“Pit bull” is usually a term referring to a medium-sized canine or dog. But only few know that the word ‘pit bull’ is, itself, not referring to a breed of dogs, but rather a collective term used to generally describe a number of breed of dogs with same physical attributes.

Famous breeds of dogs like the American Pit Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier are categorized as pit bulls. Other breeds that fall under the category are: the English Bull Terrier, the American Bulldog, the Boxer, Perro de Presa Canario and the Argentine Dogo.

To be clear, and as linguistics and experts want to emphasize, the breed of dog ‘pit bull’ does not exist. Pit bull is just a term or commonly a nickname used to refer to the American Pit Bull Terrier.

The American Pit Bull Terrier

Throughout the text of this article, the word ‘pit bull’ will refer to the American Pit Bull Terrier.

Male pit bulls on the average weigh 45 lbs to 85 lbs or about 20 to 38 kilograms; females weigh 30 lbs to 80 lbs or 14 to 36 kilograms.

Pit bulls are always described as the body builders among all the dogs because they appear as if they have toned and accentuated muscles. The fact is, yes, their bodies are somehow muscular, but they appear more buffy because their coats are so short.

Through the years, pit bulls are known and famous because of people’s perception that they are intelligent, confident, loyal and temperament. Like chicken, though the comparison may not be likely to pit bull lovers and to the pit bulls themselves, pit bulls are known for their very high threshold to pain.

That means pit bulls will hardly feel pain no matter what is done to them or to their body parts.

The domineering dog

Pit bulls are looked upon by human societies as dogs that display aggression and dominance over other dogs. The phrase ‘dog eat dog world’ can be attributed to them.

However, they may be dog aggressive, but in general, pit bulls are friendly and temperament to humans. It is because they recognize the importance of getting humans’ affection---that means food and caring.

In that reason, pit bulls, even how muscular and tough they may look like, are not ideal to be selected or trained as guard dogs.

However, some pit bulls, no matter how temperamental and nice they are in nature to humans, can be trained to be hostile. Unsavoury owners of some pit bulls train the dogs to be harsh because they want their pets to be intimidating.

Thus, those instances, when pit bulls are trained to intimidate ans scare people, make up for the social stigma surrounding the modern pit bulls. Nowadays because of reported cases of pit bull attacks, pit bulls are negatively stereotyped.

Short history

Pit bulls’ origins and ancestral roots can be traced to England. Dog experts claim that modern pit bulls are directly linked to English White Terrier, the Bulldog and the Black and Tan Terrier. These breeds are now extinct, but somehow they have evolved to be the modern pit bulls.

In England during the ancient years, pit bulls’ ancestors were treasured and bred for their juvenile and hostile behavior. They were bred to fight, just like how cocks are pitted against each other today in cockfights.

Pit bulls are simply adorable! No matter how mean some of them can get at times, with their cute and huggable appearance, who will not melt their hearts out over these dogs?