The Pit Bull immediately strikes one as being a dog of power, passion, and undying willingness. The APBT is very muscular, stocky, yet agile dog which is extremely strong for their size. The APBT has a strong pleasure to please. By no means are these dogs people-haters or people-eaters. If they are properly socialized and raised with a firm, but calm, confidence; they will not even be aggressive with other dogs. The APBT is a good-natured, amusing, extremely loyal and affectionate family pet, which is good with children and adults. Almost always obedient, it is always eager to plese its master. It is usually friendly, but has an uncanny ability to know when it needs to protect and when everything is okay. They have a high pain tolerance and will happily put up with rough child play. Used as an all around working farm dog, they were referred to to as "the poor mans horse". Later they were used for fighting dogs. Socialize very thouroughly when young to combat aggressive tendancies and be sure to keep the dog under control when other dogs are present. Unfortunantly, some chose to promote the fighting instinct in the breed, giving them a bad name.
The APBT ranges in size from 22 pounds to 110 pounds, with the most common being between 35 to 55 pounds. In fact, the original APBT'S were between 20 to 40 pounds and were bred small for the main purpose of fighting. Most of your larger breeds of the APBT have been crossed with other breeds to get their bigger size.
Health issues are not to common in the APBT, but their are a few to watch for. These health issues include but are not limited to: Hip Dysplasia, Hereditary Cataracts, Skin Allergies, and Congenital Heart Disease.
APBT can live in almost any home as long as they are exercised properly. They need plenty of exercise due to their drive to go and please in everything they do. It would be ideal to walk your APBT everyday for at least a 20 minute walk. In understanding of today's day and age it would be okay for you to walk them every other day but it would be more of a 45 minute to an hour walk. They are very high energy dogs and need their exercise to channel that energy. When owning an APBT we must keep in mind these dogs tend to get bored easily and must have something to trigger that boredom and keep there minds focused on doing something productive cause that is what they strive to do.