Relevant

The History of the American Pit Bull Terrier
A work in progress by Adam Barnett

The history of the American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT) unexpectedly does not begin in America but in the British Isles, for hundreds of years people used them for what they considered at the time to be entertainment in dog fights to fight bulls, bears, lions, monkeys, and other dogs.

At this period in time a Bulldog was just a dog whom could effectively fight a bull. In early history the Bulldog was not a breed but a dog named for the function he performed. These dogs were used in early period fighting pits for over 600 years according to the Bulldog Club of America.

Many Bulldogs were used for baiting bulls for butchers before their slaughter. In England it was believed that all butchers had to bait their bulls if they planned to sell their meat.

Over the course of this time Bulldogs developed a bad reputation similar to the APBT today. Many believed that Bulldogs were brutal, fierce, un-trainable animals who wanted nothing more than to kill. Others on the other hand fiercely supported the Bulldog as a loyal and majestic breed.

Many Bulldogs at this time were not trainable as pets. They were fierce, unrestrained fighters, and very hard to control and almost always had to be muzzled and caged. Just like the ABPT today the breed was misunderstood and mishandled.

In 1835, the outlook on the pit fights and the breed began to take a new shape and approach. Large outcries began of animal cruelty, and England outlawed bull-baiting, dog fighting, and other blood sports involving dogs of any breed. It was after this that the titled Bulldog had nothing to do.

As Bulldogs were taking shape into powerful fighting dogs, terriers of all shapes and sizes were busy evolving as well and becoming used to various climates and terrains all over Britain. Although these terriers varied widely in shape and size they had one extremely useful purpose, vermin control.

Now that Britain outlawed bull-baiting, owners of these Bulldogs were trying to find a useful legal purpose of their dogs. The idea arose to cross a Bulldog and a terrier to see how useful they were in killing rats. In 1822, Billy, a bulldog-terrier mix was said to have killed 100 rats in five and a half minutes. And, in 1825 Billy had the reputation of killing 4,000 rats in 17 hours.

This Bulldog-terrier cross made a lot of sense. The quickness, agility, fire, and high prey drive of the terrier mixed with the strength, tenacity, and extreme courage of the Bulldog. Often the cross was referred to as the Bull-and-Terrier or the Half-and-Half; these Bulldog-terriers cross not only were able to perform in illegal dog fighting rings but excelled at ratting. In England, these crosses became known as the Staffordshire bull terrier, the Bull Terrier and the Miniature Bull Terrier. In America, they became something completely different.

During World War I, an APBT named Stubby had earned two medals for bravery and heroism and given the rank of Sergeant. The APBT appeared on posters all over as a symbol of patriotism.

Soon the APBT became one of the most popular breeds in America. One of the first registered APBTs was Petey, the Little Rascal’s mascot of the popular ‘Our Gang’ movies and television shows. While not all APBTs were movie stars, the others worked on farms catching hogs, eliminating vermin, and protecting livestock. The APBT is not a natural guard dog by nature because of their friendly nature towards humans; the pit bull terriers were naturally good at protecting homes from dangerous animals.

As the APBT became more and more popular people wanted to begin to see the breed become more organized. Since the American Kennel Club would not recognize the breed because of its history of pit fighting, a man named Chauncey Bennett founded the United Kennel Club (UKC) in 1898 as an alternative to the AKC. Bennett wanted to provide a way for breeds to be registered that the AKC would not; this included the American Eskimo and the Toy Fox Terrier.

In 1936, the AKC finally opened their doors to the recognize the APBT, but, only under the condition the name would be changed to Staffordshire Terrier to eliminate any reference to the pit fighting history of the breed.

During the second half of the 20^th century and with the help of media the APBT began to get a bad reputation as being an aggressive dog by appearing in pictures of dog fighting and ones that made pit bulls look terrifying. This of course attracted criminals, people who wanted a tough looking dog and those engaged in illegal pit fights.

In 1970, the America Dog Owner’s Association formed to work towards eliminating dog fighting, and still continue even today to work to eliminate this cruel and illegal sport. In today’s news it is obvious that illegal pit fighting continues in America and only adds to the misconception that APBT are a human aggressive and a dangerous breed. Legislation regarding pit bull bans appears almost daily and it has become extremely difficult to know where the breed is legal or not.

America is not the only place that is obsessed with marking certain animals as dangerous. In 1991, England passed the Dangerous Dogs Act, making any pit-bull-type dog illegal nationwide. The act does not only includes the pit bull terrier, the Japanese Tosa, the Dogo Argentino and the Fila Brasileiro it designates the dangerous dogs by type and not breed, so even mixes of the dogs will be confiscated and destroyed. This also allows any authority figure to destroy any dog that they believe to be a pit bull type. The Staffordshire Bull Terrier, which is not considered to be a pit bull terrier and not from the Britan Isles but a creation from America, however, is exempt from the Act.