The City of Cincinnati and some surrounding communities have banned them. The City of Fairfield, Ohio first declared them vicious and then banned them, and the State of Ohio lumps them in with breeds ìcommonly known as a pit bull dogî and calls them vicious.

The media stirs the pot with stories about rampaging pit bulls and deadly attacks, and the public is frightened.

The object of all this attention is a group of dogs loosely referred to as ìpit bull dogsî or ìpit bull terriersî and specifically including three or four breeds that have not been bred for fighting for decades and that were not aggressive to humans even when they were bred for fighting. The reason for the attention is the irresponsible actions of some owners of these dogs ó owners who fail to properly socialize and train their animals or who actually use them for criminal purposes.

The American Staffordshire Terrier takes the brunt of the criticism, but the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, the American Pit Bull Terrier, and even the Bull Terrier share the notoriety.

These breeds come from the same basic stock in England. After bull and bear baiting were outlawed in 1835, gamblers promoting blood sports turned their attention to dog fighting and to development of a breed with the tenacity and valor of the Bulldog (then resembling the modern American Staffordshire Terrier, now evolved into a squat, bowlegged sourpuss) and the agility of a terrier. Known originally as bull and terrier dogs, the crosses eventually produced the Staffordshire Terrier, a fierce fighter in the pit but easy to handle during training and when injured, and the Bull Terrier, a breed with a Roman nose and equal talent in the pits.

The first Staffordshire Terriers came to America as early as 1870, where they evolved into two separate breeds: the American Pit Bull Terrier breed first registered by the United Kennel Club in 1898 and the non-fighting dogs that eventually gained recognition with AKC under their British name. For a few years, UKC regulated dog fighting, but ceased its support decades ago and will expel members suspected of involvement in this illegal activity.

American pioneers enjoyed the versatility of the Staffordshire Terrier as vermin dog, homestead protector, and even hunting companion and herder. However, although it recognized the related Bull Terrier in 1885, AKC stalled recognition of the dog known in the US as the American Pit Bull Terrier until 1936, when it accepted the breed as the Staffordshire Terrier.

Meanwhile, back in England that same year, The Kennel Club recognized the original bull and terrier dog as the Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

As often happens, selective breeding in the US produced a bull and terrier dog larger than its British forebears. So, although the Staffordshire Terrier of the AKC and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier of England were virtually the same dog in the beginning, they now differed enough that AKC renamed its breed the American Staffordshire Terrier. Then, in 1974, AKC accepted the Staffordshire Bull Terrier into its ranks.