Bully Breed Rescue – The Bully Boom and the Results

Bully breed rescue and knowing how fast the breed grew

To own an American Bully is to love the American Bully as a dog breed. The majority of American Bullies are purchased through breeders through out the United States.

The supply and demand at this point has definitely flipped over the last five years with supply possibly outnumbering demand two to one.

This is very different from ten years ago when the American Bully had large amounts of individuals clamoring for the breed and not enough breeders to supply the masses.

The rapid success of the American Bully in regards to popularity is perhaps unprecedented in the dog world, if not unprecedented it is definitely extraordinary.

The flipping of demand to supply of course has now flooded animal shelters and rescues with the breed.

Finding American Bullies in shelters and some bully breed rescue, has went from the rarity to the norm and the large headed beasts sit behind cages waiting for potential adopters or a needle. Rescue groups which use to rarely have a blue coated dog to adopt, now have seen estimated numbers of thirty to forty percent being blue, or a blue based coat.

The American Bully descends from the American Pit Bull Terrier. Another breed that had dealt with the issue of overpopulation and has paid the price by the number of it’s breed being euthanized and forgotten in the cold hallways of Animal Controls across the United States and and many bully breed rescue shelters.

The Pit Bull is still the leading take in, in most animal controls around the country. Unfortunately the check in rate, is far higher than the check out rate. The majority of the breed that shows up at the front door only leave through the back door. In some cases the actual facilities refuse to adopt out the breed due to liability issues regarding the breed and adopting one out to a family from a bully breed rescue.

The American Bully has not been named in any legislation involving the breed and facilities being regarded as at a liability risk if adopting out the AmBully. The breed is however often mislabeled as an American Pit Bull Terrier, which leads to a number of deaths in the American Bully breed as well even in bully breed rescue places.

So why the boom in a breed that is so relatively new? Well there are several factors. The first being the impressiveness of the dogs, the ability to be a massive, teddy bear like dog, was often used as a selling point. To the detriment of perhaps it’s infamous ancestor the American Pit Bull Terrier, breeders began pitching them as not dangerous like the Pit Bulls you see in the news.

The American Bully versus the Pit Bull argument grew and the fact that the APBT had such a large fan base, caused a large sect of defectors to cross over to the now popular American Bully. The idea that individuals could purchase a dog that was as impressive as the Pit Bull, but did not require the same in insurance premiums, or not to have to deal with the constant stereotypes, was a very attractive idea. The breed immediately was purchased in droves!

Another factor that contributed was backyard breeders. The American Bully was being sold for thousands of dollars more than your typical American Pit Bull Terrier. The plans were set by unscrupulous individuals to breed to feed their greed. Pups were often sold for almost three thousand dollars!

A litter of five could easily be sold for ten to fifteen thousand dollars! These type of dreams and aspirations pushed individuals to over-breeding both their studs and their females. Money that was potentially great, could turn sour at a moments notice. It became common place to see a newbie jump into the Bully world and jump out less than a year later, because the money wasn’t what they expected. These bullies often were the first dumped at the shelters and the breeder would go on to his or her next hobby. Unfortunately the dogs were rarely that lucky.

Lastly, the internet played a major role for bully breed rescue. Although the instant news at your fingertips had been around far longer than the American Bully, it had not ever been used to push a breed and force it into the mainstream as in the case of the American Bully. The ability to search the net and find other members of the bully lifestyle made it simple by its explosion on the world wide web.

Forums and websites generated online traffic by the millions! Individuals contacted others and talked dogs for hours and hours! Their conversations would turn to gossip and gossip at times would create legends! Once a stud or breeder became popular the only thing that could stop that individual from breeding his dogs like rabbits was a sense of morality that that individual had to already possess before breeding for the cold, hard, cash money!

The internet at first created the boom as buyers had to go across country often times to find a litter that they were interested in. The internet made this plausible and doable. So it increased buyers, but it definitely increased the sellers! The ability to make buying a puppy, or a full grown dog easy as a quick click on a mouse pad!

Now the issues have been identified. The dogs are locked in the cages in a bully breed rescue even, and being killed in back rooms, and a community has not slowed down in recognizing the issue lies within the community. The answers are shrouded in responsibility and bully breed rescue!

Responsibly breeding, buying, and owning this breed will go a long way in quelling the rough waves that are ahead for the breed the American Bully. If you are not yet involved in this breed through ownership, or you’ve been around this breed for the past ten years, we encourage both parties to visit their local animal shelter or any bully breed rescue and witness the result of the Bully Boom up close and personal. It may slow you down, or at least make you momentarily look into the eyes of an animal that has been abandoned behind the bars . The breed grew rapidly, but saving it will not be as quick a fix!