XXL American Bully Kennels — Choosing at the Top of the Size Range

What XXL Actually Demands of a Kennel

XXL is the top of the size range. Males 22 inches and up, 120 to 160 pounds. Producing it well is the hardest thing in the breed, and producing it badly is the easiest.

The temptation is obvious. Buyers want the biggest dog available, so kennels breed for mass. But mass on a frame that cannot carry it produces joint disease, heat intolerance and cardiac strain, and none of that is visible in the eight-week photographs you are shown. A structurally sound 130-pound dog will outlive and outmove a badly built 160-pound one every time, and it is not close.

A kennel worth buying from will tell you this unprompted. One that leads with weight numbers is selling you a metric, not a dog. See XXL American Bully for sale for what correct proportions look like at this size.

Questions to Ask an XXL Kennel

All the standard vetting applies, and the answers matter more here:

1. "Can you send me a fresh video of the puppy with its mother?"
   Ask for it to be recorded that day, with the date or your name written on paper in shot. A real breeder films thirty seconds and sends it. A broker cannot, because there is no litter and no dam to film. And stolen footage will not have your name in it.
2. "What health screening did the parents have?"
   The answer should name hips, elbows and cardiac, and the records should follow within the hour. "They are healthy" is not an answer.
3. "Who is the sire, and how many litters has the dam had?"
   A breeder answers instantly and by name. A re-seller does not know, and it shows in the pause.
4. "How old will the puppy be when it leaves?"
   Eight weeks minimum. Anyone offering a six-week-old puppy is either ignorant of why that matters or indifferent to it.
5. "Can I read the contract and health guarantee before I pay?"
   Both should arrive by email the same day. A breeder who will not show you the contract until deposit day is telling you something about the contract.
6. "What happens if I cannot keep the dog in three years?"
   The right answer is "bring it back to me". Anything else means the relationship ends when the money clears.
7. "Can I visit, or speak to previous buyers?"
   Neither is always practical, but both should be offered rather than deflected.

And three that are specific to this size:

• "How do the parents move?" Ask for video of both walking away from the camera. At XXL size, movement tells you more than any photograph.
• "How long do your dogs stay sound?" A kennel that has been breeding a decade knows how its dogs are doing at seven and eight. One that does not know is not following them up.
• "What is your caesarean rate?" It rises sharply with head size. This is a welfare question about the mothers, and how a kennel answers it tells you a great deal.

Health Screening at XXL Size

Hips, elbows and cardiac. The same three as every other class, but with less margin for error. A dog carrying 150 pounds through marginal hips will show it years earlier than one carrying 70.

Add two practical considerations that screening does not cover:

• Heat tolerance. Mass plus a short muzzle is a poor combination in summer. XXL owners need to be genuinely careful from May to September.
• Growth management. Keeping an XXL puppy lean through its first eighteen months is the single most useful thing an owner can do for its joints. And it is counter-intuitive when you bought the dog for its size.

Our health guide covers both, and the XL vs XXL comparison sets out where the classes genuinely differ.

Red Flags in XXL Advertising

• Will not send a dated video. Stock photographs prove nothing, they can come from anywhere. A short video recorded on request, with the date or your name written on paper in shot, cannot be lifted from someone else's website.
• The price drops when you hesitate. Real breeders have waiting lists. Nobody with a queue negotiates against themselves.
• Gift cards, crypto or wire transfer only. All three are irreversible, which is precisely why they are requested.
• Fees that appear after the deposit. A crate charge, then insurance, then a customs fee. This is the standard puppy scam script.
• Several breeds on one website. A kennel producing bullies, frenchies and huskies is a broker, not a program.
• "Papers are being processed." They are not.
• No location, no landline, no kennel name. A real program has an address you could drive to.
• Pressure. "Three other people are interested tonight" is a sales tactic, not information.

Our Approach to the XXL Class

• Breeding since 2015 from a single kennel in Sedona, Arizona — we do not franchise the name or work through partner kennels
• Both parents screened by a licensed veterinarian for hips, elbows and cardiac health before any pairing is planned
• A couple of litters a year, not a couple of dozen. Every puppy is raised in the house
• Documented Razor Edge and Gottiline pedigrees supplied with the puppy, not promised later
• Written health guarantee and contract emailed before you are asked for a deposit
• Fresh photos and video on request: the puppy, both parents, the room they are raised in
• We take any dog we bred back, at any point in its life, for any reason

We breed for skeletal correctness and let the mass follow. That means we will sometimes tell you a dog of ours will finish at 130 rather than the 160 you were hoping for. See American Bully breeders for the general guide, XL breeders for the class below, and delivery to American Bully California and every other state.