Staffordshire Bull Terrier puppy and adult.
ORIGINAL PURPOSE OF THE AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIER
The specifics of ancient breed history, and the breed’s modern reputation notwithstanding, show that there can be no doubt about one thing—and that one thing is the core function of the Pit Bull breed. Throughout the entire existence of the breed, from its earliest days and, to some extent, through modern times, the Pit Bull in its purest working form has been and remains essentially a fighting dog. This is to say that the breed’s function, its very purpose, was, and in the minds of some remains, to be a gambler’s tool. The breed was originally selectively bred without regard for looks, but rather only for everincreasing ability to fight other Pit Bulls, and only other Pit Bulls, in long sustained combat events in man-made dog pits for the enjoyment of human spectators. Note that, unlike some breeds, the Pit Bull’s purpose was never to attack man. In fact, it must be noted here that in the organized combat events for which the Pit Bull was and occasionally still is used, these dogs are handled by their human handlers throughout the event. Those who use these dogs in such events have no use for a dog that would in any way endanger the handler rather than its canine opponent.
The American Pit Bull Terrier was never trained to be an attack dog against humans; in fact, Pit Bulls had to be unconditionally loyal and obedient to their handlers, traits they display with their owners today.
THE AMERICAN PIT BULL IN THE 20TH CENTURY
While the distant past of the Pit Bull may remain a matter for some disagreement, the more recent history of the breed is indisputable. The breed began the 20th century in its American homeland as a newly officially registered breed. In 1898, a man by the name of Chauncy Bennett began a registry organization called the United Kennel Club (UKC) for the sole purpose of registering the Pit Bull. He did this because the breed had been ignored for registry by the more prestigious American Kennel Club, which was already in existence. The breed has undergone a number of name changes during its years with the United Kennel Club. At one time it was called the Pit Bull Terrier, and at another time the American (Pit) Bull Terrier, but to this day the United Kennel Club still exists and continues to register the breed as the American Pit Bull Terrier. The UKC has also undergone a number of changes during the course of the century and, although it continues to register the Pit Bull, it registers more breeds today than even the AKC.
The American Pit Bull Terrier has been a registered breed in the US since the creation of the United Kennel Club in 1898.
Pit Bull Terriers, because of their ability to work well with humans and their interesting look, have been used in films and television shows.
Another registry organization in America also began to register the Pit Bull during the very early part of the 20th century. This organization, known as the American Dog Breeders Association (ADBA), was begun by Guy McCord, a close friend of the well-known Pit Bull breeder John P. Colby. Like the UKC, the ADBA still registers the Pit Bull today.
During the 1930s, an American cinema series by the name of Our Gang (or The Lil’ Rascals) featured among its regular cast of characters a Pit Bull by the name of “Petey,” also known as “Pete the Pup.” The popularity of the series and its canine mascot brought such positive attention to the breed that by 1936, the prestigious American Kennel Club (AKC) began to register the Pit Bull. Unhappy with the name of the breed, however, those responsible for registry of the breed with the AKC decided to change the breed’s official name to Staffordshire Terrier and, ultimately, many years later, to American Staffordshire Terrier. During the late 1930s, then, those Pit Bulls being registered by the United Kennel Club, the American Dog Breeders Association and the American Kennel Club were all the same breed with exactly the same physical working form. Indeed breeders, such as John P. Colby, registered their dogs both as American Pit Bull Terriers with the UKC and as American Staffordshire Terriers with the AKC.
Pit Bulls were registered with the American Kennel Club as American Staffordshire Terriers by breeders who focused on conformation showing rather than working or fighting.
CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS
Contact these organizations for more information about the Pit Bull:
United Kennel Club
100 East Kilgore Road
Kalamazoo, MI 49002-5584
(616) 343-9020
American Dog Breeders Association
*exclusively for American Pit Bull Terrier breeders
Box 1771, Salt Lake City, UT 84110
members.aol.com/bstofshw/bst.html
Continental Kennel Club, Inc.
PO Box 908
Walker, LA 70785
(800) 952-3376
The popularity of the Pit Bull, with its various registries and with its many official breed names, waned during the 1940s and onward until roughly the mid-1970s. However, the breed was never threatened with extinction. It never reached a condition in which one could say there was no interest in these dogs at all, but other breeds became the focus of the average dog fancier’s attention. During this period, those Pit Bulls registered as Staffordshire Terriers or as American Staffordshire Terriers by the AKC fell out of favor with the fighting-dog fraternity. AKC breeders focused all of their attention on competition in the show ring and left the breeding of fighting dogs to those who registered their dogs with the UKC and the ADBA.
Dogs raised for fighting in America and elsewhere had their ears cropped to make them less vulnerable during combat.
It was during this period that a divergence in both physical type and temperament began to develop between AKC-registered dogs and the UKC- and ADBAREGISTERED dogs. While many owners of UKC- and ADBA-registered Pit Bulls continued to breed with working form and temperament in mind, AKC breeders devoted all of their energy to producing dogs that measured up to the adopted breed standard
