thick, stocky bones, pointed pendant ears and shorter muzzles. What breeds are actually considered Bully Breeds is a tad up in the air; some will say Boxers and Boston Terriers, or even French Bulldogs, while others would keep mainly to APBT, different Staffordshire Terries, maybe some different mastiff types like Cane Corsos and Canary Dogs. So it really depends on who is defining what a ‘bully breed’ is, as there is not set definition. According to the legal pit bull definition, any bully breed, even those that are not an APBT, can be considered a pit bull.
For the third definition, any mix of a bully breed can also still be considered a pit bull, even if it is known that one or more of the mix is not a bully breed. For example, a Staffordshire X Cane Corso mix can still be considered a bully breed, as can a Staffordshire X Greyhound mix, or a Staffordshire X Greyhound X Bernese Mountain dog, etc. Granted, after a while one would think that the definition would be moot after 1 part bully breed and 50 part hounds. However as far as I could tell, there is no defined rule as to how far off a bully breed needs to be bred out for it to not be able to be labeled as a pit bull, so for now I am assuming for as long as the lineage is tracked.
Now for the real screwy part of that definition; Any apparent bully breed or bully breed mix, may also be called a pit bull. That means a dog may not have any APBT in it, or even any trace of a bully breed, but as long as it looks like it could possibly be an APBT or any bully breed or any bully breed mix, it can be labeled as a pit bull. Now just let that idea sit for a moment…
The pit bull breed was, at one point (and still today, but is very much frowned upon) used as fighting dogs. Any dog used in a dog fight were sometimes called pit dogs, as they would be fighting in an arena often called a ‘pit’. Eventually the name pit bull was coined (sometime in the 1930’s if my mind serves me right) and wasn’t yet used to describe a particular breed with a set of standards, but simply dogs that were used for dog fighting. Therefore, while not all pit bulls are fighting dogs, fighting dogs may be referred to as pit bull, regardless of origin (or looks).
I’ll be honest, I don’t understand where the last term came from nor have I really ever hear it used as just describing a dog that is tenacious and vicious. Tenacity, though, is known as a strong pit bull trait, and pit bulls are strongly associated with attacks on people, so that’s my only guess where that one came from, and how it was used. I never hear people use this definition, spoken or written, so I just assume it’s a dead meaning at this point, but I’ll still acknowledge it’s existence.
So now you know that the term ‘Pit Bull’ is actually extremely vague and could mean a number of different things. I hope I was able to teach someone something new, so now they can use the term or hear it and know exactly what it means, or more importantly, what it may very well not mean. I believe it is important to understand that pit bull can literally mean any kind of dog, so when one hears of a story pertaining to pit bulls, they can make their own judgement and take the term with a grain of salt since labeling a dog as a pit bull is very rarely so black and white.
Abandoned Animal Accumulator 