Why do we call every bull breed a "Pit Bull"?! Discussions

It is one of my biggest pet peeves!

Breed identification is greatly fueling BSL.



These six dogs were all involved in fatal attacks, they were all labelled as Pit Bull dogs. I think it is pretty clear that none of these dogs are American Pit Bull Terriers, but by using Pit Bull as a blanket term you have now bumped up the statistics for "Pit Bull Attacks", those statistics are what fuels BSL. That is six extra shown in this picture that should have been labelled as crossbreeds, but instead they are more numbers added to a breed that already has a lot of prejudice stacked against them. These dogs are only a few examples, every day more and more dogs are called "Pit Bulls" when they aren't, that is more and more dogs that can potentially add up as another statistic against a wonderful breed of dog.

I personally believe that only one breed should be referred to as a Pit Bull, that breed being the American PIT BULL Terrier. The American Pit Bull Terrier is the only breed with the term "Pit Bull" in its breed title.

The same as you do not call a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, a Flat-coated Retriever or call a Golden Retriever a Labrador. They are all retrievers, but not all Labradors.

We won't call a Cocker Spaniel, a Clumber Spaniel or a Field Spaniel a Springer. Yes they are all Spaniels but not all Springers.

American Pit BULL Terriers, Staffordshire BULL Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, American BULLY, BULLdogs, and American BULLdogs are all bull breeds, but they are not all Pit Bulls. A Pit Bull is an American Pit Bull Terrier, just as a the term Labrador is a Labrador and not any other Retriever breed.

By grouping all of our bull breeds and their crosses as Pit Bulls we are only making things worse for them, we are creating bigger statistics and more prejudice against a breed that already has so much going against them. If your dog is from a shelter then it is a "Bull breed mix", unless you know exactly what breed your dog is then don't label it as something it isn't.






Any dog that is blue, is 99.9% not a Pit Bull as it was always culled out in the past due to health problems, here is a few examples of the different bull breeds

First off I strongly disagree with BSL.

Though the lumping thing is just as much a fault of the bully community as anyone.

Your own chart list a DOGO as a bully breed, which it is not. Many list Cane Corso as a bully breed which it is not.

A Bullmastiff would be more of a bully breed than a Dogo.
This with the current trend of the so called giant blue bullies, which are actually AM Bullies crossed with Neo Mastiffs.

I think first the Bully community need to do some major policing of itself before yelling foul in the use of Pit Bull as a general term.

Thank you for the terrific post! My kid had display time at a local library last year and part of out display was educating people about the bully breeds. The rescue group "Hello Bully" sent us some terrific display material. "Pit Bull" has become journalistic shorthand for ANY dog involved in an attack or even benign legal situation.

As a "Pit Bull" owner I prefer pittie or bully breed as identification. My dogs based on appearance are AmStaff and AmBull. Sophie however has GSD and boxer thrown in there somewhere. But then again she might have some cocker spaniel in there too...who knows.

I just shudder when headlines come out " Pit Bull Eats Neighborhood Children" and the photo of the dog could be a retriever mix but it attacked so it's a Pit. Callie has helped me change a lot of people's view of monster dog. But there are still way too many people who fear him. They're just dogs, nothing more.

Love this post Kit Kat

The pic examples are great & really help a lot.
I don't call every breed a Pit Bull. I call APBT Pit Bull.

Some people lump Dogo in due to their breeds make up.

Cane Corso were in fact used to bait bulls, as well as control cattle. Original Neos were actual functional dogs used on bulls to.

The Alano Español is another bulldog.

There are bulldogs all across the world that have been used in bull/animal baiting, to control or drive cattle and as catch dogs.

But then as one poster pointed out...from the front Callie looks pure American bulldog, his hind end APBT. So he's a what mix? I don't know zoo from breeds anyway but know it can get confusing.

With a mix it's hard to say. I didn't think his hind looks APBT but maybe he's just severely lacking in agulation. It was hard to tell from the pics I saw. He could be a bully breed cross our a mix of more than 2 breeds. Also when you mix dogs sometimes traits of neither breed are apparent but actually something different from both in the heterozygous States of the genes.

If you don't know exactly what he is then he is simply a bull breed mix/mutt (BBM)