Are Staffie Owners Wimps!!!

This question was posted on a Staffy web site to which I wrote my reply which is given below. I'm sure the lady who posted this question wasn't trying to offend but was acting as devil's advocate in order to extract a response. If you would like to add to the points I've made or correct anything I wrote please e-mail your points to me at mdc_bs@hotmail.com and I'll add your comments on this site.

Having asked the question as to why Staffy's get bad press I can only assume they have obviously earned it as apart from Tony no-one has defended the breed. If this is not the case and the breed is innocent then it leaves me with no other conclusion than Staffy owners are WIMPS!!!!

I'm sure you don't really believe that Staffy owners are wimps but you are clearly inviting comments to show what's good about the breed and about what’s being done to get our message across.

Firstly to my knowledge ours was the first and for many years the only breed standard that included the stipulation that our dogs must be good with children and so they are. This was borne out by a study carried out by Southampton University in 1997 about breed characteristics. In July 1997 an article was published in Pet Dogs magazine entitled Best Breeds for Children based on this study. The Magazine asked Sarah Whitehead, one of the UK's top pet behavioral councilors, and Dr John Bradshaw, Institute Director of the Anthrozoology Department at Southampton to write the article for them. In it they were asked to chose their top ten breeds (in no particular order) based on this study and on their own experience that they would recommend to prospective new owners with children. Out of over 180 registered breeds in this country Staffords were on their top ten list. Clearly the importance of good character was taken very seriously from very early times and the inclusion of that stipulation in the breed standard went a long way to showing the public the importance that Stafford owners place on sound temperament. The inclusion of the Stafford in this "top ten" list shows how successful Stafford owners have been in achieving excellent character in the breed. Also although there are some Staffords that have been caught up in the DDA (Dangerous Dogs Act), due to the inability to positively identify their breed, Staffords were not specifically included in the DDA's "hit list". This was because the soundness of their character was clearly proven to the satisfaction of those responsible for introducing the DDA.

I have never met another breed of dog that craves human attention more than a Stafford and any responsible owner will tell you that a well treated Stafford can be 100% guaranteed around people.

The difficulties we suffer with regard to the reputation of the breed by the general public are twofold. Firstly those irresponsible owners and breeders who own Staffords for the wrong reasons and secondly the unwillingness of the media to allow fair and open discussion on the subject.

As Staffords are what I tend to call a "muscular breed" they are all to often chosen by those people who simply want their dog to be a badge so that they can walk the streets and look tough. Those type of people would not consider choosing a Cavvie or a Pomeranian as an alternative. As Staffords love people so much it's very difficult for such people to make their Staffords act the part and I've heard horrific stories of Staffords being beaten on a regular and persistent basis in order to make them behave aggressively. Unfortunately the age old problem of underground dog fighting also still exists and there are still breeders out there whose only interest is to produce a "game fighting dog". Such activities, apart from being abhorrent, continue to add to the difficulties of decent Stafford owners to improve our breeds' reputation whenever one of these dog fighters is caught.

Stories of dog aggression by any of the muscular breeds are lapped up by the media who offer no proper opportunity to put a balanced point of view on the matter which leads nicely on to my second point. You are quite right when you say that Staffords do not enjoy a good reputation in the media but this certainly isn’t through any lack of effort on the part of Stafford owners. The media are very good at selectively ignoring some stories whilst sensationalizing others. If a Collie or a Labrador were to attack a person the media generally doesn’t want to know about it. If on the other hand it is one of the more muscular breeds involved the media are only too happy to churn out banner headlines describing another “Savage” attack by an “Aggressive” breed. Despite the fact that many irresponsible owners choose muscular breeds to be tough bite statistics still show clearly that Staffords and many of these other breeds come well down the list of offenders. Unfortunately the media have little interest in facts which are unlikely to improve their circulation. In such circumstances how can we expect to get a fair hearing. Despite this many people work hard to try and get our message across and I would draw your attention to The Stafford Magazine of Spring 1999 in which one Stafford owner, Gail Flack, did just that when she went onto the radio to counter an accusation by one of the stations program hosts that all Stafford owners were morons. Gail certainly didn’t pull any punches and left the program host in no doubt about how ridiculous his statement had been. Stafford owners are trying all the time to stand up and put our case. All we need is for the media to be prepared to allow a fair discussion.

I know you can’t possibly believe your statement that all Stafford owners are wimps, no-one could be that foolish.

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