I would like to preface this Hub by noting that we have recently started a site dedicated to Pitbulls & related breeds. Pit Bull Forums is a FREE & friendly forum community dedicated to the pitbulls, am staffs, american pitbull terriers, & bullies.

As the owner of an American Pit Bull Terrier I thought I would make this page to help educate folks about this misunderstood dog. Some cities and even countries have banned this breed, all based on misinformation and bad people. It is in fact breed discrimination, which is essentially racism. At one time the media hated dobermans, rottweilers, and now pit bulls.

Pit bulls were originally bred for fighting and in doing so were made into a very athletic powerful dog. Today most are either bred for show or athletics other than fighting. Personally I feel that dog fighting is WRONG. It is part of their history though and should be understood.

First of all there is a TON of misinformation about this breed of dog. It is all on how you raise a dog. They are not naturally man eaters or vicious towards humans. As a matter of fact most american pit bull terriers love humans and want to please. They are an athletic dog and if you raise one to be mean it is going to be worse than if you raise a small dog to be mean. The media loves to label anything it can as a pit bull.

On a side note I do not feel that everyone is cut out to raise a pit bull. A responsible owner should keep their dog on leash or controlled at all times. They should not let the dog wander around. If a pitbull gets into a fight with another dog, it can be really bad. You should assume that a pitbull will have dog or animal aggression. This means you must be careful if you plan on owning more than one dog. If you do own a pit bull you should take even more precaution just because of the bias against this breed.

There are a bunch of dogs that people call pit bulls that are not truelly pitbulls. There are a lot of back yard breeders that try to get big dogs, big heads, certain colors such as blue. Most likely these breeders that are breeding for these traits have no clue what they are doing. A large pitbull shouldn't be much over 60 pounds. In other words if your pitbull is 80 or 90 problems you most likely don't have a real pitbull or your dog has serious issues.

The American Pit Bull Terrier and American Staffordshire Terrier are normally considered pit bulls. The AM STAFF was bred for show, while the APBT was bred towards athletics like fighting or pulling. These dogs can make great family dogs and have a lot of energy so need plenty of exercise.

A large amount of pitbulls are put to sleep in shelters around the world each day. Through proper education and pet ownership this number can increase. If you are someone who is interested in getting a pitbull, please consider getting a dog from a shelter as there are plenty of them around. You will be saving a life and not supporting back yard breeders. A good shelter dog will love you just as much as a puppy.

I have included a slide show of some pictures of my american pitbull terrier. His father has won a lot of weight pulls. If you have any questions about this breed that I may be able to answer please ask in a comment or contact me.

Another helpful site is Dog Training Forum. Dog Training Forum is a community dedicated to the discussion of dog training.