American Bully History : (9 Interesting Facts)

People often express interest in getting details about the history of the American Bully dog breed. In this article, you will find information on when the breed originated, where it originated, how it was developed as well as its more recent history.

The American Bully history starts from the 1980s, when some breeders set out to come up with a companion dog that has full ‘Bully’ traits but with less aggression. Its foundation parent breed is the American Pit Bull Terrier, but it also has blood from other dog breeds.

Thus going through the history of the American Bully, you realize that it is quite a new dog.

But its main foundation breed – the Pit Bull Terrier – has a much longer history: spanning more than a hundred years.

What Is An American Bully Dog?

A good place to start a discussion on American Bully history is by getting a definition of the dog.

Once we have the American Bully description, we can delve further into the American Bully details.

So, indeed, what is American Bully dog (or whats an American Bully dog)?

We can best describe the America Bully dog as a modern stocky dog that was developed in the 1980s to mostly serve as a companion dog.

It typically has a happy friendly personality, but with somewhat fierce looks. It has great muscle and bone mass.

What Breed Is An American Bully Dog?

Another key question we have to tackle, while trying to learn the history of American Bully dogs is on what breed they belong to.

An American Bully dog is an independent breed. In its earliest days, people could easily mistake the American Bully dog for a Pit Bull Terrier.

This is understandable, as the Pit Bull Terrier is its foundation breed.

So recognition as a distinct breed for the American Bully dog breed didn’t come fast or easily.

Today though, most people recognize the American Bullie dog as a stand alone dog breed. The American Bully Pit Bull relation remains, as the American Pit Bull Terrier is its foundation breed.

But most experts now view the American Bully breed as one that is now distinct enough.

In the history of Bully breeds, the American Bully’s is arguably one of the newest.

When Did The American Bully Originate?

This dog first originated in the 1980s.

That is when the development of the American Bullydog started.

But the work of creating a dog breed takes time. It wasn’t until the 1990s that we could say that there truly well defined American Bullies.

And it wasn’t until the year 2004 that the American dog Bully was recognized by a kennel club. That was the ABKC.

In the year 2015 came recognition by the United Kennel Club.

But of course, the parent breeds that made the American Bully have histories spanning much longer.

For instance, the Pit Bull Terrier, which is the foundation breed, has a 100+ years history. There are even stories about it in writings that date as far back as the 1800s.

Thus when we say that the breed arose in the 1980s, we are simply talking of the bully precisely.

If focus was on the parent breeds from which it arises, then we would be looking at a longer history.

But focus is specifically on the Bully, as we know it today. Development of the distinct dog breed we refer to as American Bully started in the 1980s.

It then stretched from the 1980s, onto the 1990s. So it was in the 1990s that the ‘final touches’ on this dog breed were complete.

Now in a dog breed’s life, recognition by Kennel clubs is an important step. For this Bully, that first came in 2004: with recognition from the ABKC.

In mid-2013, the United Kennel Club recognized the American Bully breed, further cementing the breed’s position.

How Were American Bullies Made?

While trying to understand the history of the American Bullies, we need to know how the breed was created.

So, indeed, how was the American Bully created?

The foundation breed from which the American Bullies dog arises is the American Pit Bull Terrier.

Thus if one wants a very thorough American Bully bloodline history, they have to make reference to the various Pit Bull Terrier blood lines’ history.

If you research on what breeds created the American Bully dog, the various sources always mention the Pit Bull Terrier. [But some people may prefer to use its other name, Staffordshire Terrier].

If one were to talk of what tribe Bully dog belongs to, then it would have to be that of Pit Bulls. So it belongs there, but with some unique traits.

Breeders wanted a dog with Bully traits, but with features like lower prey drive. Such a dog could serve as a companion dog.

This is how the exotic Bully history starts.

To make the American Bully pits were crossed with dogs from several other breeds over time.

Thus in the American Bullies dogs, there is also blood from English bulldogs, American Bulldogs and Olde English Bulldogge.

We therefore see that the American Bully family tree is a somewhat complex one.

The main thing to know about the Bully dog origin is that it started with the Pit Bull Terrier as the foundation breed.

Then – further on the American Bully origin – other breeds came into the picture, to inject certain desirable traits.

Where Do American Bullies Originate From?

As its very name suggests, the dog’s origin is in the USA.

Even when you refer to the Bully pulpit American history definition, you discover that the dog originates from the USA.

As noted earlier, it is some US breeders who desired a companion dog with Bully traits but less aggression.

That was the genesis of the exotic Bully history we are studying – for the American Bully dogs.

More Recent History Of The American Bully

As noted earlier, development of the American Bully dog started in the 1980s.

Since the development of a dog breed takes time, it went on, right up to the 1990s.

So it was in the 1990s that this bully dog breed was arising as a complete breed.

After arising as a distinct breed in the 1990s, it gained the first kennel club recognition in 2004. This was recognition by the ABKC.

After almost another decade, the dog got recognition from another Kennel club. This was the United Kennel Club, which recognized it as a breed mid-July 2015.

Originally, there were 4 types of this Bully dog: Standard, Classic, Pocket and XL.

But if you dig into American Bully XL history, you see that more recently, there was entry of another type: Extreme American Bully.

So we now have 5 types of this Bully dog. Those are Standard, Classic, Pocket, XL and Extreme.

Final Verdict – American Bully History

The American Bully dog is quite a new breed. Its development started in the 1980s, ending in the 1990s.

The foundation breed from the American Bully is the Pit Bull Terrier.

But coming up with the American Bully entailed mixing the Pit Bull Terrier with some other breeds, in order to get more desirable traits.

The objective was to get a companion dog with Bully traits, but with less aggression. So the breed developers, for instance, tried to come up with a Bully type dog that had less prey drive.

With breed development complete in the 1990s, the dog gained recognition by the ABKC in 2004.

That was to be followed by recognition from the United Kennel Club in mid-2013.

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Rajkumar Ravichandran

Welcome to Learn About Pet. My name is Rajkumar Ravichandran and I love all pets, travel, and amazing food. I write about my passion and personal experience caring for multiple pets in this blog! ❤️