# 1. AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIER (APBT)--whether you call it the pit bull, pitbull, pitt bull, pittbull, pit bull dog, pittbull dog, pit bulldog, pitt bulldog, fighting pit dog, pit fighting dog or any other imaginable spelling the "pit bull" (correct spelling) is the king of all fighting breeds. In fact the pit bull is the only breed EVER consistently used for professionally staged, moneyed pit matches in much of the world. (Exceptions to this would be the Japanese Tosa Inu, which has been partially displaced by the APBT even in Japan and the Owtscharka type fighting breeds of Afghanistan/Pakistan and other middle Asian countries.)

 The fact is no other breed has the gameness or ability to consistently stand up to the APBT in an even weight fighting contest. (You may have heard of a pit bull losing an occasional street or backyard fight against this breed or that but we are talking about "professionally conducted" pit matches in this context. Poorly bred, amateurishly handled pit bulls may lose to another breed once in awhile, just as a sorry horse may lose a race to a mule occasionally but we are talking breed generalities here.)

When all the evidence is examined there is simply no breed on earth with the documented, PROVABLE pit history of the APBT, which has been used for at least 150 years in moneyed pit matches from England and Ireland back in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to today, a time in which the breed has spread literally all over the world.

[ It is difficult, even for one who is familiar with the APBT's fighting history to rate most other breeds in order as they have been used so seldom in actual pit fighting contests. Most encounters are of the amateur "street corner" nature and simply are not very definitive concerning the gameness and ability of the respective breeds. Therefore the rest of the breeds in this list may or may not be rated accurately and actual results would probably vary greatly depending upon the relative gameness and ability of individuals within each breed considered.]

# 2. TOSA INU: My choice for # 2 is the Tosa Inu of Japan. It is really the only breed that has been matched, occasionally successfully, against the pit bull. In the 1960's Japanese dog fighters imported some very good APBTs into Japan. As the pit bull is a much smaller dog than the average Tosa the Japanese dog men were quite impressed with its abilities and gameness. Pit bulls were often able to overcome the Tosa dogs' size and weight advantage and best them at their own game although in the early going some pit bulls were disqualified for making "noise" which was against the Japanese standards. Japanese rules also had a time limit of 1/2 hour and the dogs were judged on a point system all of which was favorable to the big Tosas which could control the match with their size and weight until the time ran out. 
Eventually the Japanese pit bull fanciers broke away from the Tosa fanciers and started their own dog fighting league using just APBTs as they considered them much more interesting and exciting to watch. ( FYI, the Japanese do not fight their dogs for money but for "honor" and "prestige" and hold their champion fighting dogs in very high regard treating them almost as royalty.)

# 3. AMERICAN BULLDOG: Now it gets harder. I would have to award # 3 to the American Bulldog for although it has not ever been fought much in moneyed pit contests it is a very large, strong and tenacious breed and definitely has a degree of gameness which has been attained from its use in hog-hunting and large-animal catch work. Can it stay with the APBT in a conditioned fight? Not really. Certainly not at even weights which is the real test of a breed's fighting mettle. 
A good friend who had tried his ABs against some of his own APBTs told me the AB will just hold onto a skin hold and think he is fighting while the APBT tears him up. This is fairly typical of "catch dogs" as that is what they are bred and trained to do. You don't want them to tear up a hog or steer or bull just restrain it until you can get some ropes on the animal or get it into a cage or holding pen. Anyway, the AB is a fine animal just not a pit bull.

# 4. ROTTWEILER: I am going to list the Rottweiler simply because so many people seem to think it is a "fighting breed." It is not. It is a big breed some of whose individuals may be able to fight okay. The breed was originally established for protection and guard type work against humans, for the most part. any good, big dog can whip a man badly in short order so that is no qualification as a fighting dog. Have there been instances of rotties whipping a pit bull out on a street corner or at the dog park? Probably. But that proves nothing. Rotties are big, strong, rough dogs and some bite very hard but if you took, at random, a hundred rotties and a hundred pit bulls of similar weights and tried to fight them the pit bull would win well over 90% of the time. Why not 100%? There are poor pit bulls just as there are poor thoroughbred horses, poor retrievers that won't fetch the newspaper much less a bird, poor milk cows that won't give much milk and so on. I mean, there are some pretty tough men our there but most of us couldn't stay long with a professional boxer, right?  That is how most other dogs fare against a decent pit bull dog. They just don't have the "tools" or the "want to."

# 5. AMERICAN STAFFORDSHIRE TERRIER: I didn't list the Amstaff earlier as it is simply the AKC show counterpart to the pit bull. While other breeds mentioned above (except the APBT) probably couldn't best the Amstaff in a fight every time some certainly could half the time or more. Amstaffs are fine dogs and great pets but after 80 years of being bred for dog shows just don't have the gameness or physical ability of the pit bull anymore.

# 6. STAFFORDSHIRE BULL TERRIER: The smaller, European (British) show counterpart to our Amstaff. Again, great dogs and pets but not a fighting dog anymore. Could one whip a Dachshund or poodle? Sure, but what does that prove? I'm sure most Staffy Bulls could whip a Cocker Spaniel or a  Fox Terrier too but so what? Problem is they haven't been tried for many, many generations and where dog fighting ability and gameness are concerned the rule is: USE IT OR LOSE IT!   

# 7. OWTSCHARKA: I guess I should list them although, who has ever seen one? They are a big, tall  wooly breed of probably 100 pounds or so looking for all the world like huge "mutts" of some kind. I have seen them fight ON VIDEO, by the strange "rules" of their native regions (which I have not figured out yet)  and they are willing and fairly capable fighters for 10-15 minutes and then one seems to lose his "want to" and it is declared over. These events draw large crowds and they award huge trophies to their "grand champions" with much cheering and hoopla and some money being literally "thrown around," really! They place currency notes on the forehead of the winning dogs' owners! It is very strange but that is their custom, apparently.

( I wish we could offer you a source for these video tapes but recently the US government made the sale or distribution of ALL SUCH VIDEOS, "depicting animal cruelty" as they call it, a felony, EVEN THOSE PRODUCED IN COUNTRIES WHERE THESE EVENTS ARE COMPLETELY LEGAL, so don't even ask, please.)

#'s 8, 9, 10: Who knows? German Shepherd Dogs? Boxers?  Dobermans? Who cares? None of these breeds has any documented fighting history and have never proven to be any good in the dog pit. Not that they aren't fine breeds and great pets and companions, guard dogs etc. But like all other breeds on earth they just can't hold a candle to a good American Pit Bull Terrier in a dog fight!

(PS if you think we left out an important breed please feel free to email us with your suggestion and if we feel it appropriate we will evaluate and add to our list. Editor)

rushken@alltel.net