Dog hanging from tree by its jaws in the park

[Rhydderch]

We were walking through the park and I saw a Staffie hanging from a branch by its jaws and a teenager filming it whilst another was kicking it. I have never seen this before, why were they doing this?

[BornThisWayBaby]

ha! mines chilling on his back in the shade!

[WhereTheWildThingsWere]

Not really directed at the op who has failed to return to the thread anyway.

But my lovely old stafford boy (who is on my profile) adored hanging from branches, I never encoraged him, but if there was a thick branch within jumping reach, he would just hang off it.

Interestingly in several of my books on staffords it is suggested that you hang them a tyre in the garden to swing on as they enjoy it so much.

Remember what these dogs were bred for, it is quite a natural breed behaviour for them, just like retrieving in Labs or herding in Collies.

[MotherJack]

One of my old boy's favourite games was to hold on to his ragger whilst we built up speed in a circle so he would eventually start flying. He LOVED it. I agree WTWTW.

Obviously, I didn't get another person to kick him and then train him to attack other dogs, so it wasn't a problem.

[WhereTheWildThingsWere]

@ 'flying' he loved that too, I had forgotten about that.

[sharbie]

actually its a bit odd with my neighbours sbt as they are quite well to do but took over this dog from a relative.they have always had other breeeds in the past.this dog is nervous crabby and as i said totally unfriendly with my dcs and my lab.
as there are so many irresponsible owners of this breed does it not stand to reason that dogs are being bred with iffy personalities.

[Rhydderch]

Sorry for not getting back before now, but family life tends to get in the way.

Of course I have learnt more about Staffies than they like to dangle off things! They do not deserve the bad press they get. But I am new to this posing thing and what I am thinking doesn't translate very well to print.

I have never heard of dogs being a 'trophy dog'. We live in a boring market town in Hampshire and I have never seen anything like I saw yesterday in my life. (Husband always says that I prefer being in the woods with the dogs. We have GSPs and if you even shout at them, they get all huffy with you)

I am a bit ashamed that I didn't march over there and tell them to stop. But...I bloody well will next time.

I have learnt something from posting here, so thanks.

[psiloveyou]

Wow, I get so pissed off with ignorant people assuming all staffies are bred to fight and owned by chavs.

My brother has always had staffies and without fail they are loving, loyal and brilliant with LOs.
The latest one also loves to hang off anything although db wouldn't encourage him to wreck trees. He also spends the day working with my db on building sites running up and down ladders with bricks in his mouth.

[MotherJack]

Be careful, Rhydderch. I would think twice about having words with a couple of youths kicking a dog whilst filming it. Especially if you are with dogs and you think the dog may be being trained to fight. A Stafford which had clearly been trained to fight got hold of my dog once and it was all I could do to stop him getting a hold on his neck. He "only" received two tear marks on his neck in the end as I knew ways to stop it, but I received permanent scarring to my hand in doing so. I think you did the right thing phoning the police.

Anyway - WTWTW.... did yours put his legs out like an aeroplane? I can just see mine now Miss that boy

[SecretNutellaFix]

Sadly, for a small number of people, staffies are seen as a status symbol, because they "look" hard.

I have never met a nasty staffie. Plenty of viscous little Bastards of Jack Russells and Yorkies, even a very nasty Westie on one occasion.

Bad Dogs are rare. Bad Owners, however are plentiful.

[Figgyrolls]

I met the most gorgeous staffy once, she was absolutely delightful and I really wanted to take her home with me (although her owner wasn't too pleased about that!) TBH before I met her I was one of those dreadful judgey people about staffie's , but I think its because they look quite like pitbulls and am not good at breeds..................however I would now defend a staffy to the hilt after meeting one absolutely gorgeous little thing!

[Rhydderch]

I don't think that all Saffies are bred to fight and owned by chavs at all.

It was something I witnessed for the first time yesterday, and as I have lurked around here for a bit, I hoped that I could get a bit more experience from people who are more savvy than I am.

[noddyholder]

OMG

[SecretNutellaFix]

Rhydderch- good for calling police about them kicking the dogs, I hate cruelty.

[psiloveyou]

I wasn't talking about you rhydderch sorry if it looked like I was.
It was the comments "or tearing off a toddlers face" and "chavs with a chav dog" that got my goat.

Pure ignorance.

[sharbie]

well my opinion is based on my experience - there are a lot around here.all without exception are owned by idiots trying to look tough apart from the one owned by my neighbour.

[DooinMeCleanin]

My opinion is also based on experience. I have owned SBTs and a friend of my father's used to breed them. I have never met a bad staffy. Lots of soppy ones, a few hyper ones, but no bad ones.

I have encountered two snappy Yorkies. Both owned by elderly ladies. Given a choice I'd take the staffy owned by the rough looking teen over the old ladies 'precious' yorkshire terrier any day.

[Rhydderch]

psiloveyou I think that you are passionate about SBTs, as I am of German Pointers :)

But what I am trying to get my head around is, why would owning a staffie make you tough? They are dogs for goodness sake! Why would ones coolness depend on a dog? Don't understand.

[MotherJack]

Rhydderch- they don't make you look tough, if that is what you are trying to set out to prove by having one - that makes you look like a single celled organism. People who live in areas populated by a lot of Staffords tend to perpetuate the rumour based on the fact that the owners are wearing hooded tops which fits their stereotype, therefore must be true. The same people often believe that Staffords rip toddlers faces off as some sort of hobby.

There are loads of us out here - decent normal people - who have Staffords and understand them, socialise them and love them. Don't listen to those who won't listen

[MotherJack]

ps - Rhydd.... I wasn't saying it makes you look like a single celled organism. I have just re-read it and thought it could be misinterpreted!

[psiloveyou]

We have a Weimaraner rhydderch she is gorgeous.

My problem is the amount of staffies you see abandoned in kennels. People wont rehome them because they have such a bad undeserved reputation.

We came about our dog by accident, but if we ever got another I wouldn't think twice it would be a SBT.

[higgle]

Mine can't hang off branches because he is a bit short on teeth.

I was really heartened at the weekend how nice some people in the pub who had small children with them were to him. One little girl, about 15 months, was really excited and kept waving at him, eventually she came over and gave him a cuddle, it made me really happy.

[Gonzo33]

My husband had a staff when his son was a baby, softest dog going. A lot of my friends have staffs (in Hampshire) and their dogs are also soft as muck. In my experience (of all animals) it is ALWAYS the owner that makes the dog, not the other way around.

OP you were right to report it to the Police.

[keith69]

My staff loves hanging on trees when I let him off lead in the woods I know where to find him he loves it.its building him up he is so strong and so loving staffs are the best and so easy to train best dog I ever had only idiots make them fight everyone where I live loves my dog.

[keith69]

To right it's the owner that makes the dog and mine is just lovely ?

[ceres]

the usual ignorant comments to be expected on any thread mentioning staffies.

Nice to see that the sensible people far outnumber the hysterical all-staffies-are-child-eaters brigade.