Pit Bull

Pit bull is an umbrella term for several kinds of dog, not the name of one formal breed. In the United States it usually covers the American Pit Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, the American Bully and sometimes the Bull Terrier, together with crossbred dogs that look like them. In other countries, including the United Kingdom, it means the American Pit Bull Terrier specifically and leaves out the Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

History

Dogs now called pit bulls are believed to descend from the British bull and terrier, developed in the early 19th century for dog fighting and rat baiting. Breeders crossed the heavily muscled Old English Bulldog with agile terriers to get a lighter, faster dog that kept the bulldog’s courage and tenacity. Bull and terriers were taken to North America in the 19th century, where dog fighting was also popular.

In the 1890s American breeders asked the American Kennel Club to recognise their dogs and were turned down because of the link with fighting. In 1898 they founded the United Kennel Club instead. In the 1930s the American Kennel Club accepted the dogs under another name, Staffordshire Terrier, and barred them from organized fights; in 1972 the name became American Staffordshire Terrier. In England, fanciers in the Black Country kept breeding the bull and terrier type, and The Kennel Club recognised the Staffordshire Bull Terrier in 1935.

Organized dog fights were outlawed state by state in the United States from 1874, and a federal law of 2007 made animal fighting a crime. Illegal fights with pit bull-type dogs have continued all the same.

Identification

The American Staffordshire Terrier and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier are recognised by the American Kennel Club and the Fédération Cynologique Internationale. The American Pit Bull Terrier and the American Bully are not, though the United Kennel Club and other registries accept them.

Because several countries regulate or ban pit bull types, deciding whether a dog is one can matter in law. It may be shown by pedigree papers or DNA parentage tests, or judged from the dog’s build: the head, ears, jaws, chest, legs, tail, coat, weight and height. Mixed-breed dogs with a square head or bulky body are often labeled pit bulls, and studies have found that such labels do not always match the dog’s DNA.

Reputation

Pit bull-type dogs are controversial as pets because of their fighting history, a number of widely reported attacks, and their tendency to hold on when they bite. Supporters and those who favor regulation disagree over whether aggression comes from poor ownership or from breeding for the pit. Some studies argue the dogs are not unusually dangerous. Others, drawing on hospital records, find them responsible for more than half of dog bite incidents while making up about 6% of pet dogs, and find a high rate of severe injuries. Some insurers will not cover them, and several nations and jurisdictions restrict owning them.

Facts on this page were checked against Wikipedia and may have changed since.