Staffords - Your view Discussions

I'm very sorry to hear that Nicci, that must have been horrific for your niece & for you & your family.

It just goes to show that any dog can cause serious injuries to a person. Ok a toy breed may be less likey to cause fatal injuries in adult but it has the potential to cause severe injuries to a child.

My father worked as an Orthopaedic Surgeon for some 30 years & has dealt with injuries sustained by many dog bites and certainly not all of the 'serious' injuries were inflicted by large, powerful dogs.

I don't have the answer Chris Jones. Maybe if it was more difficult to obtain dogs then we would have less idiots going out getting dogs to intimidate / impress people. If the only people that brought / rehomed dogs were responsible, caring, knowlegable owners then we would see a lot less of these types of incidents. But having said that, the media do love to hype up incidents involving 'devil dogs' and we are not in possesion of the full facts about this attack.

staffs are the best! it's a joy to watch mine playing with my 3 children! she loves my eldest her eyes are always on her! the middle one she plays for hours with! he loves her so much! and the baby she watches over! I wouldn't be without her!

Chris Jones.

As somebody else has stated, apparently the article referred to a terrier, not a stafford. Ele Lawrenson was killed by a pit bull terrier (they are illegal in this country) surely the fact that the owner knowingly owned this dog shows the mindset of the dog's owner, I could go on but this issue has been discussed at great length here on dogsey. Now you have referred to two incidents, both of which did not involve a staffy, and you have chosen to do this on a thread discussing peoples opinions of staffy's. Not sure what your point is, I can guess what your opinion of staffy's is, however misplaced, but I dont understand the purpose of your post, or what you hope to achieve.

Dont believe everything you read in the paper.

All dogs bite. All dogs can inflict harm. There is no scientific study to prove that
one breed of dog bites more or causes more injury than any other breed of dog.
There have been cases of tiny dogs, under 20 pounds killing or seriously injurying children.

What part of that don't bully bashers understand?

I have nothing particular against Staffordshires - this was a point to draw attention to the almost daily reporting of dog attacks, whatever the breed. I despair when I read that a dog has caused physical harm – it is no good sighing, feeling regret and then passing onto the next thought. It is insufficient.

I feel there is an inevitability about this – at some point, maybe soon, maybe later, legislation will be introduced to muzzle dogs in public places.
Public opinion, when there are more members of the public who are not dog-owners than are, will eventually decide enough is enough and the killing and maiming of dogs, men, women and particularly children can no longer be countenanced.
Size is not the issue, although large dogs necessarily attract most criticism. However, the Newfoundland, for example, is a truly fabulous dog, bred to save lives. But there are many breeds whose very existence has been brought about by the breeding objectives of previous generations to develop dogs for specific, violent purposes, when society was very different to that of today. Do we really need fighting, herding, chasing and guarding breeds to carry out those tasks as in hundreds of years ago. Obviously not, but such breeds are owned today, for the most part in urban areas as companions and their responsible owners ensure training accordingly.
So far so good. However, given that so many more people appear to reject authority, rules and social constraints these days, it stands to reason that so many more people are going to own these dogs and give no behavioural training at all, presumably for their own unworthy purposes. It is insufficient to state ‘blame the deed not the breed’ – although that may be true, as long as there are so many violent deeds committed by dogs owned by irresponsible owners, public opinion is not going to persuaded. Note the recent decision by Dublin City Council to ban certain breeds from their public housing – this is just the beginning. I understand they may have back-tracked, but you can bet they were testing the water and will seek an opportunity to push on at some later date. The tide of opinion will swell and other towns, cities and local authorities will take up the precedent.
Politicians will be persuaded to provide protection for the majority from the minority – the recent ban on smoking in enclosed public places is a prime example.
I have been bitten and my dogs have been bitten and chased by a variety of different breeds over the years – some large, some small, in this respect I make no distinction regarding size, simply that some breeds were designed to be aggressive and retain those instincts, others were not.

Requiring owners to take their dogs to training classes, re-introducing dog licences, whatever, is never going to work – so many people ignore driving licences, insurance, MOTs, etc, etc, etc. that nothing less than severe constraints on dogs in public spaces can be regarded as enforceable. If that means muzzles – that doesn’t bother me - at least it will stop my dogs from picking up filthy, discarded junk food.

When walking my dogs, if I see another dog coming towards us, I look at the breed and then decide whether to carry on, cross the road or just turn around. I will take no chances – I don’t care if the owner says ‘he/she wouldn’t hurt a fly’ I do not trust them. Several owners said their dog was a wonderful companion, that is, until to the moment it turned on a child and ripped it to pieces. I own 13 dogs and (I know many will say this - and so will I) – they have NEVER bitten any other dog, man, woman or child.

Dog owners cannot hide behind ‘blame the deed not the breed’- it does not offer a solution. That is, unless every dog owner acts responsibly and that is never going to happen. So an alternative solution must be found and accepted, else more draconian measures may be taken, i.e. totally banning a far more wide-ranging list of breeds than addressed in the Dangerous Dogs Act of a few years ago (I believe that was also the thin end of the wedge).
Through unhappy experience, I have a dislike of several breeds of dogs, but that is irrelevant – the dog-owning community needs to come to terms with this and take collective responsibility or somebody will do it for us; society must be protected from harm from any dog.
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so if you are saying that you harbour no predjudice against any type of breed plaese tell me how you DONT beleive in DEED NOT BREED?

as far as i can tell from your post you want all potentially dangerous breed banned?

well say goodbye to every dog out there!

if we just got rid of the worthless chavs that use a dogs reputation to lengthen their manhood and acheive "respect" we wouldnt have these problems!

All dogs can be dangerous,no exceptions with breed!

To muzzle all dogs in public will fail pretty much the same way the DDA has,that is useless legislation that was rushed through in 1991.It has not made any difference to dog attacks becoming less,same way I don't believe muzzling will work,because 85% of dog attacks occur on private property.

I would say that a dog of nearly every breed has bitten,most go unreported.

I would say ban stupid people not dogs,the way forward is deed not breed.....

By the way Chris I'm glad your not in government,the last thing responsible dog owners need are more rules to penalise good responsible ownership,while the idiots get away scott free.

Not focusing on any breeds specifically, well not aiming too but..
We had staffords & dobes for many years, and at present have a pretty large English Springer spaniel who if he wanted COULD do a lot of damage. We also had an ageing peke & a jrt [im discounting Florrie from this as its irrespective], incidentally it was the two mentioned little uns that bit people, the peke causing a pretty nasty bite too, not the larger breeds.
Any dog is capable of causing injury. It has teeth, it has 'animal instinct', therefore are capable of damage. They are not humans in fur suits, let not forget this.

This pretty much sums up my views on Staffies. Love the breed, admire them from a far but would never want one as I'm too used to leading the easy life with laid back Gundogs!

Then there may well come a time when a breed that you deem to be a 'nice' dog gives you quite a shock if you rely on this strategy. Many years ago, when I was still a child, I took my dog to dog training. One week we had some newcomers, a husband & wife with their corgi & rottie. A lot of the owners were whispering 'I'll keep away from the rottie & stand by the corgi'. The corgi tried to start fights with almost every dog that week whereas the rottie was the biggest softy you could ever meet. The following week the same owners were saying 'I'll keep away from the corgi & stand by the rottie'.

I'm not sure what you think banning a larger selection of dogs would achieve? Pitbulls have been banned in this country for years so why are they still being found even now? Just because they are banned will not stop certain types of people keeping them. Responsible people who have previously owned these breeds, be it GSDs, rotties, staffies etc will cease to own them, train them, socalise them & take care of them but the dogs will still be there but they will be owned by totally the wrong sorts of people.

This is certainly turning into a bsl debate, there are other threads for that. You have not as yet given your opinion on staffy's Chris.

Say the draconian measures were put in place, "dangerous breeds" were banned, or restrictions were put into place. Do you believe that the idiots that wish to have a "dangerous dog" would disappear? Other breeds would be targeted, not to mention the fact that they are obviously not law abiding people, so would not adhere to restrictions imposed.

There are shining examples of these "dangerous breeds" which were once bred "for specific, violent purposes" 100s of years ago. These dogs are pets, great pets at that, and should you consider mine and the tens, hundreds of thousand responsible staffy owners opinions of Staffy's, you'd realise how highly thought of they are. I have honestly, never met a more friendly, people loving breed of dog than a staffy.

Well said Biff.

The title of this thread is Staffords - your view, not an opportunity to bully bash. A simple "they're not really my kind of dog" would suffice IF you feel the need to add a negative comment.

Staffies rule - end of!

I own 10 dogs of my own plus I currently have two fosters staying with me - ALL are Bull Breeds and I can safely 100% say that they have NEVER bitten anyone - so I am not sure what your point is? Any dog whatever the breed is capable of doing very serious damage - like I said in a previous post my niece was blinded in an attack by a Jack Russell Terrier - does this mean I should label all Jack Russell Terrier dogs as 'dangerous'? And not kiddie orientated? I think not, it would be rather ridiculous of me to do so. Any dog is as dangerous as it's owner allows it to be.

with an attitude like you have chris jones you are in danger of dissappearing up your own jaxy, staffies are lovely friendly dogs, except in the wrong hands, we have the media to thank for that, giving them an image of a killer which makes the wanna be bad boys want them and then make them nasty, the same thing happened to the pitbull and look where he is now thanks to the dda, most of the ones out there now are badly bred watered down versions of the real thing that are being made to be aggressive by their bad boy owners, a well bred pure pitibull has a temperment no too disimalar to a staff and share the same zest for life and longing for human contact,he is more willing to please his owner than the staffie , well he did until he was wrongly persecuted by people like you who havent a clue about the breed

rant over

maybe some people should take the time to get to know a staffy or 2? not mentioning any names chris jones cause that would be wrong! but if you actually got to know this breed you would realise that they are called the nanny dogs for a reason! so crawl out from under your rock and get to meet a few and i'm not talking badboys on street corners i'm talking family pets! How would you feel if someone said something about your breed of dog just because the media said it?
sorry for my posts i'm not coming back to this thread cause it makes my blood boil

Chris Jones you seem to be the dangerous one to me, I've never owned a staffie but know a few breeders who I've stayed with when I've attented shows away from home and the staffies are one of the most loving dogs I've come across, and owning the beautiful bull terrier and soon to breed my first litter this year I've had many enquiries that want one, many of these enquires come from people who have lost their beloved pet of numerous years and they send me photos and there are the odd few that want a dog because they saw one on tv, and there is the idoit who has no idea on the right way to look after any dog let alone a bull breed and its these fools that give any of the breeds a bad name! So yes let blame the DEED and not the BREED!!!!!!!! and to the other posts that I've quoted well said

bit scared cos im new & this ALWAYS evokes strong feelings as Staff owners are very PASSIONATE about their breed! this is a good thing imo btw & shows what great dogs they own!:smt002

As people dogs ,i really like them, smiley little faces, wiggly bodies.

As dogs to be trained i really like them, really clever,up for fun & training & very stylish.

Im not keen on some of them with other dogs though, sorry, ive seen a few attacks. & flynn was attacked once. Saying that i do know other Staffs that are BRILL with other dogs, & i have no problem staffs playing with my lot.I dont think Collies go very well with Staffies as the Collies give a lkot of "eye" & i sometimes think some staffs see it as a threat, as a result i am a little wary, but i try to to be biased when i meet new ones!

I found a lovely bitch once that someone had dumped on a busy dual carriage way, ran across the road & over the central res to get to her, i just caught her & carried her.....thats not something i would/could do with many dogs!Certsainley not a scared collie.

Hope my post hasent upset any satffie peeps, just my pov

This is a very fair comment! some staffies are dog aggresive but with a responsible owner they can be a brilliant a pet.;-), it's the owners who let them rome lose and the thugs who want them to be tough so tease them and make them nasty are the ones that give them a bad name!

its a shame, the one that attacked flynn, was FINE till he was about two, then his owner started keeping him on the lead, one day the owner looked away whilst he was getting his coat on & the dog was gone. Imo he was a responsible owner that just made a mistake.......NEVER been so scared though.

Ive seen some people really winding their staffs up ,to other dogs & people. Its so wrong.
I once saw a group of lads having some sort of competition to see who could put up with there staff holding onto their arm the longest. Poor dog