if you knew the origin of the name pit bull, you wouldn’t use it

Why don’t I use the term “Pit Bull”? Bully-mixed dogs are often mistakenly referred to as Pit Bulls as it’s difficult to sometimes visually differentiate between them. It’s not actually just the dog’s looks, it’s their genetics, along with other factors, that determine whether or not a dog is a genetically-true Pit Bull. What you own is most likely not a Pit Bull but a “Pet Bull” lol.

I’ll refrain from going into those other factors here, because while important, the name Pit Bull actually comes from dog fighting. I know this because at a young age I was, unfortunately, a part of the dog fighting world. I’ve worked hard to redeem myself and continue to do so all these decades later. That’s also why I’m a passionate advocate for Bully-mixed dogs.

(If interested in learning more about the factors that determine a true Pit Bull, I talk in more detail about them on my podcast. I only share those details in my podcast to help everyone better understand how misrepresented Bully-mixed dogs really are.)

Decades after dog fighting was deemed illegal, the American (Pit) Bull Terrier was given its name by the founder of United Kennel Club (UKC), Chauncey Z. Bennett, not understanding the implications of his actions at the time. Perhaps he did because he put Pit in parenthesis in the name when it was first introduced. The problem with the ubiquity of the term Pit Bull is that a genetically true Pit Bull has game-breed bloodlines — that is, the genetic traits of gameness. Anyone who argues differently doesn't know the dog they're working with, and they haven’t been around true game-breed Pit Bulls.

Those bloodlines have long been kept by the underground dog fighting community and dogs proved to have those bloodlines are not easily acquired by the general public. If such a dog is acquired nowadays but is never fought, the dog is only a show dog, and is not a true Pit Bull without a confirmation to see if it will scratch in the pit. (Scratch is a method by which a dog must demonstrate willingness to fight, e.g. gameness, in a pit contest. Thus, the name “Pit” Bull.) At that point the dog could be a cur. A cur is any dog that is not game; that shows signs and/or gives up or stops; cries, tail between the legs; may initially rear up “curr”.

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Bully-mixed dogs are the most prevalent type of Bully dogs owned as pets today and are also found far too often in animal shelters. They are a product of bottleneck breeding from The American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT) and are far removed from their genetically-true Pit Bull relatives. Essentially, they’re a mutt just like any other! I can’t stress enough that Bully-mixed dogs are not game dogs, therefore they don’t have the foundation to be a true Pit Bull.

Why is this differentiation so important? Because of the misguided belief that all “Pit Bulls” today have the capacity to become aggressive, or “turn”, simply because of their looks. Some of this misinformation stems from confusing gameness with prey drive. All dogs have a prey drive, and many dogs of pure and mixed breeds alike have the capacity to strengthen or decrease their prey drive in varying degrees with human intervention. Let’s also remember researchers have yet to prove a definitive genetic link between ANY behavior in ANY breed. More on that in another blog coming up!

It’s important to note that a Bully breed such as the Staffordshire Bull Terrier is also not genetically a Pit Bull. Yet, the term Pit Bull has mistakenly become synonymous with this breed. They are not interchangeable. Here are the recognized Bully breeds by the UKC and AKC:

United Kennel Club (UKC)

American Bulldog

American Pit Bull Terrier

Staffordshire Bull Terrier

American Kennel Club (AKC)

American Bulldog

American Staffordshire Terrier

Bull Terrier

Staffordshire Bull Terrier

As you can see, these two organizations can’t even agree on the breeds to recognize! In my opinion, they shouldn’t have the last word on what a dog breed is or isn’t when none of these breeds are genetically true Pit Bulls. I hope now you can see if more people knew the origin of the name Pit Bull, no one outside the dog fighting world would be using it.

A word on DNA results that you may receive from DNA testing companies. It used to be that the results would only name the American Staffordshire Terrier (AST) anytime a DNA test was done for a Bully. Now, those same companies are also using the name American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT).

I’ve established the Pit Bull is its own breed given the highly protected game-breed bloodlines, which is why I question the accuracy of these DNA companies’ results. In order for AST’s and APBT’s to be considered pure breeds, the testing companies would have had to acquire true game-breed Pit Bull bloodlines, which is highly improbable since they’re not easily acquired.

Next, they would’ve had to classify those game-breed bloodlines as genetically-true Pit Bulls in order to differentiate their DNA from that of the AST and APBT breeds. If the testing companies aren’t able to recognize the genetically-pure Pit Bull DNA, how do they know that DNA isn’t also in AST’s and APBT’s?

The presence of the genetically-true Pit Bull DNA effectively renders them mixed breeds. Yes, game-breed bloodlines can still be detected in Bully-mixed dogs most likely due to bottleneck breeding. As I mentioned earlier, dogs with game-breed bloodlines have the capacity to become more aggressive with human intervention.

These faint traces of game-breed bloodline DNA may also explain why some Bully’s and Bully-mixed dogs can become more aggressive towards other animals - again, with human intervention. Going back to what I share in my podcast, that still doesn’t make that dog a true Pit Bull. If your dog was unknowingly a genetically-true Pit Bull, wouldn’t you want to know? At the end of the day, DNA testing just makes things more complicated.

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