Do know someone who breeds American Pit Bull Terriers? When you ask them how they are bred have they ever told you they where Rednose, Brindle, Gatormouth, Shovel head or any of the above mixed with Colby? If they have RUN as fast as you can. These are exactly the kind of people you do not ever want to buy any breed of dog from. These descriptions simply mean one thing; They have no idea how their dogs are truly bred or where they come from. Let me first explain to you what a bloodline is.
When breeding any animal, one of, if not the single most important step is the selecting of quality stock and using this stock to cultivate a gene pool of acceptable traits. There are two forms of bloodlines. There is one that is formed based on the breeder’s signature type of selective standard and one that is based on specific traits that a family of animals may have. For instance if you are breeding racing horses you would want to start with the fastest horses you can find or afford and breed them to a standard of your liking as a breeder. This is a bloodline based on the breeder’s standard and most times named after the breeder. The breeder may only select a certain type of horse that performs exactly to his liking. He may like a horse that starts off slow and comes from behind. And so he will fill his breeding program with just that type of horse. After so many years horses bearing his name will begin to use exclusively that style of racing. So if the breeder is Mr. Wilson and his prize horse is Dennis the Menace, Dennis the Menace will be known as a Wilson bred horse. When someone says they have a Wilson bred horse you will expect this horse to start slow and come from behind to win. Are we following so far? I am using horses as an example to show you that this is not limited to dogs or even Pit Bulls. It is simpley more of a problem because you cannot buy a racehorse of any bloodline in the paper for $50. I digress and will move on to the second type of bloodline.
The second type of bloodline is one that is based off of a certain animal and his or her children. This animal is what the breeder would consider his perfect specimen. If I have a horse that is an expert at starting slow and coming behind to win rather than finding more like him, who may or may not be as good as him, I would use him to build a family of horses that carry his traits on through his sons and daughters. I would take my best mares to this horse in hopes to create a colt that can replicate or out perform his sire. These children who mimic their parents winning traits will be tightly or loosely woven into a family of racehorses that will be known for those specific traits. Let’s say Mr. Wilson’s best horse Dennis the Menace was the horse used to create this bloodline. It would be known as a Dennis the Menace horse. People would know that this horse is related to that original horse and expect it to carry those traits. Weather it will actually carry those traits or just have the name in the pedigree is an article for another day. Also some breeders also use a combination of both types of breeding. Some use none at all (this I would not suggest). Now that you a basic understanding of how bloodlines are created let’s get back to the nitty gritty.
First let’s talk about using a color to describe how a dog is bred. If you ask a breeder how his or her dog is bred and he tells you what color they are………………………please you have the right to feel insulted. Actually I would hope that you where insulted. Color is not an indicator of how a dog is bred. Certain bloodlines can only be a certain color but all dogs of that color are not from those certain bloodlines. The red rednose trait is a recessive trait and by scientific law when two recessive traits are crossed they can only make more of the same. In short red x red=red. The Old Family Rednose line of dogs are a bloodline based on a number of dogs that happened to be red rednoses. Since the dogs used to form this line all carried this recessive trait the line remained that color. Not simply because the breeders just wanted red dogs. Every rednose dog is not an Old Family Rednose. Too many people who don’t know any better fall for this tactic used by unknowledgeable breeders. With the exception of two red dogs, a litter of dogs can come out in just about any combination of colors. The more ancestors in the parents that are one color will raise the % of that color but it will not guarantee that color. Two black dogs can very well have a brindle pup. If that pup is from the Brindle bloodline, then are the parents from the Black bloodline? When someone tells you what color they breed in means simply this, they do not know how their dog is bred and they have done no research into the breed of dogs they are selling.
RED FLAG
If someone is using colors to describe how a dog is bred they do not understand what a bloodline is. If they do not know what a bloodline is they do not know much more about the pup they are trying to sell to you. Would you let a man who doesn’t know what a tire iron is change your tires?
If people tell you their dogs are Gatormouth it simply means the dog has a large mouth. If they tell you they have a shovel head Pitt, they are describing the slope in their dogs head from tip to snout (resembling a Bull terrier). My personal favorite is the Ridgemouth based on the fact that the dog has ridges inside his mouth (all mammals do). Ok people pretty cut and dry here. Any APBT can have any one or all of these traits. It has nothing to do with how they are bred. In fact all of these things are considered bad traits to have in the American Pit Bull Terrier. There is a breed standard for this breed of dog and these two traits go against that standard. Just as people advertising how big their “PITTS” are goes against common sense. These dogs are Terriers. The terrier is in fact a small dog. If a breeder is telling you how BIG his terrier is, you should be wary. If I told you how small my Great Danes where or how black my Dalmatians are you would not spend money with me. Then why would you give your hard earned money to someone who has no clue how his dogs are bred and what they should even look like.
In conclusion,
As you can see this stuff is pretty cut and dry. If you truly cared about the breed of dog you own why wouldn’t you learned the basics of that breed. These are not bloodlines it is simply a description of how the dog looks. It does not even guarantee that the dog is in fact a Pit Bull to start with and based on the very description of the made up bloodlines, there is a high chance that they are not. A Bloodline is based on traits. It is based on a certain selective process. Every breeder has its own process and every family has its own. So ask them; what are the traits that their bloodline carries? If they tell you that they are Loyal, courageous, intelligent and people friendly tell them try again. Because every American Pit Bull Terrier is expect to carry that standard regardless of their bloodline. Ask them to tell you something you don’t know.
This article may offend some. I hope it does because Breeders of this great breed have been offended by the hijacking of our great breed by people who know nothing about them. That was not the intent though. The intent is to educate and if we ruffled a few feathers that would be a bonus. Hopefully people will use this to try and find out more about this breed and avoid breeders who are too lazy to do the same.
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