I understand that in a lot of people's minds, including my own, there is confusion over the term "pit bull". I've read the Wikipedia article on "Pit bull" and it explains that it's not a a dog breed, but a generic name that encompasses a number of different breeds. Quoting the introductory paragraph:
Pit bull is the common name for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers. The pit bull-type is particularly ambiguous, as it encompasses a range of pedigree breeds, informal types and appearances that cannot be reliably identified.
From this blog there are two photos of dogs that the blogger has labelled the "Pit Bull Dog", however after searching there is no officially recognized name of this type. In the blog it is mentioned that this "Pit Bull Dog" is also known as the American Pit Bull Terrier, which indeed is a recognized breed of dog.
I'm particularly confused because of the differences in appearance between the dogs in photos purportedly of American Pit Bull Terriers. On this blog site we have these two:
And in other places these are also American Pit Bull Terriers: From Wikipedia:
Top left: American Pit Bull Terrier
Top right: American Staffordshire Terrier
Bottom left: Staffordshire Bull Terrier
Bottom right: American Bulldog
From what I can see there is quite a large difference between the first two photos and the photo at the topleft of the last picture.
Similarly, the following photo is the main photo at the beginning of the American Pit Bull Terrier article on Wikipedia, and although in this case I see more of a resemblance to the first two photos I posted, to me it seems there are quite significant differences. The first two photos show dogs that are much more short-legged and stocky. Also the faces looks quite different to me. And how about the ears?
Assuming these are all photos of the American Pit Bull Terrier (for the montage image I'm referring to the topleft photo only), is it my imagination that there are massive differences between each individual of the American Pit Bull Terrier, even greater differences than one would see between individuals of most other breeds of dog?
And I also found these images in an image search. Essentially they distinguish an American Pit Bull Terrier and an "American Bully":
(APBT standing for American Pit Bull Terrier)
I don't know what the American Bully is, but they surely do look like the American Pit Bull Terrier from the first two photos. Can someone help clear up my confusion?