FAQ: The Truth About Pit Bulls
Check out Annie and Maya on our Happy Tails page for more information on successful Pit Bull adoptions.
The difference between APBTs and AmStaffs:
I adopted a dog at the shelter and was told that he is a Staffordshire Terrier. Is a Staffordshire Terrier the same as a Pit Bull?
First, it is important to know that Staffordshire Terrier and “pit bull” are not official breeds. They are common terms used to describe a certain type of dog. There are actually three breeds that can be easily confused. The correct designations are:
▪American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT) - recognized by the ADBA and UKC
▪American Staffordshire Terrier (AST) - recognized by the AKC
▪Staffordshire Bull Terrier (SBT) - recognized by the AKC and UKC
They are essentially the same dogs but have been bred for different purposes and/or size standards since the mid 1930's. Some are even dual registered (i.e., registered with both the UKC as an APBT and with the AKC as an AST). Pete the Pup from The Little Rascals was among the first APBTs to be registered with the AKC as an AST.
How can we tell the difference?
The American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT)
Like many other common breeds, including Labrador Retrievers, Greyhounds, German Shepherds, and the Parsons (or “Jack”) Russell Terrier, the American Pit Bull Terrier is essentially a canine athlete. As the UKC points out, during the nineteenth century breeders in the British Isles began to experiment with crosses between terriers and Bulldogs in hopes of finding a dog with the “gameness” (defined below) of a terrier and the athleticism of a Bulldog (a very different dog from the English Bulldog of today). This original breed, which later resulted in the breeds we now call the APBT, the AST, and the SBT, came to America with immigrants during the late nineteenth century. Just as the Bulldog was originally bred for bull and bear baiting, dog fighting was clearly part of the APBT’s original purpose. But as the UKC also notes, the breed’s many talents did not go unnoticed, and the APBT was also used as an all-purpose farm dog and family companion.
Today, the APBT is bred for a wide variety of purposes from looks and companionship to fighting to nothing in particular, so it is difficult to make generalizations about appearance or purpose. While some APBTs (probably a minority of the overall population) may be directly from fighting lines (“game bred”), many are genetically far removed from their fighting ancestors. Some are animal aggressive; some are not animal aggressive at all.
NOTE: Like most things in life, we must be open to a certain degree of nuance when thinking about pit bulls. As we note above, pit bulls can exhibit a level of animal aggression ranging from nonexistent to very high or somewhere in between - a statement that is true for all dog breeds. To date, there is no identified “fighting gene” that determines which dogs will be animal aggressive and which dogs will not. Even pit bulls with fighting histories have proven manageable around other dogs. Knowing how your dog will behave around other dogs is an important part of being a responsible dog owner. More importantly, there is absolutely no relationship between animal aggression and human aggression. Pit bulls might exhibit an above-average tendency toward dog aggression relative to other breeds, but human aggression has never been a normal trait in these breeds. Pit bulls were not bred to fight humans or for guarding purposes. A common fallacy is the notion that pit bulls are the only dogs that have been historically bred for “fighting.” This is demonstrably false. A large number of dog breeds have been bred to chase, fight, and kill other animals, yet nobody seems to fret about human or animal aggression in Dachshunds, Greyhounds, Whippets, Irish Wolfhounds, Coonhounds, Foxhounds, Beagles, Jack Russell Terriers, and nearly every other dog in the terrier group. Once again, human aggression and animal aggression are entirely unrelated traits.
Because breeding purpose varies so widely among APBTs, less consideration is paid to conformation (how closely the dog matches a set physical standard for the breed). As these pictures show, APBTs can look quite different from one another. In general, however, APBTs can weigh as little as 30 lbs. and as much as 70 lbs. News reports of “pit bulls” weighing in excess of 100 lbs. should be taken with a grain of salt. These dogs are either not pit bulls at all or are mixes of some sort.
An often-overlooked fact of the APBT’s history is that human aggressive dogs (“man biters” in fighting parlance) have been actively culled from bloodlines. In the world of fighting, it is not useful or desirable for a dog to attack handlers or spectators. Not all APBT breeders breed for the pit, though. Some breed for conformation, temperament, weight-pulling, obedience trials, or therapy work. At the foundation of their bloodlines, however, are the same physical and mental characteristics—lean and athletic body, agility, courage, and stability.
Cropped ears are not an indicator of a dog's background. Some dogs bred for the pit have cropped ears; some don’t. Both ABPT and AST show dogs often have cropped ears, but many others have natural ears.
Nowadays people without breeding knowledge are breeding pit bulls for nothing in particular, unusual color (typically red, blue, or merle), general companionship, or to make a quick buck. The animal-welfare community refers to these people as “backyard breeders,” and they are a major contributor to America’s pet overpopulation problem. In general, their dogs are a little larger than the original APBT. These are the dogs that most commonly wind up in shelters or rescues. Most of them have stable dispositions and make excellent companions.
The American Staffordshire Terrier (AST or Amstaff)
The AST or “Amstaff” used to be the same dog as the APBT but was completely taken out of the pit in the mid 1930s. In 1936, the AKC opened its studbooks to a few APBTs that fit their standards and came up with the name “Staffordshire Terrier.” In 1972, the name was changed to American Staffordshire Terrier to avoid confusion with the newly recognized "Staffordshire Bull Terrier" from England. The only dogs that can properly be called American Staffordshire Terriers are those from AKC-registered bloodlines.
ASTs are primarily bred for conformation and good temperament. They have a set height standard of 18 to 19 inches for males and 17 to 18 inches for females. They usually weigh between 50 to 80 lbs., which should be in proportion to their height. They may be a little stockier than the APBT but not always. “The dog’s chief requisites,” the AKC explains, “should be strength unusual for his size, soundness, balance, a strong powerful head, a well-muscled body, and courage that is proverbial.”
Red (or “Dudley”) noses are considered a fault according to the AKC’s breed standard, and this physical trait has been bred out of most AST lines. Red-nosed dogs are common in APBT lines. This may help you differentiate between the breeds. If the dog has a red nose, it is more likely to be of APBT than of AST lineage.
Because the AST and APBT have the same ancestors (some are even dual-registered), they have a similar look and similar personalities. Dog-aggression is a potential trait in both breeds, though it’s not as strong or common in the AST. The AKC’s Complete Dog Book sums it up best:
In mentioning the gameness of the Staffordshire, it is not the intention to tag him as a fighting machine or to praise this characteristic. These points are discussed because they are necessary in giving the correct origin and history of the breed. The good qualities of this dog are many, and it would be difficult for anyone to overstress them. […] As to character, they are game for anything; nevertheless, they should not be held in ill repute merely because some have been taking advantage of this rare courage to use them in the pit as gambling tools. These dogs are docile, and with a little training are even tractable around other dogs. (345)
The same goes for all dogs that come under the banner of the “pit bull.”
Staffordshire Bull Terrier (SBT, Staffie or Stafford)
Staffies remain very popular in England, but they are less common in the United States. They share common ancestors with the APBT and AST. Staffordshire Bull Terriers should be 14-16" at the shoulder height and at 24 to 34 lbs., they are noticeably smaller, though, and their ears are rarely cropped. They are essentially bred for good disposition and conformation. The AKC points to the Staffie Bull’s “affection for its friends” as well as “off-duty quietness” and “trustworthy stability,” all of which make it “a foremost all-purpose dog.” They are often referred to as "nanny dogs" because they are excellent with children.
Gameness and Disposition
What is gameness? Are dogs that demonstrate gameness temperamentally unsound?
NOTE: Like the AKC, we do not discuss gameness and fighting here either to praise or malign pit bulls. Fighting and gameness are important elements of the breed’s history and, ultimately, a key to understanding our dogs. There is nothing admirable, heroic, or particularly interesting about the fighting aspect of pit bulls’ history. Most importantly, gameness is not aggressiveness. It has nothing to do with aggression (animal or human) and should not enter into discussions about overall temperament.
Very simply put, gameness is the will never to quit a task despite injury, illness, and exhaustion. It is the unflagging courage referred to in UKC and AKC descriptions of these breeds. For pit bulls, gameness has traditionally been directed toward fighting other dogs (but never humans), though it is useful for other activities requiring high drive such as therapy work, weight-pulling, drug sniffing, flyball, Frisbee chasing, tracking, or obedience trials. Gameness does not equal aggressiveness. A dog can be game without being aggressive and vice versa. Unstable, highly aggressive dogs are, in fact, not at all likely to be game. As Diane Jessup explains in The Working Pit Bull, “Gameness does not mean a desire to fight—it means a desire to finish or succeed at a task” (156). Not all pit bulls are game. Dogfighters obviously assess gameness by testing their dogs in the pit. Their ultimate (and very cruel) goal would be to produce a dog that would fight other dogs to the death (these rare dogs are referred to as “dead game”). But as Jessup further notes, there are other, far better ways to gauge gameness in pit bulls and other breeds:
A few examples of true gameness in a dog would be the weight-pull dog that simply never quits trying to pull a load, and must be stopped by his handler when the load becomes too heavy, the tracking dog who continues to work out a faint, hours-old trail in the 100?F heat and scores a perfect 100 in a grueling F.H. German tracking test, […] the search and rescue dog who climbs over brush and debris hour after hour searching for victims. All these are tests of gameness with value (unlike dog fighting, which has no value to society whatsoever) and acceptance in our modern world. (158)
As the previous passage suggests, gameness is by no means a specialized “pit bull trait.” Like animal aggression, it’s a dog trait. This kind of drive is, most accurately, a working dog trait. The tireless Border Collies we see in herding and tracking exhibit gameness. As such, many other breeds are frequently tested and certified for gameness using non-fighting scenarios. The working terriers informally know as “dirt dogs”—a designation that covers Dachshunds, Jack Russell Terriers, Patterdale Terriers, West Highland White Terriers, Cairn Terriers, Norwich Terriers, and many other breeds—are routinely tested on their ability to quarry and “work” small rodents. Jack Russell and Patterdale Terriers still serve the valuable function of ridding farms of groundhogs and badgers.
Because of their focus and determination, pit bulls have proven excellent candidates for search-and-rescue work and therapy work. Dogs can and do love with resoluteness and tenacity
Finally, it is important to recognize that this heritage of gameness partially contributes to the pit bull’s wonderful and resilient personality. It is why these dogs possess a constant desire to please and why they readily take up new lives as loving family pets following neglect and abuse. With this in mind, we will give the final word on gameness to Dr. D. Caroline Coile, author of the excellent Pit Bulls for Dummies:
Gameness, though hard to define, is in essence the quality of pressing on cheerfully and with gusto in the face of adversity. In everyday life, this spirit expresses itself in self-confidence, determination, and a certain joie de vivre. […] Gameness is not aggressiveness. A non-aggressive dog can be game (for example, he avoids a fight but does not back down if pressed), and an aggressive dog can be ungame (for example, if he starts a fight but turns tail if the victim fights back). Some pit bulls are aggressive with other dogs. Others are not. But as a rule, Pit Bulls were not bred to be aggressive—they were bred to win.
Pit Bulls as Guard Dogs
I am looking for a good guard dog to protect my home. Is a pit bull a good choice as a guard dog?
No. The only "guard dog" qualities of a pit bull are its formidable appearance and its name. Other than that, they are not very good at this job. Pit bulls were not created to perform the task of protecting someone's home or property. In many cases pit bulls are just too friendly with people to be good at this. They may bark and "look" scary, but as soon as the intruder smiles at them, most pit bulls think they have made a new friend! In fact, pit bulls are very much at risk of being stolen. Due to their friendly and trusting nature, they are often led right out of their owners' yard, which is one reason they should never be left outdoors unattended.
Pit bulls should not show aggression towards humans and should never be encouraged to attack strangers under any circumstances. With their looks and unfair reputation alone, pit bulls will discourage most thieves from entering your property, provided they are not after the dog itself. Like any good dog, your pit bull should alert you if there is someone around your house, and it might naturally defend you if you are threatened. But do not count on your pit bull to guard your house or property while you are away. In fact, you may want to get a good alarm system to protect your pit bull.
Remember, you are the leader! Your dog counts on you to protect her, not the other way around.
Pit Bulls and Kids
I heard that Pit Bulls were not good with children, is it true?
Most pit bulls are excellent with children. They have a high tolerance for pain and, in general will patiently endure the "abuse" young kids unintentionally dish out; however, like any dog, they must be supervised with kids at all times. PBRC strongly urges all readers to supervise their children's interactions with dogs—that means any dog, regardless of breed, size, age, history, or initial appearance.
Like other medium-to-large sized dogs, pit bulls are enthusiastic and strong. They can easily knock over an unsteady toddler with their wagging tails. They can be quite rambunctious until they mature, which is generally around 2 to 4 years of age. Pit bulls should be taught to play gently, to greet visitors appropriately, not to jump on people, and to sit and wait for a signal before going through doors. Positive training methods work best.
Adding a juvenile dog of any breed to a home with toddlers or very young children may not be ideal since dogs are very energetic at that age. You may want to consider adopting a mature dog that has demonstrated compatibility with children. It is entirely possible to have a young dog with toddlers or infants, but you must be diligent with your supervision. Pit bulls are great playmates for older, respectful kids.
For more information on Pit bulls and kids, check out the story of Annie on our Happy Tails page!
People-Aggression
Our neighbors bought a pit bull and now we are scared to let the kids play outside. Are these dogs really vicious like the media portrays them? Are pit bulls human aggressive by nature?
No dog breed is human aggressive by nature. Pit bulls pass the American Temperament Testing Society’s test at a rate similar to, if not higher than, many other medium-to-large, powerful breeds. The American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, and Staffordshire Bull Terrier pass at rates of 84.3%, 83.4%, and 88.8% respectively. Compare this to Golden Retrievers (84.2%), Great Danes (79.2%), Weimaraners (80.1%), and Standard Poodles (85.3%), to name just four common breeds. Carl Herkstroeter, the president of the ATTS, has commented on these results: "We have tested somewhere around a thousand pit-bull-type dogs […] I've tested half of them. And of the number I've tested I have disqualified one pit bull because of aggressive tendencies. They have done extremely well. They have a good temperament. They are very good with children." An independent, non-profit organization, the ATTS has been collecting data based on a series of evaluations resembling the AKC’s Canine Good Citizen test since 1977. These numbers, which anyone can access at http://www.atts.org, are our best available indicators of temperament. The point is not that pit bulls have better disposition than Poodles or Weimaraners, but that most breeds fall within an acceptable range of temperamental soundness. Likewise, a recent study in Applied Animal Behaviour Science found that pit bulls exhibit an average level of human-directed aggression, rating far better than many less maligned breeds. They are no different from your average dog when it comes to human interaction.
By the same token, no dog breed is inherently non-human-aggressive. All dogs are capable of biting under the right circumstances. Operating under the mistaken assumption that you will never be bitten by a Labrador Retriever is a good way to get bitten by a Labrador Retriever.
It is quite easy to determine which dogs will cause serious injury, and breed has nothing to do with it. As public health studies show, dogs that attack almost always have a bite history, they are almost always intact (not spayed or neutered), they are frequently off-leash in public, and they have almost always lived their lives tethered or otherwise unsocialized (penned in the yard, kept in a basement, roaming around in a pack of dogs, or locked in a garage).
A dog should be evaluated on its own merits, not on its breed. Veterinarians will tell you that pit bulls are temperamentally stable and not inherently more dangerous than other dogs. Owner responsibility, however, is a must with any dog, and all canines should be well-socialized with adults and kids.
Since the mid-1980s, pit bulls have faced prejudice and misunderstanding from many people who do not understand them very well. The media has a well-documented tendency to over-report, misreport, and greatly exaggerate bite incidents involving pit bulls. Legislators frequently make frightening claims about pit bulls that are not grounded in evidence or fact. Ownership requires a thick skin, a willingness to understand your neighbors' fears, and a desire to educate them about the breed.
Works Cited
The American Kennel Club. The Complete Dog Book. 20th Ed. New York: Ballantine, 2006.
The American Temperament Testing Society. <http://www.atts.org>
Coile, D. Caroline. Pit Bulls for Dummies. New York: For Dummies, 2001.
Duffy, D.L., et al., Breed differences in canine aggression, Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. (2008), doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2008.04.006.
Jessup, Diane. The Working Pit Bull. Neptune, NJ: TFH Publications, 1995.
The United Kennel Club. “American Pit Bull Terrier.” <http://www.ukcdogs.com/WebSite.nsf/Breeds/AmericanPitBullTerrier>
This information was provided by PBRC. The full text can be accessed at: http://www.pbrc.net/faq.html
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