Guide
American Bully Sizes Explained
Four classes, what separates them, and which one actually suits your household. This is the buying decision, not the measurement table.
The American Bully comes in four size classes, separated by height at the withers rather than by weight: pocket, classic, standard and XL. They’re the same breed with the same temperament in different dimensions. Choosing between them is mostly about your space, your strength and how much dog you actually want to walk.
Choosing, rather than measuring
Pocket: under 17 inches, 30 to 55 lb
Suits: apartments, first-time owners of the breed, anyone who wants the look without seventy pounds on the end of a lead. Easier to lift into a car, easier to manage if it pulls, cheaper to feed.
Against: the compression that produces a shorter dog can come with more breathing and joint compromise at the extreme end. A well-built pocket is fine; a very short one isn’t.
Classic: 17 to 20 inches, 45 to 75 lb
Suits: people who want the breed’s original proportions. Lighter-boned and less exaggerated than a standard, closer to the ancestral build, and generally the most athletic and comfortable of the four.
Against: the least fashionable, which means less choice when buying and, usefully, lower prices.
Standard: 17 to 20 inches, 50 to 80 lb
Suits: most households. Heavier and blockier than classic on the same height. This is the breed as the standard describes it and, in my view, the easiest of the four to live with.
XL: 20 to 23 inches, 80 to 120 lb
Suits: people with space, physical strength to manage the dog, and a realistic view of what a hundred-pound animal costs to feed and treat.
Against: more load on joints, worse heat tolerance, more expensive across the board, and a genuine handling consideration if anyone in the household is small or unsteady.
Side by side
| Class | Male height | Male weight | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 17 in | 30 to 55 lb | Apartments, easier handling | |
| Classic | 17 to 20 in | 45 to 75 lb | Athleticism, original proportions |
| Standard | 17 to 20 in | 50 to 80 lb | Most households |
| XL | 20 to 23 in | 80 to 120 lb | Space, strength, budget |
Females run roughly an inch shorter and ten to twenty pounds lighter across every class.
The two labels that aren’t classes
XXL is a marketing term for a large XL. There’s no separate class above XL and no separate standard for one. The comparison in full.
Micro is a marketing term for a very short pocket. Health risk rises as a dog gets shorter and more compressed, in breathing, in skin folds and in joints. Micro versus pocket.
I sell dogs described as both, because that’s what buyers search for, and I say the same thing on both pages that I’m saying here.
What I’d actually suggest
Tell me your living situation, who is in the house, and honestly how much walking you’ll do in February. The class that suits is usually obvious from that and it’s often not the one people came in asking for.
Temperament varies more between individual puppies than between the classes, which is the part most people get backwards. A steady pocket and a steady XL are far more alike than two XLs with different temperaments.
The full measurement table · Temperament · What is available in each class
Not sure which class suits you?
Describe the household and I’ll tell you which of these would work, including when the answer is none of them.