A Checkered Past
The roots of the American Pit Bull reach back to England and the 1800’s. At that time, the “bulldog” was used to attack bulls. They would bite any convenient spot, usually the nose or an ear, and hang on with their tenacious grip until the bull ultimately collapsed from blood loss and pain. Spectators would wager on how long the bull would remain standing, or if the bulldog would be killed by the bull instead.
When the British Parliament outlawed this activity in 1835, bulldog breeders refocused the dog’s tenacious jaws and fierce fighting disposition on the dog fighting “sport”. In a selective process, bulldog owners bred in some Terrier blood and the “Bull and Terrier” came into existence. The dog was noted for fierce aggression, a high pain threshold, tenacious fighting skills, and, thanks to the Terrier blood, a love of people.
American colonists started bringing the Bull and Terrier into the United States where they quickly gained a reputation as hard-working farm dogs and very capable watch dogs. After relentless lobbying by Bull and Terrier owners, the United Kennel Club recognized the Bull and Terrier Dog and renamed the breed the “American Pit Bull Terrier” in 1898.
Although organized in 1884, the American Kennel Club refused to recognize the breed until 1936 when it reluctantly admitted it under the name “Staffordshire Terrier” a name that came from the people who worked the mines in Staffordshire, England, and had a hand in breeding earlier generations of pit bulls. Not content with their chosen name, the AKC again renamed the breed to the “American Staffordshire Terrier” in 1972.
As a result of all this confusion, some American Pit Bull Terriers carry dual registration as an American Pit Bull Terrier with the UKC and as an American Staffordshire Terrier with the AKC, although some breeders argue that the bloodlines of the two breeds are not identical and that dual-registration is improper. No matter what you choose to call this dog, we’re going to refer to it as the APBT, for American Pit Bull Terrier, throughout the rest of this book.
Before we get too far into the book I would like to address some standard statistics about the breed and address the most frequently asked questions about our beloved APBT.
General Appearance
The APBT is a medium sized breed with a solid build, sleek, short coat and with appropriate muscling.
Color
Any color and pattern is acceptable.
Weight
Bitches: 30-50lbs
Dogs: 35-60lbs. Larger and smaller dogs are accepted as long as they are not disproportionately large or small (so those 100lb brutes would definitely be disproportionate and inadmissible to a UKC show ring).
Height
17-23 inches (for dogs and bitches).
Ears
Both cropped and uncropped are accepted by the UKC and ADBA. Ear cropping is strictly for cosmetic purposes and there is no medical benefit to cropping. If you are going to crop then it must be done before the dog is 12 weeks old. Otherwise, the ear cartilage will have set and the cropping will be unsuccessful.
Contrary to the widely-spread rumors, the ABPT has the exact same jaw structure as any other dog and has no special ability to “lock” their jaws. The jaw-locking myth was probably a result of the dog’s amazing desire to hang on to anything that it sinks its teeth into without regard for outside forces that may try to pry it loose.
Breaking Stick
This is a good time to introduce you to the concept of a “breaking stick”. A breaking stick is a device that you insert into your pit bull’s mouth, behind her molars, to gently pry her mouth open and get it to release its grip on whatever it is she just latched on to.
A responsible pit bull owner will carry a breaking stick with them at all times just in case their dog gets into a fight with another dog. Pit Bulls do not fight like most dogs. Other breeds will bark, growl, snap and bite. The fight ends when one of them goes submissive and surrenders. Pit Bulls, on the other hand, will try to latch on to some part of the dog and begin shaking and tearing flesh. Even though we’ve told you that pit bulls have no special powers that enable them to lock their jaws, you won’t believe that when you are trying to get your dog to disengage during a fight.
If you have to use the stick, insert it behind the gap in their molars. Turn the stick in your hands as if you were twisting the throttle on a motorcycle. This spreads the dog’s jaws open slightly. Now straddle your dog and pull her back from the other dog. Get your dog under control and keep the opponent away.
Sorry folks, but the experts agree that there is no reliable way to test a dog’s biting pressure. The PSI that a dog exerts depends upon a number of variables including: whether the dog fighting, playing, eating soft food, chewing a bone, etc. No reputable breeder or kennel association publishes PSI statistics.
There is no evidence that the APBT bites any more (or less) people than any other breed. A rabid fascination by the Press has caused this breed to earn the undeserved reputation as a natural Born Killer. People confuse the breed’s somewhat natural aggression towards other dogs with a very unnatural aggression towards humans. The APBT desperately longs for the love and attention of humans and all but the seriously mistreated and abused ones will show nothing but love and loyalty for their owners.
Sadly, a well cared for APBT has a life expectancy of about 12 “human” years which is actually quite old when you consider that it translated to 84 dog years.
Some people delight in telling you that they have a “blue pit”, or a “red nose” because they want you to think that their dog is somehow rarer and, hence, more valuable than a “plain” APBT. Hat’s a bunch of rubbish. The fact is the APBT comes in any color that is possible for a dog to come in. These “bragging rights” colors do not make the dog any more or less valuable and they are not genetically superior to any other APBT. Some shady breeders may want you to think that you are getting a rare and valuable gem but, the truth is, your dog’s value will be judged by a lot more than its color.
OK, with that being said, a quick discussion on the Blue Merle is in order. The Merle is genetically distinct from other ABPT colors because of its often-times unique color schemes and its notable blue eye (also called a crystal or glass eye). While it is true that these dogs are very rare, and their value is rising to meet the high demand and relatively low supply, the dog is otherwise no better or worse than any other APBT.
Short answer: Nope! We’ve already defined what the APBT looks like and there was no mention of 120 lb lumbering giants in the description that I recall. If you’ve got a version of Babe the Blue Ox on your hands then the chances are you’re a proud owner of a breed known as the “American Bulldog”.
The American Bulldog is very powerful and athletic. He sports a short-coated that shows his well-defined muscles that make him a perfect working dog.
Height: Males: 22 - 27 inches; Females: 20 - 25 inches.
Weight: Male: 75 - 125 lbs.; Female: 60 - 100 lbs.
Colors:
All white, pied, or up to 90% color; brindle or red patches (red can also appear as any shade of tan, brown.
Yes, if one of them is dead. Just kidding. APBT have been known to get along with cats, mice, skunks, and just about anything except another dog. On the other hand, they have been known to chomp any furry creature within the reach of their jaws as well. In general, don’t buy an APBT if your main goal is to have it as a playmate for your other pets. Get a gerbil instead.
When I was young I owned a horse. One day the blacksmith came over to give her new shoes. He tied up one of her legs in what is called a hobble. The purpose of the hobble is to keep the horse from kicking. I told the blacksmith that my horse didn’t kick. He looked at me for a second, spit on the ground, and said “Son. All dogs bite, all horses kick, and all bears eat berries. Now get out of my way so I can put shoes on this mule.”
So, the question isn’t DO they bite, the question is “Will my APBT bite me or someone that I love”? The answer to that is: Maybe, maybe not. As a breed, the APBT isn’t any more likely to bite you than any other breed is. There are things that you can do to make any dog bite, but there aren’t any things that you can do to make an APBT, in specific, bite. In fact, from their early days as bull and dog fighters, they were bred NOT to bite humans. This was a safety precaution so that two dog handlers could reach into a fight and pull the combatants apart without accidentally getting bit in the process. Dogs that showed a proclivity towards biting humans were actually destroyed. As a result, today’s APBT has a strong in-bred aversion to biting humans and will not generally do so without great provocation.
Who said it was? When the National Canine Temperament Testing Association tested 122 breeds, Pit Bulls were ranked as the 4th friendliest do with a well-deserved 95% passing rate!
The Little Rascals' dog Petey was an American Pit Bull Terrier. Did you ever see Petey bite anyone?
Helen Keller’s’ dog was an APBT and the first ever certified hearing assistance dog was, you guessed it, an APBT named RCA. And, although RCA died of cancer on June 29, 1997 at the age of 16, she remained a loyal, well-behaved working dog right up until the moment of her death.
Where you get your dog makes all of the difference in its temperament. If you buy from some shady backyard breeder, you’re likely to get a shady junkyard dog. If you buy from a respectable, professional, well-recommended breeder then the chances are nearly 100% that you are going to get an APBT that shows love, affection, loyalty, intelligence, a natural affection for children, and a strong aversion towards biting humans that marks the true APBT. Of course, there is no guaranteeing that your neighborhood squirrels are going to be any better off if you buy from a reputable breeder, but that’s an entirely different issue.
Ah, a great dilemma and a few stereotypes thrown in for good measure. The answer to this question is not simple.
The APBT has come under an ugly gray cloud that’s called Breed Specific Legislation or BSL for short. These are laws that specifically discriminate against a certain breed or types of animal. If similar laws were enacted against humans they would be prohibited by the U.S. Constitution just as laws discriminating against Afro Americans have been struck from the books. Unfortunately, animals are not protected by our Constitution.
There are two types of BSL. One type prohibits ownership of a specific animal under any circumstances, and the other an excessive burden on the owner such as a requirement for confinement and huge, often impossible to obtain, liability insurance on the animal that is being regulated.
Denver, Colorado, for example, has enacted BSL that prohibits "any person to own, possess, keep, exercise control over, maintain, harbor, transport, or sell within the city any pit bull" A pit bull is defined as: "any dog that is an American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, or any dog displaying the majority of physical traits of any one (1) or more of the above breeds, or any dog exhibiting those distinguishing characteristics which substantially conform to the standards established by the American Kennel Club or United Kennel Club for any of the above breeds."
Waterford Charter Township, Michigan has BSL which prohibits any "possession, maintenance, and harboring" of any "pit bull terriers," it then goes on to say that "the township has further concluded that it is in the interest of public health, safety and welfare that the presence of pit bull terriers be limited in this community to only those existing licensed pit bull terrier dogs in order that the threat of this breed will eventually be removed from this community.”
Ohio, home of Mr. Nice Guy Drew Carey, has taken the unprecedented step of outright declaring the APBT to be a “vicious” dog. Its law states, in part, that a vicious dog includes one which "belongs to a breed that is commonly known as a pit bull dog. The ownership, keeping, or harboring of such a breed of dog shall be prima-facie evidence of the ownership, keeping, or harboring of a vicious dog."
Why are these laws enacted? Ignorance, that’s why. The APBT is world renown as Search and Rescue dogs, Therapy Dogs, Drug and Bomb-sniffing dogs, and hard-working herding and sporting dogs; not to mention good, loyal and safe family pets. The problem is mass histeria caused by the Press. It is interesting how the Press can control thoughts and emptions simply by throwing a few extra words into a story. Here are some great non-dog examples to illustrate what I mean from a newspaper that I regularly read:
“SUV strikes and kills child”. This headline feeds upon the anti-SUV craze while, just a few days later, another headline read “Mother and son struck by car crossing Interstate”. Hmm, why not “Mother and Son struck by 4-door sedan convertible while crossing Interstate”? Another headline, from a newspaper where there is an ongoing and continous bias against people who belong to a religion known as “Scientology”, reads: “Scientologist struck while riding bicycle”. Seems odd that Christians are never struck while riding bicycles, at least I’ve never read any headlines about them. Jews seem to be protected from this particular fate as well since I don’t read about them being struck while riding their bikes either. In fact, of all the people who were struck on their bicycles, for as long as I can remember reading this newspaper, only one person’s religion was so much a part of the story that it actually made the headlines. The only problem is, nowhere in the story was their any link or further mention of Scientology and the accident.
Well, the same types of headlines whip up a frenzy against the APBT and it’s related breeds.
There is no sane and logical reason for the APBT to be discriminated against. It is pure ignorance on the part of the lawmakers, fed by a sensationalistic Press, that fans the flames of hatred against this noble breed.
If you would like to do something to stop this redicilious hate movement, educate yourself on the subject by visiting http://www.dapbt.org/ which is the home of the Defense of the American Pit Bull Terrier association.
Now that we’ve provided a basic introduction to the APBT breed, as well as some facts, figures, and background, let’s move on to addressing the care, feeding, training, and relationship-building questions that ABPT owners often have.
Although not specifically bred as such, their alertness, loyalty, protectivness, and their unrelenting courage combine to make them outstanding watchdog candidates.