Respecting the history of our breeds

Whenever we see negative stories involving bully breeds and the various mixes, inevitably we see two very black and white sides come out of the woodwork, egged on by the media who thrive off controversy.

One side is like “It’s the owners and how they’ve been trained, not the breed. Labs are more dangerous than any staffy or pitbull! My staffy mix is a big angel wouldn’t hurt a fly.” 😇

Then the other side is all “those mongrel dogs, shoot the lot of them!” 😈

Let’s get real here - both sides are missing the mark. Let’s talk about it.

As owners, rescuers, trainers and admirers of bully breeds and mixes, we owe it to them to acknowledge the facts of their history. Like our herding dogs were developed to herd livestock and have certain traits as a result, other breeds were also developed for a reason.

The facts are that the foundations of the bull breed umbrella (including American Pitbull Terriers, Staffordshire terriers etc) can be traced to bull baiting. Along with that, they do have a past in dog fighting rings. Their genetics emphasise certain aspects of the predatory action sequence, and add that to the tenacity to not give up easily and their tendency to thrive off conflict and you can sometimes have a naturally pretty intense dog when put in certain situations.

Does this mean that they are all “dangerous mongrel dogs” doomed to fail in every situation though?

🙅🏻‍♀️Hell no. 🙅🏻‍♀️

I love a good bull breed type dog and a lot of them can be awesome family members and companions in the right hands. Even in the roots of dog fighting, human aggression was commonly seen as a fault and bred away from due to the contact required in set up. And anyone with hands on experience in bully breed dogs will know that not all of them will have the same level of prey drive, or inclination towards dog aggression etc. There are a lot of bull breed type dogs and various mixes that are actually fantastic with other animals, and are truly those big “teddy bears” people like to point to. That variation in the dogs becomes more obvious the further we get from the roles they were originally purpose bred for.

But, when we understand and truly acknowledge the facts of where our dogs - regardless of type - originally came from, we can think about what traits *may* be present, then make better choices about how we manage them and their environment, what might make them tick and set realistic expectations. We can make an effort to train them to improve on their weaknesses and amplify their strengths. We can put them in situations that give them and those around them the best chance at being successful, and as a result, show the world what awesome dogs they are capable of being.

🌟 We all owe it to our dogs to love and embrace them for who they are, the good and bad. Not just the romanticised versions that set them up for failure. 🌟