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Breed Origin/History

Origin/History:

Although the exact history of the breed of dog known as the American Pit Bull Terrier is unknown, sometime during the nineteenth century, dog fanciers in England, Ireland, and Scotland began to experiment with crosses between Bulldogs and Terriers, looking for a dog that combine the gameness of the Terrier with the strength and athleticism of the Bulldog. The Bulldog that is the ancestor of the APBT was used for many types of work, including baiting, fighting, stock work, hunting, and as a farm dog. Once bred with the Terrier breeds the result was a dog that enbodied all the virtures attributed to great warriors: strength, indomitable courage, and gentleness with loved ones. Immigrants brought these Bull and Terrier crosses to the United States. Specifically, these dogs accompanied farmers into the fields to assist with bringing dangerous Bulls in for breeding, castration, or slaughter. The dogs known generally as Bulldogs, protected the farmer by subduing the Bull if it attempted to gore him. Typically a dog would do this by biting the Bull on the nose and holding on until the Bull submitted. Because of the nature of their job, Bulldogs were bred to have powerful jaws, muscular bodies, and the resolve to hold onto a violently-struggling Bull even when injuried.

American Pit Bull Terriers have historically been used for dog fighting. It's also true they were fighting animals like Bears, Boars, Badgers, Bulls, Lions, and Tigers... Long before they were fought with each other. Fighting dogs were bred for strength, speed and gameness, or the willingness to see a task through to its conclusion regardless of serious threat of injury or death.

While fighting dogs in England were not necessarily a singular breed of dog but rather a type of dog bred for gameness from different stock, and in the USA the breed solidified and was named the American Pit Bull Terrier. Breeders knew that a dog like this could be dangerous to people and difficult to control if it were aggessive toward people, so breeders would look for the crucial trait of non-aggression towards humans. Fighting dogs that showed aggression towards its owner or handler were routinely killed and thus removed from the gene pool. This resulted in a line of strong dogs that while aggressive towards dogs and other animals, would be gentle with people.