History of the American Pitbull Terrier

Disclaimer: There is no clear evidence before modern history where and when the American Pitbull Terrier originated, this subject is as debatable as the “Hen came first or the Egg”. I try to explore into the details of the origins of the American Pitbull Terrier taking up record of history from over 2000 years and 2000 hours of research material including the World Wide Web. Take into account that this article is a summary of the breed’s history and many other facts and figures could be incorporated.

What is the American Pitbull Terrier “Bulldog or Terrier”?

Belief is that Bulldog of old was cross breeded with now extinct English white terrier to produce American Pitbull Terrier. But, no one really knows it for sure. I personally believe that if their was a cross the English White Terrier would have been the likely candidate and would have remained in any such form without extinct, some also believe that dogs are largely changed and are pure old “Bulldogs” of past. This logic too holds some water too, if you happen to give a glance at the ancient pictures you can see the very own Pitbull Terrier of our times in those art forms.

American Pitbull Terriers are only good for Dog Fighting

If we cross check the pages of history the more important events related to animal fight was considered bull baiting and bear baiting and for very few years dog fight was considered a lesser competitive sport. But, slowly it got precedence with the poor populace in England and Ireland and spread like a wild fire to become more popular. I come to the conclusion that even in the hay days of bull baiting bulldogs were always involved in the sport of dog fighting, this was because of the very reason that dog fighting was cheap, easier to stage and easy to hide when it is stopped for being illegal. It was maintained as a low-key event for authorities to get misguided.

The effect of dog fighting influencing the development of the American Pitbull Terrier: In my personal opinion the dog fighting had no to visible impact on the breed as a whole. Why this aspect of dog fighting is important because it has a history which continues till date. We know that Pitbulls were already at baiting bulls and engaging in dog combat long before they came to America.

The dog fighting aspect carried from there to here and is still continuing. Even the present day Pitbulls have proved their fighting skills and excel in the art of Dog Fight. They have attributes for being agile, pulling up weight in excess of 2000 lbs, working with cattle, catching hogs or earning obedience, they proved themselves to be far greater than the fighting dogs.

The American Pitbull Terrier Today Even today parts of Japan and Pakistan have a league for arranging dog fights, Illegal events were being organized and authorities of both the countries checked with those organizers to stop announcing such events in future and curb them to make it into something big.