page_title: Pit bull
section_title: Notable pit bulls
hierarchical_section_title: Pit bull / Notable pit bulls
caption_attribution_description: English: Dog looking at and listening to a phonograph. Francis Barraud's 1898 painting of Nipper looking into an Edison Bell cylinder phonograph.
context_page_description: Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was first used in 1927. Within the United States the pit bull is usually considered a heterogeneous grouping that includes the breeds American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, American Bully, Staffordshire Bull Terrier and occasionally the American Bulldog, along with any crossbred dog that shares certain physical characteristics with these breeds. In other countries including Britain the Staffordshire Bull Terrier is not considered a pit bull. Most pit bull–type dogs descend from the British Bull and Terrier, a 19th century dog-fighting type developed from crosses between the Old English Bulldog and the Old English Terrier.
  Pit bull–type dogs have a controversial reputation as pets both in the United States and internationally, due to their history in dog-fighting, the number of high-profile attacks documented in the media over decades, and proclivity to latching on while biting.
context_section_description: Pit bull breeds have acted as war dogs, police dogs, search and rescue dogs, actors, television personalities, seeing eye dogs, and celebrity pets. Sallie Ann Jarrett was the mascot of the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. Nipper, a mongrel at times seen as a pit bull, is the dog in Francis Barraud's painting His Master's Voice. Pete the Pup, a character from the movie series The Little Rascals, was played by pit bull–type dogs. Other noted pit bulls include Helen Keller's dog "Phiz/Sir Thomas", the comic strip character Buster Brown's dog "Tige", and Horatio Jackson's dog "Bud". Sergeant Stubby, a dog of disputed breed who served for the 102nd Infantry, 26th (Yankee) Division during World War I, has been called a pit bull.
  Contemporary significant pit bulls are: Weela, who helped save 32 people, 29 dogs, three horses, and one cat during Southern California's widespread flooding in 1993; Popsicle was a drug detection dog for U.S. Customs and worked on the Texas—Mexico border where in 1998 he made the then biggest cocaine drug find ever made at the Hidalgo Texas Port of Entry; Norton, who was placed in the Purina Animal Hall of Fame after he rescued his owner from a severe reaction to a spider bite; Titan, who rescued his owner's wife, who would have died from an aneurysm; D-Boy, who took three bullets to save his family from an intruder with a gun; Star, who, while protecting her owner, was shot by police in a video that went viral; and Lilly, who lost a leg after being struck by a freight train while pulling her unconscious owner from the train tracks. Daddy, Cesar Millan's right-hand dog, was famous for his mellow temperament and his ability to interact calmly with ill-mannered dogs.
caption: Nipper, a mixbreed. Photograph of painting, 1898
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