Recently bred into existence starting in the 1980s and completed a decade later, the American Bully is a new breed of a companion dog.
In 2008, the European Bully Kennel Club (EBKC) recognized the American Bully, four years after the American Bully Kennel Club (ABKC).
The American Bully has not been accepted as a distinct breed yet by the American Kennel Club (AKC).
American Bully Mixed with Pitbull
When an American Bully is bred with a Pitbull, the outcome is a Bully Pit which is ostensibly less companionable than an American Bully. In short, mixing an American Bully with a Pitbull produces a dog with more pronounced Pitbull features, which ultimately means more Terrier-like.
Monster’s Club for Dogs
‘American Bully’ is used interchangeably with ‘Bully Pit’. Bully Pits are a mix of two purebreds, the American Pitbull Terrier (aka Pitbull, or Pit Bull) and the American Bulldog (aka Bulldog, or Bull Dog).
Bully Pits (aka American Bully–I’ve never seen “American Bullies” in print) belong to a type of dog called a Pit Bull (aka Pitbull).
So, a Bully Pit is an American Bully, a kind of Pit Bull. However, an American Bully is not a Pit Bull, even though it is often called a Bully Pit.
Tip: Just remember that an American Bully is a type of Pit Bull – but that although it is often called a Bully Pit, it is not actually a Pit Bull – and you’ll be fine.
Going Back to their Roots
As noted throughout this article, the American Bully is the admixture of two proud purebreds.
A Load of Bull (Dog)
The American Bulldog forms one part of the American Bully’s lineage. The American Bulldog is a solidly built dog and stands around 25 inches tall.
It has a muscular, no-nonsense appearance and is excellent at physical activity because of its extraordinary athletic ability.
The classic Bulldog, also known as the Johnson Bulldog, comes white with red or brown patches. Classic Bulldogs also tend to be larger.
The other type of Bulldog is the Performance Bulldog, also known as the Standard Bulldog or the Scott Bulldog.
The Performance Bulldog is smaller and more agile than the Classic and usually sports a white coat.
Interesting Facts
The Johnson Bulldog is named after John D. Johnson, and the Scott Bulldog is named after Alan Scott. (Unfortunately, many sources misspell Scott’s first name ‘Allen’. You see it here in its correct spelling.)
John D. Johnson and Alan Scott were the two men who saved this breed from going extinct during the mid-20th century.
Worry Like a Terrier
The American Pitbull Terrier forms the other part of the American Bully lineage. The Pitbull is about 19 inches tall and excels at sports involving weight-pulling and agility.
The Pitbull is frequently mistaken for American Staffordshire Terriers (Amstaff, or Am Staff). The two share so many traits and qualities that argument often rages if the two breeds are not, in fact, the same.
Just because none of this is baffling enough, back in the 1930s, the AKC renamed the American Pitbull Terrier the American Staffordshire Terrier.
Interesting Facts
Terriers were bred to hunt and follow vermin. If that meant following the quarry down to the ground, then let it be.
Underground, the Terriers would worry and harass the vermin to the point where the pests would prefer to take their chances outside their burrows – straight into the ambush set by the humans.
‘Terra’ the Latin for ‘earth’, is where the breed gets its name.
Sometime in the 19th century, folks got the bright idea to mix bulldogs with terriers to give the offspring more muscle.
Rather than use the mix for flushing out vermin, however, they were pit against bulls (get it?) in a horrid, cruel “sport”, which thankfully is now banned everywhere.
Whatcha talkin’ bout, Willis
One of my favorite graffiti goes like this: if you’re not confused, you’re misinformed.
Many folks who are new to dog breeding feel very much misinformed and confused because they get mixed up when they read “The American Bully is not a Pitbull” side-by-side with “There are four kinds of Pitbull, and the American Bully is one of them.”
Anyone discombobulated by the inherent paradox between the two statements not only has my blessing but all my sympathies too.
To unravel the mystery and cut Gordian Knot, let’s look at a more accessible metaphor. Let’s consider our continent, North America.
To the rest of the world, an American is not just someone from one of the two countries in North America, but specifically a person from the United States of America.
So, a foreigner could very easily see how a Canadian is not a United States citizen.
At the same time, this foreigner could very easily see how (in the North American continent alone) there are two kinds of Americans, and Canadians are one of them.
As you can see, it depends largely on what a person means by ‘American’, and it’s precisely the same with dog breeds.
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Bully for you, Fella
It’s perfectly true to say that there are basically four main types of Pitbull. These are:
- American Bully
- American Pitbull Terrier
- American Staffordshire Terrier
- Staffordshire Bull Terrier
Now, as you can see, the American Bully is placed in a superset of dog breed called ‘Pitbull’. So, what does mixing an American Bully with Pitbull mean?
Well, an American Pitbull Terrier is a breed that is also commonly called ‘Pitbull’. Thus, when most people say “Pitbull”, they actually mean “American Pitbull Terrier”.
In short, when we speak about “American Bully mixed with Pitbull”, what we’re really saying is American Bully mixed with American Pitbull Terrier.
Frequently Asked Questions About the American Bully Mixed with Pitbull
Pit Bull or Pitbull?
Apparently, no one cares. Folks use either form with gay abandon. Therefore, so can you.
Is an American Bully a purebred?
Although several kennel clubs and canine registries recognize the American Bully as a breed of dog, as mentioned earlier, the American Kennel Club does not. As such, the American Bully is not indisputably a pure breed, and few would argue that it is.
Afterword: American Bully Mixed with Pitbull
In the tangled web that is the murky world of newly emergent dog breeds, the American Bully is yet to find its place as a purebred.
Therefore, mixes of the breed are still being noticed and defined.
Pitbulls have a reputation for being ferocious, while the American Bully is seen as ‘companionable’.
Both breeds are known for their intense loyalty. Mixing an American Bully with a Pitbull accentuates one side of the Bully’s ancestry, the fiercer, more irascible side.
With that in mind, maybe you’d like to read about whether it’s safe to leave a Pitbull with a baby. Also, you might be interested in whether a Pitbull can take on a wolf in a fight.