What is an American Bully?

The American Bully is a UKC-recognized breed developed quite recently (the 1980s). While the foundational stock differs between lines, the breed commonly has ancestry from the American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, American Bulldog, French Bulldog, and Neapolitan Mastiff. Our reference panel includes registered dogs of all these different breeds and registered American Bullies, and we see distinct genetic signatures in each breed population. However, due to open stud books and frequent cross-registration between breeds, the American Bully breed is still very genetically diverse and can have a wide range of appearances. 

Because of this diversity, the American Bully is not a breed we include on our list at present- it is what we call a “provisional breed”. This means that some dogs tested with Embark may return with American Bully ancestry, but some registered American Bullies may return as the component breeds used to create those lines.This would happen if we have not yet documented the diversity within the breed seen in that particular dog. 

We are working on growing our reference panel to capture more of the genetic diversity in this breed. Once we are able to test for it, we will be sure to update everyone and officially add the American Bully to our Breed List, which you can find here.