American Pit Bull Terrier Handbook. Joe Stahlkuppe
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human element entered the equation.
In most communities there were usually restrained animals, even before leash laws. Many APBT owners, and owners of similar dogs, kept their animals securely behind fences. The APBT was not, and is not now, a dog to be allowed in the informal community leadership ladder contests. The APBT owner knew that and few problems occurred. Owners of other dogs allowed their dogs to run free, but the wise APBT owner never would take this chance.
When unwise and impulsive people began to see that the “pit bull” could be an effective tool In fostering a tough image, the breed began its downhill slide. Dogs of the “pit” type began to be bred not for their usual companionable traits, but for aggressiveness, first toward the other guy’s dog, then toward the other guy.
“Pit bulls” that would have, in earlier times, been destroyed by their owners as temperamentally unsound, suddenly became highly sought after as breeding stock. Mean and vicious dogs were mated with mean and vicious dogs and the meanest and most vicious pups prized as future breeders. Then supply and demand with the “puppy mill effect” took over and an ample supply of bad dogs was built up to meet the great demand for them. Uncertain temperament, long banned from even dogfight pits, suddenly became a selling point for a street pit stud dog or brood bitch.
The APBT may have, in some very extended way, been the starting point for this degradation of a breed, but soon the dogs being produced by this segment of the population weren’t APBTs anymore. These canine misfits became a new type of dog altogether, but the little three-letter-word “pit” stuck and became the only real connection between thug-owned street pits and the true APBT.
To make matters worse, the same dangerous breeding practices were going on in other large breeds. Dogs that were significantly larger than the APBT were bred to the same aggressive standards, and then these larger dogs were crossed with the “pit bulls.” These intermingling of pit and other large and aggressive breeds produced large and powerful and quite vicious dogs that did share some pit dog genetic heritage. These new canine powder kegs were also often simply called “pit bulls.”
Just as some poorly bred APBTs may have produced some of the vicious street pit dogs, thugs often spawn would-be thugs in the general population. Insecure and impressionable “camp followers” often identified with roguish street toughs and their “pit” dogs. While not necessarily gang members or even criminals themselves, these impressionable neophytes emulated the bad dudes with the bad attitudes and the bad dogs. No longer were the trappings of thugdom relegated to the inner-city or to unsafe streets. Misplaced hero worship brought this developing nightmare right onto the suburban streets of middle class America.
The average working person, the older pensioner, the student, and the innocent child began to come into contact with “pit bulls,” those sad and increasingly more dangerous representatives of the canine world. Bites and attacks naturally ensued and the media picked up on the “pit bulls.”
Laws
Laws targeting these dogs (see Breed-specific Legislation, page 74) became a shotgun solution to the blight caused by the invasion of these dogs. When the citizens groups, city councils, and legislatures sought to identify the culprits, guilt by supposed association took over. The “pit bulls” that the laws and regulations sought to banish became the APBTs, the Staffordshire Bull Terriers, the Bull Terriers, the American Staffordshire Terriers, and other pure breeds. The laws may have been just and well intentioned, but the targets were the wrong dogs.
We have also become a litigious society. Lawsuits and legal actions began to center on any area of real or imagined personal injury. The emerging “pit bull” became a litigator’s dream. An unsavory dog with a bad reputation owned by a real or imitation criminal type wouldn’t find many friends among the judiciary or among juries. Certainly, some dog bite cases were horrendous. Small children killed or frightfully maimed should make every reasonable person shudder. Dog bites, especially by large and powerful dogs, can be crippling and disfiguring. Legal remedies and public outrage in such cases are certainly more than appropriate, but unfortunately, society tends to use a broad brush in inflicting our retribution.
The APBT by Any Other Name
The “pit bull” epithet given to any dogs that even remotely fit this image has resulted in a great deal of carnage among innocent dogs. Either the word “pit” or the word “bull” came to generate public indignation. Even the squat and humorous Bulldog (known colloquially as the English Bulldog) has not escaped some heat.
Many breeds and mixes have become victims of mistaken identity. In the quest to rid the world from the vicious and hyperaggressive street pits, well-intentioned, but ignorant souls have caused many of these other dogs to be given the mark of a canine Cain. That the vast proportion of the dogs in these breeds are excellent pets hasn’t stopped people from seeking out and eliminating any vestige of a dog that might just be a “pit bull.”
The APBT receives most of the grief. This breed has the misfortune to have both “pit” and “bull” in its name. This breed also provided some of the genetic material that went to make the street pits that have been the actual cause of much pain, anguish, and misunderstanding. The APBT is also a dog that needs reasonable precautions when it confronts other dogs, but the APBT and these other breeds mentioned earlier are no more dangerous to people than any other breed and considerably less than some.
The APBT suffers because of look-alike and sound-alike dogs that do bad things.
Chapter Two History and Heritage of the APBT
The APBT is not American in lineage, and it has not always been called by this name. Some other terrier breeds considered the word “bull” as their private property. Some others argued that the breed is not even a terrier and really should be called a “bulldog.” One of the largest dog registries in the world could not abide the word “pit” in the breed’s name, so they renamed the breed and accepted their creation into membership
The history and heritage of the APBT spans most of this millennium. The excellent APBT of today is descended from some of the most powerful canines ever known. To begin to understand this breed, it is necessary to start with some of the key elements that were brought together, honed in battle and bloodshed, refocused, and then shaped into the American Pit Bull Terrier.
Mastiffs and Bulldogs
One of the oldest of all dog classifications is the widely diverse and extended breed group of the mastiff (or mollossus) family.
Note: For this book, breed names will be capitalized; breed types (and general groupings) will not.
Most typically, the mastiff breeds are giants, tall and heavy. They have been spread around the world and many countries have their own mastiff breed. Large bones, great height, great weight, and often very large heads and clearly defined features are points of identification for the mastiff breeds.
The mastiff family includes both well-known and lesser-known breeds;
• The Mastiff, sometimes referred to as the English Mastiff, a huge fawn or brindle giant, was the favorite of kings and commoners in England. The Mastiff is recognized as near kin to the other giants in the family that bears its name.
• The Great Dane, called the German Mastiff in much of Europe, is taller and slimmer, but clearly still a mastiff. Irish Wolfhounds, and perhaps Greyhounds helped give this tall breed