To think that staffies, are publicised badly?

[EllenandBump]

My sister and her partner have two amazing staffies who are brilliant with my 18month old son i trust them explicitly with him. I also know two other staffies that are exactly the same with him. Sometimes i think it is the people that raise them that causes it, and not the breed of dog. I know a staffie can be really full on and energetic, but that does not make them aggressive. also i think its unfair on the rspca rehoming website that all the staffies have to go with children at least 8 +. I think this reinforces that it is not safe to have staffies and young children. My little boy loves them bouncing all around him, and as soon as he cries they go straight to him to check that he is okay. Maybe they should assess every family and every dog individually, rather than generalise them!

The aggressive young man's dog of choice seems to have moved on round here; I don't see so many with Staffies now - more Husky type dogs and larger, Mastiff/American Bulldog types. I'm no expert and I don't know what they all are exactly but large seems to be the order of the day.

My placid, gentle ex racing greyhound was probably pretty harshly treated by his trainer. He's quite scarred and has shocking teeth. He's muzzled and on the lead when we're out because until he came to us he never really met any other breeds of dog and is terrified of them (think growling, shaking and hiding behind my legs.) A dog his size, muzzled, looks really intimidating and we have attracted loads of attention from said young men. They always seem a bit confused when they actually meet him and see how affectionate and submissive he is.

And I never leave mine (5 and 3) alone with our dog. Even if he's asleep and they're watching telly sedated .

There are two ace ones next door that are fab dogs, scared shitless of other dogs though mind and not at all agressive.
They do need loads of exercise as someone said earlier as they have stacks of energy. My neighbour and I did a 21 mile sponsored walk in september and took the staffies. The dogs were still sprinting after sticks about 19 miles in.............crazy!
I will agree that its the package of a complete nobhead with a hoody and a dog on a studded collar that gives people the impression that they are dangerous dogs. One of the reason they get abandoned a lot is because they are not agressive enough for the young males that want them as a status symbol.
In the future when I can give a dog time and attention and we have a bigger garden I would seriously consider owning one, can't wait!

Nor do i, so how can they say that staffies are aggressive, i dont see how they are more liekly to turn on a child than any other breed of dog!

Staffies are wonderful dogs, sadly a long of them have shit owners.
ll dogs can be bad, if they have shit for brains owners.

"any dog can turn" that statement is, quite frankly, bullshit.

This notion that any dog can turn without provocation is rubbish but is a myth that people seem to insist on spouting to justify their hatred/mistrust of all dogs.

The reality is that it is extremely rare for a dog to bite unprovoked or without being primed to do so. If you look back at dog bites that have appeared in the news over the past few years, one of the overwhelming factors about all of them is that they were already known to be agressive. Rottweillers kept as guard dogs/never allowed inside because unused to children; the staffy and jrt that killed a baby were kept as guard dogs; the little girl killed by a pitbul cross at her grandmother's house the dog was an illegal breed bred for its agression, and another overwhelming factor is that almost all of these attacks have happened away from the child's home but somewhere else where the child was not known to the dog.

People need to get past this hysterical idea that any dog can just turn into a monster capable of savaging and possibly killing your child without so much as a hint that it might happen - because that is simply not true.

As for staffies - unfortunately they have bad press because they are:

A kept as status symbols by idiots who have no idea how to treat them propertly.

B they are known to be agressive towards other dogs, and to most people a dog showing agression to another dog automatically equals agression towards people too when actually there is no corollation between the two.

C they have immensely powerful jaws, more so than say, the labrador, and as such if they do bite the damage they can inflict is that much greater, as such people are put off.

I wouldn't own a staffy based on their reputation for being dog-agressive (and that is a reputation that is upheld by even the experts), but that doesn't mean I think they're all child-killing monsters.

In fact the highest proportion of dog bites in this country are attributed to the golden retriever, yet most people wouldn't think it possible..

My Staffie is absoloutely knackered, poor thing 13 years old. People still cross to the other side of the road when they see him being walked by me, even those who we have seen on our walks every day for years. Stupid people if you ask me.
Alf is sadly very tired these days and I dread what is coming, my kids are going to be beside themselves (as am I) as he has been a muched love member of our family from day one, and has never done anything in anyway dangerous. Infact when our whippet had her pups this summer, Alf (the staffie) became their parent as Meg (the whippet) truly didn't want to know the pups at all.

*much loved

I just dont see why they would be more inclined to or less tolerant, its about individuals and not the breed. I wish owners were kinder to the breed and didnt just use them as a status symbol.

Staffs are amazing, mine wouldn't hurt a fly, I have 3 children under 4 and he never did them any harm (even when they were climbing over and laying on him!) He was a SHIT guard dog though!

Four Dogue de Bordeaux and two bull mastiffs? Lawks, but your dog food bills must be immense!

The reality is that it is extremely rare for a dog to bite unprovoked
And it is extremely rare for a toddler to realise if or when they are provoking a dog.

its not that rare. Unless you're doing that dog-nut thing of including things like looking at the dog funny provoking it, or in my case when bitten "approaching the house [that the dog lived in] without announcing presence specifically to the dog first"

WannaBe I could have written all that myself. :)

In 17 years as a veterinary nurse I have never seen a bad staffie only bad owners. In fact a lot of the staffies I knew I wanted to take home for myself. On the other hand if we are looking at breeds most likely to bite Golden Retrievers have been top of the vets most hated list more than once. Personally I have been bitten by westies, cockers, jack russells and yorkies. I would never have any of those breeds. I prefer large breeds and currently have a gsd x rottie. He is extremely large and bouncy but I would not even leave him alone with my 12yo. If they are alone in the house then the dog goes in his crate. You just never know what might happen to provoke him to do something completely out of character. Yesterday we had to crate him for most of the day as he was terrified of the storm and was going nuts.

She had had her canine teeth removed 'because she broke them on the cage at the dog's home' according to the kennels - yeah right

That is actually quite possible. My dog (yes, another soppy staffie) decide to run into a brick chasing a squirrel and his tooth didnt break, but is discoloured. The vet keeps an eye on it when he has his annual check up and says if the discolour goes worse it will have to be removed as it can lead to infection of the jaw amongst other illness. It is quite common in staffies as they are a bit gormless when it comes to banging into things and chewing things that they shouldnt.

YANBU.

thought experiment.
visit every dog owner in the country today.
ask each one "is your dog a risk to children"
what percentage will say yes?
what percentage will say "oh no, not my dog, only bad owners make bad dogs".

in one months time, some of them will have bitten children.

Pitbulls,Staffies,Rotweillers all give me the heeby jeebies.
Whether they are nice well behaved and very well educated dogs :)

I am a huge fan of Staffies. I mean HUGE. My friend has 2 staffies that he uses as dogs-for-hospital-goers (I have had far too much to remember the name), another friend has a staffie x greyhound/whipped and another has a staffie x labrador. My DS gets VERY excited by dogs (must get him one soon - most definitely a staffie or staffie x) and the only dog he has ever had growl/even look at him funny has been a Jack Russell Terrier and a Labrador. 2 of the most popular kinds of dogs in this area.

I have absolutely no idea why staffies get such a bad name - too much Daily Mail readership? I think they're fantastic.

Honestly, my DS has crawled over the top of every staffie (and staffie x) I have ever known and the worst they've ever done is licked his face. One of the staffie x's has objected in the past to me taking a toy away from him so I've given him extra observation, but DS has crawled into his basket and picked up his favourite bone and then almost fallen asleep ontop of him, and he's not even batted an eylid. Brilliant dogs, I'd recommend them every time.

The OP is right, they do react to kids being distressed, that's why they used to be called Nanny Dogs - because they're so good and natural with kids.

My sister's staffie is a doll. She rescued hum when he was about 1 (long and bizarre story), and he has been living the charmed life ever since!

However, although he wd never intentionally hurt someone he is incredibly powerful, and I have been: headbutted by him in a simultaneous reach/ dive for toy (Jesus, their heads are solid); bitten by him whilst playing tug 'o war- my hand met his teeth in the same spot on the rope. Now, both were purely accidental, but still bloody painful, so people need to remember these dogs are all muscle.

That said, my 2 cats are currently sharing a house with him while DH and I are overseas and the cats torment him terribly. I don't think he has ever gone for them, he doesn't even growl at them :) I adore him!

Chihuahuas and poodles give me the heebie jeebies.

I would never trust my friend's pomeranian around young children as he gets angry & jealous so easily.
Yet i've met some very soppy bull terriers.
I won't trust any animal around young children unsupervised - including my moody persian rescue cat :-D
Re: dogs - it's how well trained & tolerant the individual dog is with children that counts more than the breed.

I don't dislike Staffies, I totally agree that they are generally fab dogs and it's owners who are the problem etc etc.

However what concerns me is how strong they are and how much damage they can do very quickly without even necessarily being aggressive. Case in point - our neighbours have a Staffie, she's a lovely dog, not at all aggressive but she managed to absolutely shred the sleeve of my dd's fleece top when the dog got overexcited playing with her. I don't like to think what would have happened if dd had not been wearing long sleeves - would the dog have done the same to her arm??? I know it's an isolated incident but we're around dogs a LOT, grew up with them, own one, have lots of friends with dogs and I've never seen anything even vaguely similar happen with another dog.