The American Staffordshire Terrier and the American Pit Bull
Terrier are now considered to be two separate dog breeds, the first recognized by
the American Kennel Club in the United States and the second recognized by the
United Kennel Club in England, but their respective breed standards are written
as such that some individual dogs are able to be dually registered in both
countries. Before differing breeding focuses separated these two dog breeds when
the registrations were split, they came from essentially the same ancestry. These
dogs trace their earliest ancestry to England in the 1700s to the old style
English Bulldogs which were crossed with various Terrier dogs to add agility
and the ability to think quickly and independently. The results of these pairings
were known as bull-and-terriers, extremely well-muscled but agile dogs that
were courageous and strong enough to assist with controlling bulls, to help hunters
in taking down wild boar and bear, and eventually, to fight one another to the
death. When these dogs were initially imported to the United States in the
1800s, they were imported mainly as fighting dogs, and breeders focused on
creating a larger and heavier animal, which was registered with the United
Kennel Club as an American Pit Bull Terrier in 1898, but the American Kennel
Club refused to recognize the breed as they wanted to distance themselves from
the history of dog fighting. In 1936, they
recognized the American Staffordshire Terrier, which has stricter standards
regarding size and coloration. Other than dogs that are dually registered in
both countries, these two breeds have been bred separately
since that time.