Pit Bulls
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49 free Pit Bulls trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
"Pit bull" is not one breed but an umbrella for several: the American Pit Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier and the newer American Bully, all tracing back to the bull-and-terrier crosses of 19th-century Britain. That tangled history explains why the same dog can be registered under two names, why the AKC and UKC disagree, and why so many countries have written laws about them. These 49 questions walk through the whole story: the Old English Bulldog crosses, the 1898 founding of the United Kennel Club, the AKC's Staffordshire Terrier compromise, the Colby and Old Family Red Nose bloodlines, and the rise and regulation of the XL Bully. They also cover the famous dogs: Pete the Pup with his painted eye ring, Sergeant Stubby of the 102nd Infantry, Nipper and Sallie Ann Jarrett. Easy questions cover breeds and registries; the hardest ask about stud dogs, statutes and shelter statistics. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which term do breeders use for the terrier trait of fighting on when losing, prized in the pit bull's ancestors?
Gameness
Gameness came from the terrier side of the early crosses and strength from the bulldog, and immigrants carried the resulting bull-and-terrier across the Atlantic, where farmers and ranchers put it to work.
Q 02Which NFL quarterback pleaded guilty in 2007 to running the Bad Newz Kennels dogfighting ring?
Michael Vick
Michael Vick's kennel had a second act: 22 of its most traumatized pit bulls went to a Utah sanctuary, where many earned good-citizen certificates and found homes as family pets.
Q 03Which registry, founded in 1898, was the first to recognize the pit bull as a breed?
United Kennel Club
The United Kennel Club was founded by Chauncey Bennett, who gave registration number 1 to his own pit bull, a dog named Bennett's Ring.
Q 04Under what name did the AKC first recognize pit bulls in the 1930s?
Staffordshire Terrier
Staffordshire Terrier was a fresh name for dogs an older registry already listed as pit bulls, and some dogs still carry both: an AmStaff to one club, a pit bull to the other.
Q 05What is the term for surgically trimming a dog's ear flaps, long common on pit bulls?
Cropping
Cropping is optional in the pit bull's main breed standard, which accepts natural ears too and says no dog may be marked down for them, because some countries now forbid the surgery.
Q 06Which coat colour or pattern do both main registries refuse to accept in the APBT?
Merle
Merle is barred by both registries: one links the pattern to health defects and suspects that breeders chasing a designer colour crossed in other breeds to get it.
Q 07In 1996 a big-city SPCA tried to rebrand its pit bulls under what name?
St. Francis Terriers
St. Francis Terriers was the San Francisco SPCA's idea, sold with a drawing of a pit bull dressed as St. Francis of Assisi, and it was suspended after several of the roughly 60 dogs placed killed cats.
Q 08In 2004 NYC's animal care centre briefly relabelled its pit bulls as what?
New Yorkies
New Yorkies lasted less than three days: the shelter director hoped a cuddlier name would get more pit bulls adopted, then scrapped it when New Yorkers made plain they hated the idea.
Q 09Which Star Trek actor fostered a pit bull named Ginger in 2017 and became a champion of the breed?
Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart shared videos of his weeks with Ginger online, and in 2021 the ASPCA gave him its Pit Bull Advocate & Protector Award for his work to change how people see the dogs.
Q 10Which craft brewery's dog logo was inspired by Petey of Our Gang?
Lagunitas
Lagunitas founder Tony Magee chose the dog because he thought Petey was the star of the whole gang, and pit bull owners liked the label so much that many sent in photos of their own pets.
Q 11In 2005 two members of which profession were reprimanded for a TV ad with a pit bull logo?
Lawyers
Lawyers John Pape and Marc Chandler advertised with a pit bull in a spiked collar and the number 1-800-PIT-BULL; Florida's Supreme Court ordered a public reprimand and sent both to an advertising workshop.
Q 12The Old Family Red Nose strain of pit bulls originated in which country?
Ireland
Ireland's 'Old Family' dogs were bred in Cork and Kerry within so closed a circle that recessive red took over the strain, and emigrants later sent home for them.
Q 13Which actor's stuntman character owns Brandy the pit bull in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood?
Brad Pitt
Q 21Besides Staffordshire, the Staffy originated in the northern parts of which city?
Birmingham
Birmingham's northern districts and the neighbouring Black Country bred it as a pit dog, yet the breed standard now singles out its affinity with children.
Q 22Tia Torres moved her rescue centre, the setting of Pit Bulls & Parolees, to which Southern city?
New Orleans
New Orleans drew her because of the stray and abandoned dogs Hurricane Katrina left behind, and she later admitted the need was far worse than she had expected.
Q 23Which is the smallest American Bully size that the breed's registries recognise?
Pocket is the smallest recognised size, for males of 14 to 17 inches at the shoulder; the still smaller dogs sold as 'Micro' bullies fall outside every official standard.
Brad Pitt's Cliff Booth shares a trailer with Brandy, who helps him fight off the Manson intruders, and the dog won the Palm Dog at Cannes, which Quentin Tarantino collected in person.
Q 14At which dog sport does the pit bull famously excel?
Weight pulling
Weight pulling has a harnessed dog haul a loaded cart or sled a short distance, the feat Buck performs to win a wager in Jack London's The Call of the Wild.
Q 15APBTs are used as hunting dogs mainly to restrain which animal?
Feral hogs
Feral hogs are work for a catch dog, built to hold and wrestle the animal in place; farmers and ranchers first gave the breed the same job with semi-wild cattle.
Q 16Which Canadian province has banned pit bulls since 2005?
Ontario
Ontario passed its ban after a run of attacks, and ten years on Toronto had almost no pit bulls left, yet its reported dog bites had climbed to their highest level this century.
Q 17Which UK law makes owners prove their dog is not a prohibited fighting type?
Dangerous Dogs Act 1991
The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 judges a dog by its looks, not its pedigree: if the prosecution says it is a banned type, the court presumes so unless the owner can show otherwise.
Q 18Besides the pit bull, which Japanese fighting breed is banned in Britain?
Tosa
The Tosa sits on Britain's banned list with the pit bull terrier, the Dogo Argentino and the Fila Brasileiro: none may be sold, given away, abandoned or bred from.
Q 19In her 2008 convention speech, Sarah Palin joked that only what separates a hockey mom from a pit bull?
Lipstick
Lipstick was the punchline: Palin, who called herself an average hockey mom, used the dog to say such mothers are tough, and she kept the joke in her stump speeches.
Q 20Each Staffy to serve as mascot of the Staffordshire Regiment has carried which name?
Watchman
Watchman has been the name of every mascot in turn; The Kennel Club accepted the breed only in 1935, having held back for years because of its past as a fighting dog.
Q 24Which type of dog did the UK government ban at the end of 2023 after fatal attacks?
XL Bully
The XL Bully became illegal to breed or sell on 31 December 2023, and from February 2024 illegal to own unless the dog is registered as exempt, neutered and kept muzzled on a lead in public.
Q 25The American Bully was developed from pit bull stock first and foremost for which role?
Family companion
Family companion was the aim: breeders mixed in heavier breeds for bulk while working to breed out the old urge to fight other dogs.
Q 26Which band was fronted by two pit bulls, Budgie and Basil, who barked the vocals?
Caninus
Caninus, a New York grindcore band, put Budgie and Basil on lead vocals, shared a record with Hatebeak, a metal band fronted by a parrot, and broke up when Basil died.
Q 27In World War I propaganda posters of nations as dogs, which country was drawn as a pit bull?
America
America is the pit bull at the centre of a 1914 poster, flanked by an English bulldog, a German dachshund, a French bulldog and a Russian wolfhound, each in uniform, and declaring itself neutral but afraid of none.
Q 28When the first Pete's son took over the role in Our Gang, what changed about the famous eye ring?
It switched eyes
It switched eyes: the father was born with most of a ring, which makeup finished off with dye, but the son had none, so the whole circle was painted on, round the other eye.
Q 29Which silent comedian's 1925 film The Freshman gave Our Gang's first Pete an early cameo?
Harold Lloyd
Harold Lloyd's college comedy used the dog, Pal, when he was about six months old, and the part persuaded his owner to become his trainer and manager and build him a film career.
Q 30Before playing Pete in Our Gang, Pal the Wonder Dog played Tige in which film series?
Buster Brown
Buster Brown began as a comic strip about a boy and his dog Tige, and the pair went on to front a shoe company whose logo carried both their faces.