Bull and Terrier - The Ancestor of Amstaff, Staffy, Pit Bull and Bull Terrier

The Bull and Terrier was not a real breed, rather a crossbreed, similar to todays Goldendoodles or Cavapoos. They were crosses between the Old English Bulldog and various English Terriers and they combined the agility of the terriers and strength of the bulldogs.

The main reason why they were bred was dog fighting. They were especially popular for dog fights in the USA and Britain in the 19th century.

The first Bull and Terriers were very different from each other – which is typical for today crossbreeds as well. They possesed random terrier and bulldog characteristics, depending on what genes they inherited. But since they were bred for the dog fights, the breeders preffered short and smooth coated dogs, which caused that the wiry coated dogs dissapeared quickly.

The early dogs can have any color, any head shape and any ear type. But in the 1850s, the breed was becoming more and more standardized. It was because the breeders knew exactly what they want from the dogs – to be the ultimate dog fighters. In this time, all the Bull and Terriers had smooth coat, they had head similar to today Staffordshire Terrier, they were in medium size. Their tails were docked and ears cropped.

Breeders kept breeding the best dog for them – which means that only strong, agressive and determined dogs with high pain tolerance were bred further. On the other hand, the lack of agression towards people was also important trait, so the dogs never attack their owners. It was not uncommon that the dog would attend pit fights and than he would go home with its owner and play with the whole family, including the children.

The breed was loosing its popularity and they started disappearing since the beginning of the 20th century. In that time, the classic Bull and Terrier become extinct.

As i already mentioned in the beginning of the video, the Bull and Terrier is the ancestor of today very popular dog breeds, including the Bull Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier and the American Staffordshire Terrier.

Around 1860, the Bull and Terrier breed split into two groups, the white Bull Terrier and the coloured forms that lived on for another 70 years in the dog pit until they finally were recognized as a legitimate dog breed called the Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

In this time, many english people emigrated to the USA and many of them emigrated with their Staffordshire Bull Terriers. In the USA, these dogs became taller and heavier. That is why, the new breed was recognized in the 1898, which is today known as the American Pit Bull Terrier. The breed was registered under the UKC. Later, in the 1936 the AKC registered the dog under the name American Staffordshire Terrier, but the difference between those two dogs is minimal.

The Bull and Terrier is also the ancestor of the Boston Terrier. When the dog fights were outlawed, it did not completely dissappear. But the people who wanted this sport to go on needed a smaller dogs, that would be easy to hide, when the police arrived. That is why the dog fighter in the Boston area bred the Bull and Terrier with smaller dogs and they created the first made in USA dog, which is known as the Boston Terrier.

Its important to say, that all the descendants of the Bull and Terrier have the great quality of loving and friendly nature towards people – a trait that was needed so the original Bull and Terrier would not attack their owners. Sadly, many of the dogs are trained to be agressive which is causing the bad reputation of these breeds.

It is true that the typical classic Bull and Terrier is extinct for a long time, but in some sense, there will always be crosses between the bulldogs and terriers. So we can say, that we will always have some kind of a Bull and Terrier in this world.