05/22/2026
Do you use "pitbull" as an umbrella term?
If so, I suggest you use "bull breed" instead. I'm going to tell you why it's more correct and why mislabeling is harmful.
Keep in mind: ignorance is okay. No one is born knowing everything. But once you know the facts, it becomes willful ignorance to not try and improve... intentionally using the wrong terms isn't okay. It is harmful.
The term "bull breed" encompasses many breeds, it's a whole category of dogs from the same family. Dogs decent from crossing terriers and old bulldogs. All bulldogs , Boston terriers, boxers, American pitbull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, bull terriers, American bullies, and more are included. Naturally, that means they do display similar traits, but they are each individual breeds. Just like a German shepherd and a Belgium malinois are both shepherds. Shepherd or herding dog would be their family/group. But you don't call every single shepherd breed a German shepherd - at least not on purpose. If someone tells you "this is a Dutch shepherd," you'd accept that right? Why is it different for bull breeds?
Pitbull is shorthand for American pitbull terrier. Just like rottie is short for Rottweiler. Doxie is short for dachshund. Great danes are often just called Danes. Yorkies are actually Yorkshire terriers. So on and so forth.
I've seen people say that "American bullies/other bull breeds come from the pitbull so therefore they're pitbulls." Well, a pitbull is decent from a fox terrier, as well as other terrier breeds, and also bulldogs. Should we also be calling pitbulls fox terriers? Should we just call all dogs wolves? You can see how this logic is very flawed.
At the end of the day, almost every breed was created from multiple other breeds. The American bully for instance started as mostly APBT X Amstaff, but very early on several bulldog breeds were added to give the breed more of a companion focus and thicker build. Mastiff was added to some lines to give more height and girth (especially XLs). So on and so forth. So to call an American bully a pitbull is not any more accurate than calling them a bulldog or mastiff or whatever else was mixed in decades ago. It simply isn't that origin breed anymore. To call it that is dishonest and inaccurate and diminishes decades of work.
This can be said about any other bull breed that commonly gets mislabeled.
Honest mistakes are not the problem. I've accidentally mislabeled breeds. There are hundreds of them, the average person isn't going to even recognize half of them accurately. The issue comes in when a person has been informed, yet they still continue to mislabel. Mislabeling has become very problematic. For instance, most of the statistics you look up for dog bites or killings, they clump all bull breeds and mixes together as "pitbull" to push an agenda. Yet they separate every other breed and aren't clumping golden retrievers with Labradors. People then use these statistics to spread misinformation. Shelters either label every bull breed mix a "pit mix," or they label them some completely random breed that they clearly aren't. This doesn't prepare families well and leads to people getting dogs they aren't suited for.
Mislabeling is also a large part of why there are so many mixed feelings on "pitbulls" and related bull breeds. Because most of what is being labeled as a pitbull is a mutt. An actual APBT is generally a working dog. They have high drive, dog aggression (yes, per their standard), and high energy. These aren't dogs people should get unprepared. And when mixed, the genetics can distribute randomly. Breeds like the amstaff and especially American bully were bred more as companions and show dogs rather than strict working dogs. If you get a mix that has more bully, you may have this sweet lazy dog labeled pitbull. They've been bred for decades deliberately for less drive and aggression and energy. So you get that impression after owning that specific dog. Then someone else gets the mix that inherited dog aggression, or gets the mix that inherited such high drive that the dog goes crazy when its needs are not met (because the owner expected a "house hippo"). Mislabeling and/or misrepresenting the breed and individual dog has therefore led to constant debate and argument. When it's really simple... People are misunderstanding what they're looking at. It almost always isn't a pitbull... it's a mutt, or Amstaff, or American bully, ect.
That is why labeling as correctly as possible is important. It is harmful to knowingly mislabel any breed. If you do not know, you do not know. But now you do know. The correct term for any bull type you do not know, is "bull breed" or "bull breed mix."
It isn't a pitbull... It's an American bully.
It isn't a pitbull.. it's an American Staffordshire terrier.
It isn't a pitbull... It's an American bulldog.
It isn't a pitbull... It's a Staffordshire bull terrier.
Thank you for listening to my soap box ramble.
