Underbite in american pitbull terriers
Underbite is a fairly common occurrence in american pitbull terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, American Bullies, and English Bull Terriers.
I will tell you about my personal experience and observations. My name is Veronika Voitovksa. I am the owner of the American Pit Bull Terrier and American Bully Kennel «Dognik Bulls». Doctor. Expert cynologist. Zoopsychologist. Judge of dog shows and competitions.
In my work as a kennel owner, I have encountered underbite several times. And when taking training courses to become an expert cynologist, we also studied underbite in dogs. Causes of occurrence and what to do.
Most likely, your dog has an underbite and you want to know the reason. Or you are a breeder and you have an American Pit Bull Terrier / American Staffordshire Terrier / American Bully / English Bull Terrier puppy with an underbite.
When I first brought myself a male with a shortened muzzle, one expert (she breeds Rottweilers, where there are also longer and shorter muzzles) told me. «Don’t mate him with bitches with long muzzles. Otherwise, you will get an unexpected result in the jaws.» Of course, she meant undershot bites, strong overshot bites, and also a crooked jaw. Since I had a lot of matings in my kennel, and had even more theoretical experience on the problem of undershot bites in dogs (I studied information in different languages, learned from the experience of different countries). I came up with a rule for myself. Mating a short-muzzled dog to a long-muzzled one will not result in an undershot bite. No way. But if there is a trigger in the genes, that is, both parents carry some other allele in the genes, then there will be an undershot bite. Now I am talking specifically about a genetically inherited undershot bite, and not a mutation in the jaw due to mating very different types of dogs. What allele in the genes is responsible for the formation of an underbite — science does not know at the moment. There are no articles about this yet. Theoretically, in the discussions they write that the lower jaw (which is a separate bone from the rest of the skull) encodes 40 genes. And under the influence of these genes, the lower jaw can be short like grandma’s, and the upper jaw can be long like dad’s. This is such a simple example. I think there is logic in it.
But I did inbreeding, including different bitches, completely different breeding. And exactly where I suspected the presence of an underbite in the genes, during inbreeding we got underbites. Where one of the dogs does not carry an underbite — you will not get underbites. Even when you mate a dog with a short muzzle to a dog with a long muzzle.
I had a bitch who gave me underbites during inbreeding. Later I mated her several times to males of a completely different type and bloodlines. And she never got an undershot bite (although she gave birth to many puppies). And a frequent question: «Can I use brothers or sisters from a dog born with an undershot bite in breeding?» Yes, you can. With the right pairs, puppies with undershot bites are not born. And over time, the carrier of an undershot bite dissolves in the genes and the probability of its manifestation is negligible. Leading veterinarians-dentists also give the same answers as I do. But remember that a puppy with an undershot bite is a breeding defect. Such a puppy cannot be used for breeding or participate in exhibitions.
Further. There is such a thing as «age undershot bite». It occurs in small puppies whose teeth have just cut through. Experienced breeders know about age undershot bite in dogs. I once had the best puppy in the litter. But on one side, the fangs were slightly undershot, from the age of three weeks to 2.5 months. This puppy was withdrawn from sale and I watched him. At 2.5 months, all the baby teeth became perfectly even in a scissor bite. When his teeth changed, he also retained a perfect scissor bite. This moment is associated with growth spurts in puppies. Similarly, adolescent underbite can occur in older puppies.
I also had a dog with a very strong underbite. At 3 months, the underbite was about 7 mm. This puppy was sold inexpensively to a good family. At 7 months, the owners sent a photo showing that the teeth had become much better. At 10 months, this puppy’s bite became scissor-like. I could not believe it. By the way, our veterinarian also advised us to wait and not trim the tips of the lower canines, which interfered with the upper gums.
In general, an underbite in the American Pit Bull Terrier breed is not uncommon. Personally, I stopped getting such puppies a long time ago, having studied my breeding lines up and down. However, I am ready to help and advise owners of pit bull terriers with an undershot bite, breeders of pit bull terrier puppies with an undershot bite.
Of course, in most cases, the undershot bite of pit bull terriers does not go away. With age, it becomes a little less noticeable. Since after 5-6 years the jaw thickens and the size of the undershot bite decreases. But this is a completely different topic for discussion.
If you need advice, write to me:
Email: dognikb@gmail.com
Instagram: dognikbulls

The price of consultation is 50 euros for 30 minutes. I provide consultations in Russian, Ukrainian, English via video link. In other languages, I provide consultations in writing.
Sincerely, Veronika Voitovska

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