What should a standard Blue staffies look like? Discussions

A blue staffie should look like any other staffie of a particular standard (Expert preference, politics, region, and
good old boys club) KC,IKC,AKC,UKC AND ADBA Take your
pick they all have standards. And they all produce dogs papered dogs to six generation that fall out of standard.
They all have less than honorable breeders and those that are exceptional. strait up all the represented have the dogs interest at heart. Agree or not you must band together
because non are safe from your BSL

I have just joined so im answering every question and making a few points of my own so bear with me
Blue staffys should look like the kc breed standard, but because 'blueness' is a recessive gene in many 'standard' staff bloodlines they end up with what the kc call faults like light eyes and noses. They used to be rare cos its a genetic fault and a blue that conforms to kc standard is rarer still, but coss every man and his brother wanted one as a status symbol over the last 2 years or so the price went up to around a thousand pounds a pup.
So byb started breeding blue to blue with the expectation of getting 8 blue pups at a thousand each, but like i said genetic fault so they may not end up with even one blue pup per litter. Supply and demand and all that, and suddenly there are 'standard' red,black,brindle staffs advertised at £200 no papers and blues at £850 to £1000 all from the same litter.
My staffy is named loki, shes black with a white chest and paw and came with papers. Shes 3 years old on christmas day and stands 20 inches at the shoulder (her dam stands 15 and her sire stands 16 and a half, both were/are kc show dogs) She is as gracefull as a panther and as strong as a bull, knows the difference between children playing football against the fence and a burgler climbing over it. She is amazing with children (even when they pull at her ears and tail) and loves to be around other dogs.
Now do i think she would win a ribbon or a shiny little trophy.....erm no, do i know shes the best dog in the world and part of my little family.......oh yes.
This is the rub people would you discriminate against a person because of their size or colour, no you would not, so why do it with a dog.
If people enjoy blow drying their doggys and prancing round a little ring with them to win a shiny trophy or a nice little ribbon and can trace their dog back to the early 70's then leave them to it, personally i'll be in the woods coverd in mud spending time with loki and my missis.
10 people a week ask me if my dogs a irish/olde tyme staff or a pit bull or whatever, even my vet asked me what she was crossed with so you can see the level of ignorance surrounding taller dogs.
staffys did not come from pit bulls so stop talking rubbish otherwise staffys will end up under the dangerous dogs act and no one will have one tall or short:-( . All bull and terrier breeds were bread from the same starting point but went their seperate ways, the Irish/olde tyme were just tall dogs bread with tall dogs in the late 80's and early 90's to serve a working/farming purpose and yes some undesirables may have bread staffys with pits at some point but you cant tar all irish/olde tyme with that brush.

YES only the light nose is the blue staffies eyes will be blue to begin with then they change to a green or a brown but all dogs are not the same make shure you have a good look at the parents and check their paper work for any illness because i have learnt the hard way with my blue staffi

how tall is a blue staffi male supost to be my staffi has just turned 5 months and he seems to look like a 7 months old staff

Breed standard states 14 to 16 inches at the withers for both dogs and bitches with weight to correspond.
Eyes are supposed to be dark and the standard calls for a black nose.

You will not get a blue SBT with a black nose,dark yes,black no.

I love blue SBT's, just like I have always liked grey cats and although I dont like the reason their prices are so inflated - I like the fact they are. Just imagine if all SBTS's were £700 and up or on the flip side, just imagine if blue staffs were selling for £250 I like the colour, I would never put that first, but I have seen a couple of blue breeders who I really like. They are few and far between. I know its not a 'rare' colour but you have to admit its uncommon (well I have only ever seen 2 in my life - so uncommon for me and my area, but London, I imagine is different)

If it wasnt for the fact that there are so many SBTs in rescue, I would consider one more seriously, the closest I would get to one, would be if I had 2 more SBTs from rescue to balance it out

I also have some negative views on the KC, and I do think the KC should make some changes on certain aspects, and I do think not all KC breeders are good - but these are outweighed by the following:

I have NEVER seen a NON KC litter advertised which has had the L2 hga and HC tests. And I look at the free ads on a daily basis for my puppy fix blush: )

If I bought a SBT I would want to know (and have proof of) its heritage. Not because it makes it 'better' but because I would want to be assured that its whole heritage is sound and that its ancestors have been bred with thought, care and attention.

Actually it's not uncommon anymore,
The figures for blue registration which was posted on another forum was 37%,nearly 40% of all staffords registered so hardly uncommon.

Nice to know you would consider a rescue SBT,
Even KC registered litters are sometimes not tested for L2,HC,and screened for PHPV & PPSC.

Seriously? nearly 40%? am I right in saying you are referring to litters / dogs registered with the KC? 40% of all SBTs registered are Blues? Wow! I honestly never knew that! Where are they all? I see staffies on a daily basis and have only ever seen 2. I dont tend to see many in the rescues either - Ive probably seen around 10 if that. Wow! Truely shocked!

I will always have a rescue dog If I could only ever own one dog, it would always be a rescue.

Yes,nearly 40% of all SBT's registered with the KC are blue's,we don't see many of them around here but then we don't see many SBT's of any colour around here.

They are not common in the show ring either,because they carry faults,like light eyes,grey nose etc,there was talk by breeders,exhibitors etc calling for a ban on blue to blue matings because the colour is caused by a reccessive dilute gene which can cause health issues.

I agree too with the rescue aspect not many blues find there way into rescue,the only logical explanation I can see is that it's because people want to breed from them and charge OTT prices and of course they are rare I do expect the rescue situation to change though given the large amount of blue litters that are been bred.

The figure Sal has quoted are correct.

Rare? I think not.

And with the associated health risks of breeding two dogs with a dilute gene I would be hard pushes to say anyone who breeds blue to blue is a responsible breeder. KC reg or not.

Ahhh yes, but there are good breeders who breed black brindles which sometimes throw blues - this is what I looked into

The whole rescue situation at the moment is appalling. I also think that because the price is so high, maybe people think twice about dumping their dog. I agree with you, the rescue situation is very likely to change.... there is no end of blues on the free-ads - its a sorry affair

That is true it is the blue to blue matings with whole litters that colour that are being irresponsible imo.

They can pop up in black brindle matings but then those are the ones which are rare.

blue staffs should be a shade of blue at birth and in some cases have blue eyes they should have white ont hem most commonl on there chest as they grow older there eye colour should change ang go a dark brown there fur over time will remaine a shade of blue but will also look grey

All pups have blue eyes at birth and they don't always have white on them.

I've just got my blue staffy and he's got all the papers and KC Registered as a Staffordshire Bull Terrier aswell as both parents, waiting on the 5th Gen papers to come now in the post!

Do you have the results of his health status for L2 Hga, HC and PHPV ?

as in the DNA tests? yes, and has had 4 types of vaccination, Hepatitis, Parvovirus, Parainfluenza and Leptospirosis

Here's a quick piccie.. (sorry about the size)

Well done

PHPV is not a DNA test it is an eye test for now AHT are still working on a dna for that one fingers crossed it won't be long.

How old is he in the picture ?

It was took yesterday and hes about 7 monthes old now