Most importantly, gameness is not aggressiveness. It has nothing to do with aggression (toward animals or humans) and should not enter into discussions about overall temperament. Gameness is working drive. Very simply put, gameness is the will never to quit a task despite injury, illness, or exhaustion. When other dogs throw in the towel, a pit bull will continue on. It is the unflagging courage referred to in UKC and AKC descriptions of these breeds. Gameness is only a negative trait when exploited, such as in dog fighting. It is a trait that makes responsible owners proud when used positively, such as: flyball, disc dogs, scent work, obedience trials.

Like the AKC, we do not discuss gameness and fighting here either to praise or malign pit bulls. Fighting and gameness are important elements of the breeds’ history and, ultimately, a key to understanding our dogs. There is nothing admirable, heroic, or particularly interesting about the fighting aspect of pit bulls’ history.

Gameness does not equal aggressiveness. A dog can be game without being aggressive and vice versa. Unstable, highly aggressive dogs are, in fact, not at all likely to be game. As Diane Jessup explains in The Working Pit Bull, “Gameness does not mean a desire to fight — it means a desire to finish or succeed at a task” (156). Not all pit bulls are game. Dogfighters assess gameness by testing their dogs in the pit, with the ultimate (and very cruel) goal to produce a dog that would fight other dogs to the death (these rare dogs are referred to as “dead game”). But as Jessup further notes, there are other, far better ways to gauge gameness in pit bulls and other breeds:

“A few examples of true gameness in a dog would be the weight-pull dog that simply never quits trying to pull a load, and must be stopped by his handler when the load becomes too heavy, the tracking dog who continues to work out a faint, hours-old trail in the 100 degree F heat and scores a perfect 100 in a grueling F.H. German tracking test, […] the search and rescue dog who climbs over brush and debris hour after hour searching for victims. All these are tests of gameness with value (unlike dog fighting, which has no value to society whatsoever) and acceptance in our modern world.” (15

As the previous passage suggests, gameness is by no means a specialized “pit bull trait.” Like aggression toward other animals, it’s a dog trait. This kind of drive is, most accurately, a working dog trait. The tireless Border Collies we see in herding and tracking exhibit gameness. As such, many other breeds are frequently tested and certified for gameness using non-fighting scenarios. The working terriers informally know as “dirt dogs” — a designation that covers Dachshunds, Jack Russell Terriers, Patterdale Terriers, West Highland White Terriers, Cairn Terriers, Norwich Terriers, and many other breeds — are routinely tested on their ability to quarry and “work” small rodents. Jack Russell and Patterdale Terriers still serve the valuable function of ridding farms of groundhogs and badgers.

Because of their focus and determination, pit bulls have proven to be excellent candidates for search-and-rescue work and therapy work.

Finally, it is important to recognize that this heritage of gameness partially contributes to the pit bull’s wonderful and resilient personality. It is why these dogs possess a constant desire to please and why they readily take up new lives as loving family pets following neglect and abuse. With this in mind, we will give the final word on gameness to Dr. D. Caroline Coile, author of Pit Bulls for Dummies:

“Gameness, though hard to define, is in essence the quality of pressing on cheerfully and with gusto in the face of adversity. In everyday life, this spirit expresses itself in self-confidence, determination, and a certain joie de vivre. […] Gameness is not aggressiveness. A non-aggressive dog can be game (for example, he avoids a fight but does not back down if pressed), and an aggressive dog can be ungame (for example, if he starts a fight but turns tail if the victim fights back). Some pit bulls are aggressive with other dogs. Others are not. But as a rule, pit bulls were not bred to be aggressive — they were bred to win.”