Not sure I understand. I’ve refrained from opening the “other” pit bull thread for some time now in order to keep my cardiac health and SDMB privileges, but surely it’s not hard to understand. There’s one poster who traditionally claims no one will define pit bulls for him, but that’s based on selective interpretation of reality.
There are, I admit, some different schools of thought on defining a pit bull.
The traditional definition goes like this: “Pit bull” is not a breed per se, but a type of dog. The three breeds traditionally recognized as “pit bull type digs” are:
[ul]
[li]American Pit Bull Terrier[/li][li]American Staffordshire Terrier (essentially the “show ring” version of the APBT)[/li][li]Staffordshire Bull Terrier (the shorter British version)[/li][/ul]
Additionally, there’s been a movement to designate the “super wide” big-headed dogs that have been a fad breed in the last two decades or so – which don’t much resemble the lean, athletic APBT – as a new breed, the “American Bully.” This initiative might or might not succeed – establishing a dog breed is a little like language, it’ll only become fact if enough people take up the usage – but if it does, the AmBully may then be considered the fourth “pit bull type” breed.
There are numerous “Bully Breeds” with bulldog heritage, all loosely related to the pit bulls: English, French, and American Bulldogs; Bull Terriers (think Spuds McKenzie); Boston Terriers; Boxers; and the like, but they are relations to the pit bulls, not normally called pit bulls themselves.
A minority school of thought with at least one prominent advocate (Diane Jessup) holds that the term “pit bull” properly applies ONLY to the American Pit Bull Terrier.
Meanwhile, for a third perspective, breed-specific legislation (legislation aimed at banning or restricting specific breeds) is often written over-broadly, permitting law enforcement personnel untrained in breed identification to designate which dog is, and which dog is not, a pit bull, based on murkily-written or even nonexistent criteria. Often the legislation will include language specifically overriding a veterinarian’s determination, presumably to prevent vets from shielding pit bulls from the effects of the law.
By that reckoning, whether a given dog is a “pit bull” is relatively arbitrary. But bad laws have attempted to redefine our common understanding many times before, and I urge readers to regard such laws as carefully as they would “separate but equal,” and Dred Scott.