What is Pitbull and what it is not?

Year 2020, Vetexpo-2019, KHVD-2019, 46 - 46, 31.03.2020

Mustafa Özcan Nurşen Öztürk Agnieszka Hanna Onuk

Abstract

Generally nowadays “Pitbull” is known as an athletic dog with a well-structured body type, round headshaped,
dominant, hard to control, tend to attack and causes irreversible damages to its environment. Some
of the cynologos accept the term “Pitbull” as an upper identity or class and include “Staffordshire Bull
Terrier”, “American Staffordshire Terrier”, “American Pitbull Terrier”, “American Bully”, “American
Bull Dog” and “Bull Terrier” in this class. Federation Cynologique Internationale (FCI) is accepted this
mentioned breeds individually in “Bull Type Terriers” upper topic and did not include Pitbull Terrier in
any of the classifications. Due to having morphological similarities between “American Staffordshire
Terrier” and “American Pit Bull Terriers” both breeds are mostly evaluated in the same breeds. In this
study, we aimed to compare both breeds by using an official breed description of the breeds. The history of
Bull Type breeds can be traced back to the early 1800s in the United Kingdom. Old English Bulldogs and
English Terriers formed the ancestors of these breeds. The American Pit Bull Terriers are described in a
different name (American Staffordshire Terrier) due to owners’ request of being evaluated under
companion dog. During the time, American Staffordshire Terriers have been differentiated by genetically
and behaviorally by selection studies and described as a separated breed in 1996 by FCI. When
considering the United Kennel Club’s (UKC) breed standards of American Pitbull Terrier and Federation
Cynologique International (FCI) breed standards for American Staffordshire Terrier, even though the
similarities between the breeds, there are differences in terms of body-color, eye color, pigmentation
around the nose/lip/eyelid, behavior and purpose of the breed, keeping aggressive dogs off the breeding
can be determined.

Keywords

Dog, Pitbull, American Staffordshire Terrier

References

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