How can we improve the Staffy image? General Chat

I am new to Staffies and I used to be of the naive and prejudiced view that Staffies were unfriendly and aggressive. Thankfully my partner has always loved Staffies and refused to have any other breed! We compromised first of all by getting a staffy cross and 6 months later we bought a full Staffy!

I couldn't have been more wrong about the breed. They are loving, intelligent, friendly and loyal. I would like to abolish the macho, aggressive image that Staffies have and hence get more of these dogs into loving homes and away from people who only want them for their image.

Has anyone got any ideas how we can make an impact on genuine dog lovers who stay away from Staffies because of this image, when really they are probably the best owners for the breed?

Personally id need them to be less dog agressive in general, before i had one. I walk a lovely old staff, she fab, funny, daft bat, but is dog aggressive i dont know if that will ever change, i know ALOT that arent by the way, but had quite a few dodgey moments with my dogs & staffs & its so scary!!!!!

i know lots of non dog aggressive ones, and obviously own a dog aggressive one !!

AArrghh its just such a hard question, as staffie owners we must set a good example and be responsible with every person we meet. We mustnt retaliate to idiotic nonsense spouted by the ignorant but educate them where possible.

I would like to see an education program within schools for all dogs with a staffy as the dog of choice so that it starts from an early age that they are true family dogs and not penis extensions !!

We ( Staffie Rescue scotland) are having our first Staffie Awareness day in Pets At HOme Edinburgh this sunday and really looking forward to it !!!!

Breeders should be homechecking EVERY SINGLE STAFFIE PUP they breed and ensure that where possible the pup is neutured and stays in their forever home, given the back up of training and encourage new owners to train and socialise their dogs etc, perhaps even holding/supporting local puppy socialisation classes.

Brilliant! We did a recent event at a PAH store with Akitas, obviously handpicked from the charity (Japanese Akita Welfare Trust) - true ambassadors for the breed and hundreds of people stopped to stroke, chat and enquire about the dogs up for rehoming . I hope you have as succesul a day (hint-take pics to forward to them and hint it would be a good article for their next newsletter ;-))

Just being a responsible dog owner and truly getting your dogs out there is giving the breed a good name everyday Vicki 84, and if you change just a handful of local people's perception about the breed then you have done a good job!

I think that Staffys are owned by the wrong type of owner and I don't know how that will change? My husband is a support worker in a hostel and all the residents want one-he asks them what they know about dogs and they answer nothing! It is like having a pair of Nike trainers to them.

Sadly this puts other dog owners off them-all the people I know with dogs at work dislike them as a breed and will move out of the way with their dogs if they see one coming. My husband's work colleague has massive scars down one arm after he tried to protect his dog from a Staffy attack. My great-niece got bitten badly by one that she knew and it was supposed to be friendly! The Staffies where I live are all dog aggressive but fortunately the owners are responsible and keep them on leads. I am sure if I met some of you responsible Staffy owners with non-aggressive ones it would help me change my mind about the breed! The other problem I have is that the Staffies who aren't dog aggressive will be out of control-owner one side of the field -dog bombing towards my bitch (on leash) 100 miles an hour!! She is very frightened of other dogs doing this after she got attacked and I don't think it is acceptable to be so far away from your dog and let it charge over to another dog like this-she doesn't like being bounced on!

I love staffies! Maybe that's because I feel for them and their owners, after owning two Akitas who only ever seem to receive bad press and rude comments to my face

I only ever got bit once - by a sausage dog, and my dogs regularly get annoyed by spaniels, collies, labs in their faces. Not once have I had a problem with Staffys. There are a few local - one dog aggressive who is always on a lead, and another who is just great.

To help promote the breed check out Blue Cross Education Dogs... ;-)

I think I am starting to make an impact locally. I have not met anyone on our walks who doesn't comment how lovely Sapphire is. She is very friendly with dogs and people, but will also give other dogs space if they don't want to play.

I have also done some training demonstrations with her to try and get some positive recognition for the breed. My Staffy cross was on the front page of the LEP a few months back after taking part in a doggy open day!

I will certainly be looking into the Blue Cross Education - thanks for that!

Well done Vicki!

i know my local rescue is opening a education centre for children to work with schools about different breeds of dogs and how to care and treat them properly it relying on donations but it would be great when its finished

See I have the opposite I have these people with there so called little terriers that are so sweet and cuddly who they think in there mind wouldnt hurt a fly and they like to leave them loose to bounce all over my staffords.
As I keep my on a leash when other dogs are around and I can actually recall mine unlike many other dog owners;-) and i find labradors to be one of the most agressive

My two are frightened of black labs, even diddy ones! :?

Thank you Longford for being a responsible owner and having your dogs well-trained. I agree with you about Labs-we have a really nasty one here on the Heath and the pensioner who owns it is even worse. It has bitten a few dogs, knocked an old lady over and it tried to have a pop at Cherry but I shouted at it very loudly to get it to back off. He then said it was my fault as I shouldn't have my dog on a lead and was I the village idiot? I looked up the terms of the dangerous dog act and found this dog's behavior fitted the description. I told his friend the next day that if I saw this dog off-lead again it would be reported to the dog warden. he now keeps it on-lead or muzzled.
On Saturday we had another bad experience with a Staffy however. Two chavvy looking young lads with a large Staffy off-leash. Cherry is walked on-leash as she can be fear-reactive with strange dogs. The Staffy bombed up fullpelt to Cherry from over 80 feet away. I had to use my pet corrector spray 6 times as it kept charging back to try to get to Cherry. they then had a go at me saying their dog only wanted to play and I shouldn't spray it. I replied that my dog didn't want to play and was in fact very nervous of dogs she didn't know as she had been attacked on the heath. They then said that I should leave her at home! No I thought-you should control your dog. the people walking behind them with 2 Labs had leashed their dogs when they saw Cherry was on leash. I comforted myself my saying a rude word about them when they had pased by!

The image of Staffies isn't universally negative. A lot of people really like them - that is why they are so popular. The majority of owners - the vast majority - are not buying them as some kind of status dog - they buy them as a pet because they like their temperament.

Staffies can be dog aggressive, no more so than Kerry Blues it should be said, that's just part of the breed. If Kerry Blues were more popular then they'd be similarly unpopular with a proportion of other dog owners. I've had Staffies for years, I still have an old one, but when I was socialising my Belgian Shepherd as a pup I kept her well away from Staffies as I didn't want to risk a bad experience - I also kept her well away from plenty of other terrier breeds, big bouncy breeds like boxers and any of the local dogs I knew were likely to give her a negative experience of other dogs in those key months as a puppy that help form their temperament for life.

I train a ChixCairn terrier for a disabled lady, hes gorgeous, hes tiny Chi Sized, ive been clicker training him since Jan, ive been teaching him to trot along side the wheel asafe distance & hes AMAZING. This week we are out & about, me with puppy, owner in her Chair with her carer. We walked on the pavement past some lads with two big staffies, def not bred type, so bred for god knows what, we stayed out oftheir way & carried on although they eyes the pup up, about 3 mins later the larger "lilac" coloured dog was legging it back up the road in & out of the traffic dead set on the puppy, obvisley i picked him up kept him safe & although no harm was done i dont doubt he would have killed him. the boys had clearly lket their dogs off in the park & he had charged back up. so scary, for me the disabled owner & her carer, Luckily The pup was oblivious & was just enjoying a cwtch with me.

Obviously that could have been Any dog & a dog could kill the pup just by playing(hes so tiny), but it dosent promote the brred for me or the carer or the people on the bus who watched in horror

A good way of improving the image of Staffies would be to ban anyone with a criiminal record based on violence/cruelty/drugs from owning one, or any breed of dog!!

A lot of the breed are dog aggressive - and I dread seeing an unknown Staffy off leash when I am walking my dogs. Breeders should concentrate on temperament and never breed from an aggressive dog

Specially black ones

Not sure you ever will improve the image of the Staffie sadly, all you can do (as owners) is make sure your dogs are true ambassadors of their breed.

Unfortunately as with ALL popular breeds (that includes the Lab) the wrong sort breed them, as its so simple to just stick two dogs together and produce pups, regardless of temperament and standard, then things will never change.

i have 2 staffys and i think that they are the most loyal dogs ive known always wanting to please you. i love my babies.x.

i am trying to change peoples minds

Great video Brundog. Well done

i think staffies are fab. we used to have a sfaffie when i was young. she was from a rescue and was fantastic. well done brundog that video is great