We had one from the litter to his passing , he was the most faithful loving dog you could imagine , we were inseparable & it truly broke my heart when after a long battle with epilepsy he had to be put down with me holding him , its nearly 20 years ago now but I still miss him & I would have no hesitation about recommending the Staffy , brilliant dog
An American Staffy is lodging with us, along with his family - not known how long for, but it's three months so far. I get to take Muttley out at least twice a day during the week, but tend to leave it to them weekends. I don't have any choice - he lets me know quite vehemently when he wants to go. When I do get up and say the magic word he goes berserk and flies up and down the stairs until I get down there to put his lead on. He's seven or eight years old and built like a body builder. Very strong on the lead, though I am calming him down a bit, gradually. As said above, they don't like other dogs so I keep him well away. With people he's as soft as they come and everybody wants to stop and pat him and talk about him. His hearing is amazing. We're on the top floor of a converted house (attic level) and he can hear when the post man is down on the street pressing his parcel gadget thing. I can barely hear that beep when I am standing next to him outside. He woofs at top volume, several times, just so we know the postman is about. There is rarely anything for me, but he likes to let me know anyway . He's sweet natured, and funny with it. Never a dull moment, inside or out. Would I get one myself? No, because now that I have had this chance to "own" a dog I am cured of the desire to get one for myself. Leaning over his poo, plastic bag at the ready, is a revolting thing to do, but you have to do it. At least he is sort of toilet trained - he never does it on the pavement, and it's usually in undergrowth or longish grass. They definitely don't live up to the worst of their publicity. ANY dog is capable of turning, big or small, so you just have to treat them with respect and be careful. I'll be sorry when he goes . Here's a close up I did yesterday:
Lovely words, beautiful photo. As you say, they're not inherently aggressive dogs. Mistakenly painted that way as they'd become the weapon of choice for the tracksuited chavs dragging them round on a chain. No more likely to attack someone than most other breeds. Ours is a staffie cross - frightened to death of other dogs!
She was heavily pregnant at the time. The dog ran from the owner's property straight at her for no apparent reason. There were witnesses who corroborated that. So nice try, but no. Out of interest do you query whether rape victims led their attacker on or are you just a victim blaming **** when it comes to dog attacks?
All dogs have potential to be dangerous if not treated correctly. Your second point was a waste of my time.
I don't get it. If I'd said my mate's wife got mugged or punched or raped the first question wouldn't have been "did she bring it upon herself?" so why is it fine to be like that in this instance?
Because it wasn't a mugging or a rape, and there's a well-proven correlation between provocation and displays of aggression where (all) dogs are concerned. Cool your jets, lad...
