Is Irish Staffordshire Bull Terrier actually a breed?? Discussions

Hi Guys,

When speaking to someone in the park today,
I mentioned Irish staffies, They said that it wasnt actually a breed its a term used for staffy crosses,
Is this correct??
I have no idea, but have met a few people who say they have irish staffies??

Funny you mention this, as I was asking the same Q on another forum the other day,
I was confused as there is a Irish staffordshire bull terrier society, but this is just a club for staffords in Ireland.
I spoke to one of the chairmans and they said that 'the irish stafford as they call them are not a breed, there is not a standard or atleast one that will ever really be excepted as they are just a badly breed stafford.
Its almost as bad as people saying they breed there dogs to the 'old standard',
what a load of tosh.
Also, the UKC that you can register 'irish staffords' on is just a made up register that was made up by some bloke that any cross breed or any breed for that matter can be registered on, so its not an evidence of pedigree like most people claim

Thanks thats some interesting info,
also the guy in the park today said some breeders mark up the price of Irish staffs, hes 'apparently' seen some pups for £1200 each!
(I say apparently as I dont know this guy at all !)

'i used to be a commitee memeber of the ISBTA , and can't understand why people use "irish staffords" as a name for pitbulls or staffords that are outside breed standards , there is no such breed called an irish stafford , just an alias.'

This is a copy of what the bloke I was on about said,sorry, he wasn't a chairman like I thought, he comes from Ireland

'The IKC is Ed Reids Intercontinental Kennel Club not to be confused with the Irish Kennel Club (think it's easier to use ICKC to differentiate). It's a registry I think he started up in the early 80s for pitbulls and other bull breeds.

There are dogs from Irish lines (Flynn, Dublin Red, Psycho and the so called "Stormer" line), some have alien blood and some dont.'

he then went on to say this.
Unfortunatly alot of people go on to sell pups as 'irish' claiming they are bred to 'old standards',
and if you don't no any better then how do you know the difference

the Irish Stafford as i understand it.They are Staffords bred for performance from lines that were in Ireland that go back to show stock like the topcroft,wawocan ,rapparee etc lines,they have in many cases been infused with (english) bull terrier blood,(mainly in the 1970's and 80's).the reason this happened was that the dogs were used in the badger trials run by the Irish kennel club at the time and many people bred their staffords to any dog doing well in those trials and it is not unheard of to also see wheaten x staffords as the wheatens had a big reputation as trial dogs back then.
some people have introduced pit bull blood and indeed registered pit bulls as irish staffords (with irish stafford registeries,as has been said they are not kc registered) but their are many dogs that are still pure stafford or stafford/(english) bull terrier mixes

This is partly true stamford but the Irish staffordshire bull terrier assosiation wouldnt agree

Thats fair enough Clair,Im no expert.Its just how i understand it to be from sources i have read which may or may not be correct.If its wrong then i apologise.

Dont worry, be happy

Staffords from IRISH lines, alot of byb have coined this term, sadly and have tarnished the name, Personally I believe that an Irish stafford is from Irish lines, same as any other stafford from certain lines, so if bred for pure Irish stafford lines then yes it is a pure bred, and they do adhere to a standard (decent breeders) just to the original standards, not the new staffords standards. ANY one person is allowed to bred to the original standards, it does not mean they are not breeding correctly or out of standards. It what you want in a stafford.

Im sorry, but this is aload of tosh.
Yes there are staffords from 'irish lines' but these staffords are no different to any other stafford.
I have spoken to a hell of alot of people who own 'irish line' staffords, they are just staffordshire bull terriers in ireland, there is no difference:?
'Old standard', what 'old standard', if your on about when the stafford first came about then back then there wasnt a 'standard', they were a cross breed until they were 'refined'.
People will come out with such rubish just to excuse bad breeding,
sorry, thats my opinion, and the same opinion most 'standard' stafford owners have,arggggg

what i understand irish staffys are a line of pitbull we have a irish pitbull on the estate where i live and he is only a about 9 mhs old and he looks like a pitbull!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

don't be so quick to judge staffords from irish lines as you obviously have done no research into it whatsoever? now if you ask someone who's actually looked into buying an irish stafford and purposley bought an irish stafford you would know that they do actually exist! these are not recognised by kc but this doesn't mean they are not a breed! admittedly there are people who sell pitbulls under the name of "irish staffs" as disguise for adverts which makes people belive even less that they're a real breed
I've put below a link with a bit of info about the breed happy reading.
http://www.molossermania.com/brd/b/b010/b010e/history.html
even if my irish staff is not recognised as a breed by some people i still love him more than any other dog in the world x
at the end of the day he's a beautiful staffy with 5 genaration pedigree who looks and is awesome

well said Kristian! it's a shame so many people find only one side to a story and then that becomes the "TRUTH" if these people take the time to resherch, and by that I don't meen google, take the time to talk to owners, breeders and people who know the breed and not just KC people. not that I'm saying that all KC people are anti Irish infact we have many kc owners who are members of the S.I.B.T.C. and who now own both KC and S.I.B.T.C. reg dogs! this is Saffie my Irish dog she was from a breeder of both Irish and staffs and she cost £350 the same as the KC reg pups when they have been bred! so not £1200 then lol


it is true however that a lot of "backyard breeders" have latched on to the name Irish staff, and they use it to sell badly bred dogs at stupid prices!

I know I'm on to a losser with some people and there will be some who have an open mind! but if I'm honest I don't really care! saffie is a great dog and all the other Irish I have had the pleasure of meeting are great dogs too!

on a parting note if you can get a copy of them have a read of the KC meetings the Irish staffordshire has been discussed since 1998, not that I'm saying it will ever get kc reg lol but still if they refer to it by the name Irish stafford???

Clair, really read this, I think you need to LOL.
The stafford was introduced into the KC in 1935, with the original standard
It was them changed, dropped the height without the weight.
Original
http://www.staffordmall.com/1935standard.htm

New Standard which came in the year 1987
http://www.staffordmall.com/akcstandard.htm

So are you saying every stafford, even reg under Kennel club was a cross breed till 1987? because many dogs reg under the Kennel club from 1935 run in every kennel club pedigree for the staffordshire bull terrier.

So maybe after seeing that the standard was only changed 20 years ago, yet the original has been around from 1935 till 1987, why alot of us believe the correct standard should always be the original.

If anyone could find me a good reason why the height should have been dropped and not the weight with it too (I dont believe either should have been changed) but its crazy to take 3 inches off the standard without changing the weight to height ratio.

Its like a 5 ft person carring 12 stone, compared to a 5ft 10 inches person carring 12 stone, not good for the joints!

Dave and Kristian I just think its down to people taking time to learn with an open mind, I know that its hard when people say things like they are a cross bred when you know they are not and with proof LOL. I like KK lines, I think the ears need working on but Barry is a good man! I dont like the term Irish stafford, but I know there are Staffords from Irish Lines!

yes the line of pits that worked there way in to some lines of Irish where from FAMERS BOY which was over 5 gen's ago and and also where NEVER reg with the S.I.B.T.C. due to there reg methods.

lol we, in the know lol, are now refering to our dogs as Irish bull terriers! lol

p.s. Saffie has lots of KK in her ped' thats why she's sooooooooooo lovely lol

I AGREE lol! saffie is lovely and no body has a right to call her a cross breed!

very good post hayley