What

[NCPatchwork]

What made you get into the American Pit Bull Terrier? Were you raised, did you get one through a friend? What? I just want to hear stories!

Beth

[14rock]

Raised around them as a kid, just didnt know that they were "bulldogs" at the time, just knew they were good dogs. I've loved em since the first time I remember laying my eyes on a beautiful 25-30 lb. red/rednose bitch running up and down the beach, playing with all us kids, and helping us dig holes in the sand. When I got intrested in owning my own later, I went to an old family friend who has owned them longer then I've been alive, and he was a mentor of sorts. Started with a few Stratton books to see how receptive I was to being a good owner, and went from there when I proved my worth. I still try to make it out at least once a week, more if time allows.

I'm forever hooked. I love all bulldogs, worthy of the title, or too young to show it. Spending time with the dogs is priority #1, all because of my encounter with a little rednose bitch when I was a young kid. Had fun with that dog every weekend until someone brought their pet duck to the beach, and she killed it. Too bad, never seen her again after that :(

[Attila]

Both my Grandfathers were Dogmen. I inherited their dogs and they got me some prior. It is in Attila's blood to be one as well. I love them, and they are the best damn dog that ever walked the face of the earth. And they can't be beat hunting wild game or as a pal. They wont cur and run when the bear turns out to be a Grizzly bear. Just kick the dirt back and get the job done. They practically raised me.

[kane85]

i was raised around them family friend also owned them and really didn't pay attention to them until i was 13 i laid my eyes on the breed i actually did research for 3 years befor i got my own. at first i was miss guided by people that didn't know better i was looking into the razors edge dogs and such and this is when they were calling them pitbull and the whole B.S. i was close to buying a highly price dog i didn't feel right in buying it so i backed off and decided not to get it(good thing huh) so i did more research on them got me my boy kane then later got a rescue pup that they were going to use as bate but god toke him away when he was a little over a year old. now iam 21 and i'am still learning about this beautiful breed i barely got in to the game dogs a year or so ago and hopefully one day i will get to own one.

[NCPatchwork]

OKay..so today I am a lil' slow. I totally forgot to tell my story. I came about to my first APBT when I started working at PetSmart. My amazing manager, Kristal, started me into them by showing me one of her Pits, Capone. I fell in love immediatly. After a few months of thought, she told me about a mother and three puppies, she asked if I wanted one of the puppies. I was told that when they were able to be found new homes, there were only two puppies; one male and one female. When I was introduced to the little balls of fur, I fell in love with a red male, I named him Aiden. Well..my mother did not want me having him. She would never tell me why till about 7 months ago. She told me that when I was young I was attacked by a "PIT BULL." She has no pictures supporting the claim but none the less, she swears it was one.

[Attila]

Well dear. I have a mother that swears she sees ravens that are not there and all sorts of stuff. has pentigrams and the sort all around her house. Some times even parents don't have their shit in a row. lol I have been attacked by dogs before and none were any bulldog. Dalmation, rodent dogs, and a labradore, oh and his cute little chewawa dog that this little girl had in pets mart. I aske if it was ok to pet it and she said yes in that cute little voice kids have then satan got ahold of my arm and bit me about a gazzilion times before I could get my hand back. Little rat. That shit hurt too. little girl taped it on the head and said no mitzy and her mother was like oh she bites. Ya thanks for the warning. Don't say yes if you have satan dog. gesh.

[MinorThreat]

My wrestling coach in HS owned a direct son off Ch Tonka ROM, I feel lucky to have been schooled the correct way from the beginning. I never had to own a block head, big cow pit bull in my early years and learn what the breed is really about later on. My coach had me reading all the Stratton books and taking me to conf shows and a few years later introduced me...

The Tonka dog is still the best dog I've ever seen

[Pitbull219]

I was around them a little as a kid. My grandpa, an old Irishman, had a couple when I was younger. There was this one in particular, a brindle/white bitch named "Babe". She had been hit by a car a few blocks from my grandparents house, and dragged herself to my grandparents house, back legs and guts behind her just to die on the front lawn surrounded by those she loved. I was in awe of this dog's courage, she was so badly injured it was a miracle she did that. In high school, I knew a few guys that had them, mostly thugs using them to protect their drug houses and stuff. But one day I met this guy who had a litter, both the sire and dam were amazing dogs. He sold off the pups to his thug friends, and kept one and knew nothing about the proper care and training of a dog. I didn't like the way he treated her at all. And this kid was always in trouble with the law, and he would let his boy "Turbo" loose and neighbor's dogs and brag about it when he killed them. So one day I offered to buy Passion from him, he said she wasn't for sale. I told him I would just take her from him then, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. So after some thought, we agreed on $150. That was 11 years ago, one of the best purchases I ever made.

[shadyridgekennel]

My dad got me into them since i was very little . he was the dogman of the house lol.he had 2 yards. 1 for the 'working' dogs and then we allways and still do keep 3 of the 'show' dogs in the other.but for about almost a year now since he had a bad stroke. i have been trying to keep things going for him.as he cant do much but he trys to help.

[ChiaPit]

Oh! This is my story of shame...I never had any exposure to a pit bull or a bulldog of any kind, I grew up in a shady part of town, and my mother was always afraid of dogs so I was always told to "Stay Away" from dogs I didn't know because they would probably attack (especially those pitts and rottweilers). Well, as any child will, I went the exact opposite of what I was told, and through the years I have adopted shelter animals, taken in strays, and tried to take care of and find homes for any dogs in need that I have encountered. However I always had a fear of pitts, until one day, I see a beautiful little puppy being dropped off on the side of the road, and the guy jumps back in his car and takes off. Once again I was in rescue mode, and I picked her up and brought her home, the vet said she was a pit bull. I still at this point falsly believed that one day she would for sure become HA, (yes I was stupid enough to fall into the media BS) but the thing was, she was so damned loving, and funny, and sweet and about the smartest dog I ever had. So I started questioning all that I had been told, and I started researching the breed and I found myself here, and I found myself realizing that all that I had been told, and thought was true before was a lie, and I was an idiot for believing it. Now, I do my best to inform those that I come into contact with the truth about the breed, even if I can change one persons image of my dog from negative to positive then I figure I've done good. I am now a loyal pit bull fan and I think any other dog I own, from this point on, will be a pit.

[cheekymunkee]

Pit bulls have been members of my family for as long as I can remember. The only good thing my dad ever did for me was teach me about the love of a good dog. he loved his dogs more than he did his kids.

[NGDOGMAN]

Well I always heard the media hype about pits but had never been around one for any amount of time. My dad used to hunt anything and everything and had some of the best dogs to do it. I was raised around good labs, pointers, red bones, etc... and taught how to care for and train a dog. Due to this I always questioned the negative hype about pits and rotts and dobes. If there were people with them then they all cant be bad and if you raised or train them to be that way then that is how they are. All the people I knew that had a rot or dobe had it as a guard dog and wanted it to be a man eater, no one with pits though. The first pit I was around was one my brother rescued off the side of the road. Just getting to know this dog I wanted one. I did not know anything in particular about the breed (blue fad, weight pulls, pitmutts, boards like this, the history, nothing) but I knew animals and regardless if they are 'fighting dogs' i wanted one as a pet. We had our first dog 'omega' on 40+ acres in the NG mountains. I got a little brindle bitch from a lady that had been breeding for over 20 years, Angel. We raised them up together and they would chase bears, deer, pigs, or anything that came on our property. Before I got an education on these dogs I started looking around and the only thing a newbie sees on the internet is big blue mutts. I was wanting to get one of these dogs because at the time I did not know any better. Thank god I waited and talked to some people that schooled me. Since then I have acquired a few more dogs from good stock and learned boatloads about this breed. Still new and learning though.

[irishpit]

well theres very few apbt around were i live but what we do have a lot of is staffies,staffordshire bull terriers, and thats what sparked my interest in these type of dogs so i decided to research these dogs on the internet and as you know staffies also fall into the category pitbulls, so while i was looking for info on staffies apbt also came up and then i got hooked on these dogs and researched them for about 6 months trying to learn everything i could about them and then struggled to find a breeder for another month or so and finally found one got my girl lucy and da rest is history

[TripleJ]

My grandfather was a dogman , so were my uncles and dad, I had a buckskin bitch off of bullyson blood my uncle gave me "to raise me" (my mother said) When I was 3 years old That was MY first dog she lived untill I was 13 and it allmost killed me when she died. So my uncle and grand father let me have any dog on the yard I wanted and then I went to the sporting aspect of dogs. I have never been with out a game dog. I have only had 3 dogs that lived as house dogs 1 of witch my youngest child has claimed and she calls him her Brother he sleeps in the bed every night with her and is her best friend just like missy was mine growing up. I pray she will be able to have the gamedog in her life as long as I have.. They are one of the things that make US Better than the rest of the world. YIS J

[Phebes]

I had a fawn colored Boxer and a blk & tan Dobie. In early spring I noticed my female Boxer had this little cough. I found it strange since she was on heartworm meds but it sounded just like the heartworm cough. Took her to the vet, he new exactly what it was. Had x-rays done. Then the vet showed me her X-rays. I didn't know Boxer had a geneic fault which caused many of them to die of heart & lung cancer around 10 years old. Her heart & lungs were full of tumors. She died a few weeks later when no one was home except the male Dobie. My husband got home first that day and heard this strange screaming sound from upstairs. It was the Dobie laying across her body just screaming. The Dobie never ate again after that day and a few weeks later we lost him to grief. I had heard dogs would do this but had never a dog that did it before. I couldn't seem to get over the loss. For 6 months my daughter kept trying to get me to call this rescue group but I didn't want anymore dogs. Couldn't take them dying. I finally called the rescue group. The woman asked about my background with dogs. When she found out I had always owned dogs perceived as visious she told me she had a 3 month old pit bull female and would I come and take a look. My husband was dead set against a pit bull. OMG!!! we would both die. We went to look. She was this little brindle puppy zooming around the yard. My husband is shaking his head no when she jumps in his lap and that was that. That was 11 years ago and she has been a wonderful dog.
Four months later we adopted Buddy.
A few years after that I saw a woman throw a little female puppy out of car door. I took her to my eldest daughter's and she has been with them ever since. She is an absolutely beautiful APBT. My grandchildren grew up with these dogs.
After owning APBTs I can't imagine owning any other breed of dog.
They combine all the wonderful qualities you find in Boxers, Dobies, Rotties and GSDs.

[realonebulldog]

What made you get into the American Pit Bull Terrier? Were you raised, did you get one through a friend? What? I just want to hear stories!

Beth From 8 till 15 I breed chicken. I had a brood machine that time in wich I could put about 50 egs ....every day I had to watch temperature and air humidity. I had about 30 chicken and 3 rosters...ok ok lol...to make a long story short, one day I get a REAL Game flowl, he was about 1 meter high and the weight was about 12 pounds. You could with one single look see this was a very noble animal.He came direct from malaysia because his breeder had imported egs.Yes he was a so called malaie. When I arrived with him I put him in his special yard with 3 chicken and immediately he jumped on the chicken and then he started to crow. Next day wen I came from school I went to my chicken and noticed the silence.......suddenly I saw my malaie sit in the edge of his Yard and his 3 chicks with him. His head, neck,throad and the whole front were bloody, his head and eyes swollen he could nearly nothing see....even if I today look back at this moment it touches my heart and this was about 24 years ago. My other 3 rosters were jumped into his yard....dont know together or one after another, fact is he fight them all won and he survived.....I was about 12 cried and you cant imagine how impressed I was.....later i read abut this breed that it still a few thousand years exist and only had the fight as her genetic task. I sold all my non fightstuff and breed the real deal^^ I think it was only a question of time for me to own the only kind of dog^^

[Miss Conduct]

I had friends that had them when i was around 16 or so, and i started to really like them. They had the bigger mixed looking dogs, so naturally thats what i thought a "Pit" was. First dog i got was for my bf at the time, it was a Lab/Pit Bull mix. God that dog was DUMB! Next dog i got, i actually got lucky. I wanted one of those big godawful beasts... i got an ofrn male (posted below). He was my first true bulldog (though at the time i had NO idea what he was lol), and i still have my old man today :). My parents were absolutely repulsed that i had bought a "Pit Bull", and my father told me numerous times that my dog was going to get out and kill someone and i'd be sued LMFAO. 7 years later, and notta. Funny thing on that is my parents Border Collie has bit/nipped EIGHT people, and their dachshund is mean as spitfire if she doesnt know you! My mother still thinks that if you feed a dog raw food, theres "something in the blood that makes them go crazy".... lol
I got some mutts along the way out of the paper, and along the way got lucky and meet some good people (as well as some shitty ones that i lost their #, and changed mine quickly!!) along the way, and i started researching and found out what a bulldog was. That was a few years ago, and now im here :) Still learning, and striving to improve the bulldog, and its name.
I love my dogs w/all my heart and soul, i was bit by the bulldog bug, and bad!! These dogs will be with me till my dying day! (which better be MANY decades away! lol)

[Miss Conduct]

oh ya, heres my 1st real bulldog lol


http://www.game-dog.com/gallery/files/2/5/2/5/ThorScenicPic.jpg

[sedaliapitbulls]

my first apbt was from my wife. It was her dog about 6 years ago. I fell in love with her and after that I became obsessed. If I had more time I would give big detal but for now I,ll leave at at this and reply back later.

[cary-dude]

my first encounter came when i was 16 years old. a friend of mine had an aunt who owned two female pit bulls. which she claimed to be descended from the colby line. since we are talking over twenty years i do not know how accurate her claim was, but this is what I do know, I was instantly in awe of thier build,not big blocky fat dogs at all but lean, well defined athletes, true specimens of the breed. I was instantly amazed at how her dogs seemed to be so intuned to what was going on around them. both dogs exhibited an hier of confidence that even I a complete stranger to the breed could notice. well she explained the history of the breed and bestowed a true appreciation of the breed in me that has existed and strengthened ever since. Of course my parents would not allow on around so when i moved out i decided to get one. in 1991 I got my first pit bull. I rescued him from some asshole that didn't deserve a rat for a pet let alone a fine animal such as this breed. well i named him captain and he even won my parents over.

[MR BIGGS]

I don't know about anyone else but I enjoyed reading everyones stories thus far.


I finished high school in 2002 and a few months after I graduated I went into the service did all my training and when I came back home I got my first place with my g/f, now wife, and needless to say I went and got a bulldog before we even bought furniture. I actually got him the same day we had signed the lease, so yeah I did dive in head first, but I knew I wanted one and I didn't care what it looked like and I've been in love with them since.