Stud Book: The Bible of a Breed
The goal of the American Dog Breeders Association
Inc. (ADBA) is and always has been the preservation
of the American Pit Bull Terrier in its historic form. Our
ADBA Heritage® APBT Conformation Standard bases
its foundation from the breeds history and we are taking
the necessary steps to move out of the ADBA APBT Stud
Book, dogs of certain bloodlines, which were created for
a different look and purpose by questionable breeding
practices that may have included an influx of another
related breed or breeds.
We started this process by moving those dogs
conforming to the American Bully breed type and pedigree,
out of the ADBA APBT stud book. It was always our belief
that these dogs were purebred APBT’s bred for a different
look, but the statement from the UKC regarding the validity
of the UKC APBT Stud Book, therefore their pedigrees,
made us reconsider our position. Many of these dogs
were accepted into the ADBA registry with our belief that
their UKC pedigrees were accurate. However, with this
admission by UKC, it was necessary to move these dogs
out of the ADBA APBT Stud Book, and reclassify these
dogs as a separate breed, the American Bully(s).
Next we addressed the American Staffordshire Terrier,
a breed that genetically all foundation dogs of this breed
were all UKC and ADBA registered dogs. History confirms
that some notable APBT breeders that registered their
dogs with AKC, when they opened their stud book in 1936,
included Colby and Corvino. However, over the 79 year
history of the American Staffordshire Terrier, these dogs
were bred for a different standard and purpose; therefore,
the current dogs of today we now consider a different
breed. The ADBA will now be accepting the American
Staffordshire Terrier as a breed name for AKC registered
dogs. The ADBA will no longer register these dogs as
American Pit Bull Terrier within our APBT Stud Book.
In our continuing efforts to rectify the ADBA American
Pit Bull Terrier Stud Book and to address the concerns
of APBT fanciers worldwide, members of the ADBA
Board of Directors have conducted an in-depth research
of select records. In addition, we have talked with many
notable breeders and weight pull competitors. As of this
date our research has not identified any person with first
hand information on the correct pedigrees of some of the
dogs in question. What is apparent is that the increased
size of the dogs and conformation traits outside of the
heritage American Pit Bull Terrier breed type supports the
speculation of questionable purebred status.
Our understanding is that these particular bloodlines
were developed for the sport of weight pulling and, as in
all biological life forms, function dictates form. Due to the
number of dogs within the American Pit Bull Terrier stud
book currently registered from these bloodlines in question,
and exhibiting size and physical characteristics outside