anyone own a American Staffordshire terrier

[timelord1912]

any tips on owning this type of dog also female as well

[Buttholelane]

Ha!
I love staffies too.
Never met a human or dog aggressive one. Ever.

[Buttholelane]

Why are there so many in shelters.

Umm, because they are SO overwhelmingly popular, the number of pups born each year is outstanding. If your looking for a puppy, you can bet that any time of year, someone, somewhere will have staffy/staffy cross pups available.

Dachshunds for example, in the other hand, are comparatively rare.

When a breed is as overwhelmingly popular as the staffy, the bulk of dogs in rescue are surprise surprise, going to be made up of that breed.
You get a lot of Labradors and jack Russell's as well.
Why is that?
Because they are popular.
There are simply more of them.

[Irelephant]

Yawn I don't have time to argue with you. My devil dog is hungry so I'd best go and round up some children for him to eat

You need to stop reading the daily mail for a start

[ClaimedByMe]

I have a rescue staffy that we were told was staffy X lab but out of curiosity we had her dna tested and she is pitbull AmStaff we knew she wasnt lab we love her all the same and she is a fab dog!!

[natureplantar101]

kelpeed doesn't sound that bright or well educated if she believes everything online. my girl is like a big teddy just wants cuddles and kisses she doesn't snap growl or bite she's never been in a provoking situation where she might defend me so i can't say if she will bite out of defense

[SunshineAndShadows]

Kelpeed your 'evidence' is hysterical propaganda from a clearly anti-pitbull site. Why not look at some actual evidence. You seem to be struggling to differentiate what you read in the newspaper or on a random website form an actual evidence-based study. If you'd like to educate yourself, look at the graphs of dog bites before and after the Dangerous dogs Act and tell me how it demonstrates that pit bulls are even close to being responsible for the majority of bites, or how 'banning the breed has made the public any safer?
Also try reading the links below

www.injuryjournal.com/article/0020-1383(96)83411-5/abstract?cc=y
"This study also shows how dangerous breeds compare with others that bite, demonstrating that these breeds contribute to only a small proportion of these injuries. This comparative study clearly demonstrates little impact on rate of attendances for such injuries since the introduction of the 1991 Act. If legislation aims to reduce and prevent injury from animal bites, in its present form it does little to protect the public; this study suggests a wider control of the dog population may be required."

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1558787806000128
"Using absolute numbers of dog attacks by breed in Australia, data on attacks on human beings reveal the pit bull terrier to be exceeded by several other breeds. Regardless, the primary problem is that reliable data do not exist for the number of attacks relative to breed population. Of 19 human fatalities in Australia over the past two decades, none has involved a dog verified to be an American pit bull terrier. The evidence does not sustain the view that this is a uniquely dangerous breed, and breed-specific laws aimed to control it have not been demonstrated by authorities to be justified by its attack record."

The media reporting does not accurately reflect the threat of dogs in society www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bloomsbury/azoos/1994/00000007/00000004/art00003
"Five major British daily newspapers (4 broadsheets and 1 tabloid) and their related Sunday editions were monitored over a 5-year period (1988 to 1992 inclusive) to locate articles on dog attacks on humans. From 1989 to 1991 (inclusive) there was intense media interest in dog attacks whereas in 1988 and 1992 there was little. In 1989 and 1990, German Shepherds and Rottweilers were most often reported as the attacking dog but the Rottweiler suffered disproportionate negative publicity. Breed registration figures reflected the media interest with a dramatic drop in Rottweiler numbers. In 1991, the American Pit Bull Terrier was most often in the news and the government hastily introduced new dog legislation, the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991"

[SunshineAndShadows]

Basically the 'demonisation' of bull breeds is because of media hysteria and knee-jerk responses like yours. The reality is that there are many other breeds statistically more likely to bite, so to label these dogs as inherently aggressive is simply nonsense.

[FizzyNuts]

I luffs my dog, Pitt Bull or not ... she is a gorgeous 7 year old SBT that is probably possibly part Pitt Bull (although we didn't know this when got her, long story!)

She is wonderful and certainly does live up to the nanny dog title! Before anyone starts frothing, no she is never left alone with the children!

I live in an area where approx. half of the local dogs are SBTs, Pitt Bulls or some sort of Pitt Bull cross. so it's nothing unusual round here. I know of a couple of people who have had their dogs seized and have managed to get them back by agreeing to have them chipped, registered, neutered, etc.

[Irelephant]

I have shared this before. Kelpeeds right vicious dogs...

[SunshineAndShadows]

Irelephant - I hope you all noted from the graph that statistically you're more likely to get bitten by a human than a pit bull, so your pooch is treading on dangerous ground there - does your vicious mini-human have teeth yet?

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

Wow. This escalated quickly.

Butthole, stalked by a poodle? Do tell!

[timelord1912]

all dogs are vicious, they are afterall a part of the wolf clan duh!

[Irelephant]

sunshine oh that's not my mini human that's the dogs supper. He likes to cuddle his food.

Now you mention it though your right I have had more bites off my offspring than any animal i have owned. The little feckers should be banned I tell you.

[SunshineAndShadows]

And Kelpeed its actually recognised that Dachshunds and Chihuahuas are genetically pre-disposed to show signs of aggression in an inappropriate context when compared to other breeds. Here's a link to a reputable scientific behavioural organisation and a research paper on the subject. So your dismissal of them and demonisation of bull breeds is based on nothing but your own prejudices. I am not a bull breed owner. But I don't think uninformed hysteria helps anyone.

www.apbc.org.uk/blog/APBC-Views-on-UK-Dangerous-Dogs-Legislation

"Breed-specific legislation cannot work to protect the public from dangerous dogs. Dog aggression is a product of the individual and, whilst it is recognised that some breeds may be more predisposed to develop a propensity to use aggression in an inappropriate context (such as Dachshunds and Chihuahuas2.), there are those within the breed that will not, and others in non-legislated breeds that will.
Banning “status” breeds is also counter productive in that it increases their demand as exactly because they are illegal."

1. Duffy, D., Hsu, Y. & Serpell J. (2008) “Breed differences in canine aggression” Applied Animal Behaviour Science, Volume 114, Issue 3, Pages 441-460

[Buttholelane]

Yeah, I used to ride horses.
They had working terriers and two standard poodles in the yard.

I got my horse out and was waiting outside the indoor arena bit.
Next to the building there was a gap filled with weeds, I was just standing there when literally out of nowhere one of the poodles appeared out the weeds.

It literally stood completely rigid and stiff and stared me directly in the eyes, not the cheeky stare my collie gives me when I tell her no and she is a bit annoyed or the kind of deep stare dogs sometimes give their owners out of affection but a real cold, vicious 'I am going to eat you' stare.
I stepped back a bit and it very slowly crept towards me growling, exactly like a collie would stalk sheep or a cat would creep up on a mouse, kept its eyes fixed on me the whole time.
Have honestly never been more petrified in my entire life.

[natureplantar101]

same here when i was a kid a little poodle snapped at me and my brother walking past us on the pavement and a massive poodle the size of a Shetland pony jumped at us and snarled ban them ban them now

[timelord1912]

kelpeed nobodys gonna listen to what you say, people choose different dog breeds for what suits them, also, posts aren't supposed to be 1,000,000 miles long, its like when you have someone talking for ages, people stop listening to them, take a hint and shut up

[NCbutIstillmightbeouted]

kelpeed

No my dog is a spaniel cross lab, but its nice that you assumed what he is.

We have done and are still doing intensive work with him and yet I find that owners will not call their dog off, despite my dog wearing a muzzle and still trying to attack. It is the damn owners fault, you don't train the dog for recall, then don't let them off the lead. That is simple

[NCbutIstillmightbeouted]

No he didn't, but then neither does the staffie who doesn't attack my dog. And I am in real fear the Jack Russell might attack my two year old, and in less fear the staffie will.

This is because I know and trust the staffie's owner, whereas I have watched the jrt owner run around the park trying to get him