This Is The American Pit Bull Terrier

Richard F. Stratton

The first chapter introduces us to Stratton's opinion that the APBT of today is wholly the bull-dog of old. Throughout the whole book, he uses "APBT", "American pit bull terrier", "bull terrier", and bulldog interchangably, which gets really confusing at times. The photographs are black-and-white; they show the great variety of type common in the APBT, and let us see that our APBT of today really hasn't change much from the APBTs of the late 19th and early 20th century. There aren't really chapters on choosing, feeding, breeding, or grooming an APBT. Stratton has included a chapter on letters printed from issues of Bloodlines (the UKC's magazine), the UKC's original dog-pit rules, and at the end there is a chapter on shock. This book is pro-fighting; Stratton's stories (which bring a smile each time) imply that APBTs actually enjoy fighting. Whilst some dogs DO enjoy fighting, this isn't really something that should have been included in one of the books that brought APBTs to the public for the first time. I would recommend this book to someone who will take the stories and theories with a pinch of salt. This isn't a book which should be recommended to someone who might be easily impressed by Stratton's friendly stories.