About Pit Bulls

What's On This Page?

•   National Pit Bull Awareness Day

•   Introduction

•   The Pit Bull

•   Media and Pit Bulls

•   Pits and Other Bully Breeds

•   The Pit Bull in Family Homes

•   Disproving the Myths About Pit Bulls

•   Breed-Specific Legislation (BSL) and Pit Bulls


National Pit Bull Awareness Day is October 27th. 


Introduction

Pits4PEACE was started on June 23, 2013, with the dream of equality for all dogs. National Pit Bull Awareness Day is October 27 (read more).


As many people know, Pit Bulls and other bully breeds (bulldogs, dogo argentinos, staffordshires, and the like), have been gaining an unearned bad reputation for the past 50 years. But they weren't always known as that. For hundreds of years before, Pit Bulls were known for their strength, agility, and family loyalty. In fact, they were known as "the nursemaid's dog", because of their kindness and protective attitude towards children.


But when Pit Bull attacks started to become more frequent, most of the time on the part of careless owners, the media began to give them a horrible reputation.


The Pit Bull

The dog we know as "the pit bull" is one of hundreds of dogs classified as a "bully breed". When we think of pits, we think: stocky, pointy ears, short, HUGE jaws. But the pit is part of a group of dogs called bully breeds, which includes many other dogs, such as Staffordshire Terriers and those lovable skateboarding bulldogs.
In fact, the actual dog, the pit bull, is officially called the "American Pit Bull Terrier".
However, Pits4PEACE is dedicated to helping all bully breed aka "pit bull" dogs.


Media and Pit Bulls

You would never have thought a dog could have so many different expressions. If you looked at pictures of them side by side, it could’ve been many different dogs, all different in temperament from one another: this one’s curious, she’s shy, a big chewer of bones, or a needy princess in disguise. 
That in itself is the nature of the American Pit Bull Terrier (yes, and now you’ve learned the first thing about Pit Bulls—the name is actually two separate words!) Granted with almost human-like eyes, Pit Bulls can show very different emotions just with their facial expressions. A crinkled forehead and downcast eyes mean, to us, a curious puppy. A panting dog with blunt features implies an uncaring pound creature. And the pound dog is what many people have started to see in Pit Bulls over the past few years—and just from the media. 


But the media is wrong—as they have been proven time and time again over the ages. 
In fact, after a few well-publicized Pit Bull attacks, the media began publishing any attack by a dog on a person as a “Pit Bull”—even if they were actually Staffordshire Terriers, a close relative of the Pit Bull, or just mixes. In reality, there are as many bites from other breeds as there are from Pits—they just don’t make a big enough “splash” to get reported.


Pits and Other Bully Breeds

Image Origin


Staffordshires look very similar to Pit Bulls upon first glance—the boxlike head and those special ears—but really, they are very different. 


Staffordshires, just like Pits, were bred to be fighting dogs. They would fight with Bulls just for people’s entertainment, often to the death. As of now, though, dog fighting has been banned in the United States, though it is still popular in many parts of the world. But whereas the modern-day Pit’s temperament is affectionate, clownish, intelligent, and friendly, the Staffordshire is a much more outside-the-home dog: it is bold, fearless, reliable, and courageous, while still being intelligent, loyal, and affectionate. This isn’t saying that Staffordshires are worse than Pit Bulls, because they aren’t. Their blame just shouldn’t be pressed in on the Pit Bulls. (In fact, you'll find Staffordshires need just as much advocacy as Pits do, in the long run!)


Other bully breeds (the group which pits are grouped in) include all types of bulldogs, dogo argentinos, boxers, Boston terriers, bull terriers, bullmastiffs, American Staffordshire terriers, and staffordshire bull terriers.


The Pit Bull in Family Homes and History


Pit Bull Terriers have long lived as family house pets: the handlers would often keep the Pits in their own homes during the fighting dog days, where they were so gentle and sweet to the children, they earned the nickname “nursemaid’s dog”. For many years after those days passed, despite their bloody history, the Pit Bull’s reputation was a good one, full of honor, companionship, and glory. 
During World War One, they were often a symbol of the United States for their courage, loyalty, and bravery. One dog, a Pit by the name of Stubby, earned several medals during WWI for warning soldiers of gas attacks and finding dead or injured soldiers. They were also often used in advertising; Wells Fargo Banking and Levi’s jeans, to give out a few name brands. 


Disproving the Myths About Pits


Nowadays, people who want to appear “tough” often go out and buy Pit Bulls. This in itself isn’t too bad—but then they teach them to behave aggressively towards people and animals…which eventually leads to their bad reputation. In truth, pits ranked in the 90th percentile in a behavioral study with dogs, ranking them along beagles, a common family dog that has enjoyed the limelight of popularity for the past 50 years or so.

And, contrary to popular belief, pits DO NOT have "locking jaws"; in fact, they were originally bred to catch and HOLD hunted animals WITHOUT KILLING THEM, so if their jaws locked, they couldn't have managed it. It was only later that they became popular dogfighting dogs.

Nor are they vicious dogs that eventually turn on their owners--as was mentioned before, they ranked in the 90TH PERCENTILE, which is amazingly high (in the top 90%!). They're also SAFE AROUND CHILDREN, and often are nanny-like (just like Nanna, a sheepdog in the animated Disney movie "Peter Pan").

And YES, OF COURSE pits chase cats! EVERY DOG BREED chases cats, squirrels, and birds, with rare exceptions of a few dogs!!!

Unfortunately, due to BSL, or Breed-Specific Legislation, pit bulls are not allowed in some cities, states, and even countries.


Breed-Specific Legislation (BSL) and Pit Bulls

Breed-Specific Legislation, more commonly known by its abbreviation/acronym, BSL, is common among the pit bull breed. BSL is when a specific breed of animal (such as dog) is banned or must be "controlled properly" in certain areas. Places with BSL either do not allow pit bulls AT ALL in the state or enforce rules that require pit bulls to wear muzzles or chain collars in public places and perhaps even in homes. U.S. States that constitutionally uphold BSL laws against Pit Bulls are: Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, New Mexico, Ohio, Utah, Washington state, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and--here comes the big one--Washington D.C., our nation's capital. And that's not even counting the thousands of cities or countries worldwide!

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