Why Do We Call Them Pit Bull Type Dogs? 31
We use the term pit bull type dog because that is biologically the most accurate term. In order to understand this, you have to look at the biological history of the present day pit bull type dogs. Their history is twofold.
bullpit1-300x198The bulldog: The bull-baiting, bear-baiting, horse-shredding bulldog has existed at least since the reign of Richard III in England (1452 1485), when watching bulldogs slowly torture bulls, bears, horses and other animals to death was considered normal public entertainment. These dogs were also used to hunt wild boar, not only tracking the boar but engaging directly in killing it, and in dogfighting matches where they were pitted against each other in fights to the death. There were no breed clubs to give these dogs fancy names they were called simply bulldogs. The term pit bull was an American variation on the same theme, referring to any of the pit fighting bulldog types.
Until the late 19th century, the only pedigree that mattered for any bulldog was its fighting pedigree the list of kills it had committed on some other bulldog in the fighting pit. It wasnt until early in the 20th century, as dogfighting declined, that the breeders of these dogs sought other ways to sell them. They turned to the new kennel clubs, which had been established to cater to the upper class hobby of breeding dogs for shows. After much lobbying, the 1930s saw the registration and re-branding of the pit fighting bulldogs by various kennel clubs, always with a name intended to hide the types bloody history (eg, changing this molossers name from bulldog to Staffordshire terrier). Since that first deception, many new breed clubs have arisen, dedicated to producing slight physical variation in the fighting bulldog so as to claim a new pit bull type breed all their own (eg, American Bully, Pit Bull XXL, Olde English Bulldogge, American Bulldog).
All of these dogs in fact come from the same limited gene pool, all of them retaining both the physical and the behavioral traits that have always typified the fighting bulldog. Pasting a new breed label on yet another slight variation of the pit fighting bulldog does not change this fact.
“Why Do We Call Them Pit Bull Type Dogs?”
Same reason know-nothings call black rifles “assault-style weapons”. They don’t know any better nor do they care to.
I don’t own any type of bully dog but I don’t appreciate the constant smears against them ,, Mastiffs (this story is about Mastiffs) are an ancient breed ,, Romans had them... They are exceptionally large and strong , sometimes over 200 lbs. ,,, you sound like someone screaming about your neighbor having a fully automatic 70 caliber Ruger AK-47 10/22 with a SCOPE!