It sounds like the research you’re doing is very good. Rescues are definitely the best. If you’re looking into one for the future, maybe you could start checking sites like Petfinder now. You’d be surprised at how many purebred pups come up. Even getting a mix wouldn’t be terrible (mixes tend to not have as many health problems anyway).
I know you’re not really wanting a “pit bull,” but did you know there’s only one true pit bull? The American Pit Bull Terrier. Almost everyone I know mistakes every square-headed muscular dog for a pit bull, when in reality three are tons of other bully breeds out there. There are American Bullies, Dogo Argentinos, American Staffordshire, English Staffordshires, and most dogs that people call pit bulls are, in fact, nothing more than mutts (I’ve known many many dogs personally that had the pit bull label, and were a mix with NO kind of bully breed).
I used to have some great web pages about all the different bully breeds out there, but I can’t remember the names of the sites.
Honestly if I were you, I’d be content with trying to find a bully mix at the shelter. Nothing wrong with having something that’s not exactly going to be the most unique dog out there. (And I love unique dogs…. I love them so much that I went searching for a prick-eared blue Merle blue eyed herding dog. I found one, and well… I will be honest, mutts and bully breeds are still more my type. This dog is craaaazy. I do love him, but I wish I’d have done a temperament test instead of trusted the shelter. They told me he was great with dogs, but they couldn’t have been more wrong. He has horrible fear issues and severe dog aggression, I can’t take him anywhere that might have a dog!)
