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Moselle, calm down. Above is your first post, you believed it was pits that attacked the dog. Everyone just wants the truth and I (as will everyone else it seems) will stick up for any breed until it's proven guilty. The fact that it happens more with pitbulls than any other breed would've led Mr Linke to make such comments, and comments that most educated dog owners would've made. I know you're against BSL, I get the feeling you don't like pitbulls, but hey that's your choice, you just have to understand that people will give you a serve when you have a rant like you did in the post above.

Can you fricken blelive it! See Moselle people can be mistaken, mislead, whatever they are.. blaming pitbulls for everything and you were only to happy to belive it! It seems that everyone who responded to this thread was on the side of Mr Linke and he has clearly been vindicated, all this slandering and sensationalism for media sake, to sell papers. How about a little truth, like,"2 dogs attacked", "or i don't know what breed they were".

Maybe we really shouldn't tell them of their mistakes, can we hide this thread... I'm sure it's not the dogs that need restricting but the owners, i'm sure that's what you meant

Just because someone doesn't know the ins and out of sampling procedures with regards to the law etc.. doesn't mean they "like" to make it more difficult for themselves! Hindsight is 20/20. I'm guessing they got excited about getting their dogs back. Dogs who've done nothing wrong. The GCCC would've had these dealings before when it comes to all their environmental sampling etc.. so they're probably following protocol, they'll just pay for the extra tests and get the same results and then we'll see what excuse they'll make. It would be nice if the dogs could be allowed home pending the results

I've heard the same thing. People, many dog owners have no idea about other breeds, but when it comes to pitbulls.. "well they're the only ones that attack" so it must be a pitbull!! so infuriating.

Exactly Actually as Mr Linke is someone who is against BSL, I believe he would have just to deflect attention away from a cause that he believes in. As for the bullsmastiff x thing, many of the cross bred pig dogs up here have mastiff in them and heaps of people will get confused about their breed and say oh it must be a pitty. I was speaking to a fella on Sat who said he hated pitbulls as his dog was attacked by 2 60kg pitbulls, i explained a few things to try and change his mind as they don't come that big. As someone said people really do get the size of dogs wrong, and in an attack every dog seems to be huge. Mr Linke as far as I'm concerned is doing a great job in defending the pitbull, and by doing so he is defending many breeds from being added to the list.

Well if rangers, media and the general public hadn't got it wrong so many times when it comes to identifying any dogs, people wouldn't question it constantly. If your dog had been put down because it was deemed it looked like a pitbull, maybe you'd ask the questions too. People want and demand clarity when it comes to these issues because there is so much at stake, not because they have rose tinted glasses on, and think that all pitbulls are angels, i don't care what breed done what as long as you know for sure what happened.

I'd get a vet to take the swab, and be present at the time if possible. What percent amstaff does it have to be to be deemed illegal? i thought it was at least 50 or even 75% Does anyone know what is happening to all the registered amstaffs on the coast?

The 'No' vote needs more support, banning dogs is not the answer.

I've worked in Labs for a large part of my life, so i know a bit about testing, sampling, chain of custody etc.. Get all the paperwork, postage, any info you have on when they tested and present it to their lawyers. The bitsa test will have to be proven to work and be accurate, once they have the supporting documentation, most should be available off the website, they should be ok. Seriously what a bunch of morons they have in charge at the GCCC, i just got my rates today and i'm even more unhappy!!!

Don't think for a minute that they're not around either! Don't know if they are in Tas but they are sure as hell on the mainland. Really? I can imagine there may be some black panthers around but hard to believe there's Tasi Tigers here with no photographic evidence. Mel. Growing up with a naturalist/ nature related author as a father, I have been witness to some incredible sightings in some very remote places within Australia. People can say what they will, but I know for FACT there are (or were within the last 20 years) Thylacines as well as panthers/cougars in more than one state of Australia. You have any pictures?

Jeez, I'm sure the foxes would fit the 22 point checklist, or re-name foxes pitbulls and send the GCCC down to Tassie to get rid of them!! Just everybody will have to hide anything with four legs or it may get shot! :D Poor foxes, but everyone's right they don't belong here. Maybe the taskforce can do some work on the side up here in the NT getting rid of cane toads too, 'cause the government sure ain't doing anything to save native animals in the NT.

I agree, my 1 year old male and 4 year old bitch have had a couple of fights, he's maturing and is becoming protective over his food, she see's that as him trying to usurp her and it's caused a bit of tension, but only around food. She is dominant and in every other way a complete bitch to the poor little fella who is bigger and stronger than she is. Food time is always seperated and scraps mopped up, play time with me is seperated. I can see the jealousy thing may become an issue, it's funny it hasn't bothered the Bitch for 1 year but now he's maturing she's uping the auntie. At the momnet he knows his place, and i treat him as the lower dog, his food though he will fight over. They play together all day long though besides that, hunt things together and play fight taking turns on submitting, i don't play tug'o'war with them together as that seems to challenge the older one as he can easily win so she just gives him the eveil eyes to let go. So if anyone knows a good behaviorist in the NT, please let me know.

Well it seems the GCCC have made a balls up of their policies, re: amstaff=pitbull, where amstaffs have been genetically id'd for proof of pure breed by the AKNC for quite some time and they have a large number of DNA profiles to match, the door is well and truly open for people to prove their dog isn't an amstaff via DNA profiling, hence proving it is not a pitbull,....

Nev if all pitbulls were of the old school fighting lines then yep i'd agree, but it just isn't the case. I don't think that there is enough of these types of pits about. To think that a politician has sat down and thought of the things you've just mentioned is most unlikely, If you look at how the breed has changed over the last 20 years it's massive, all the fighting fairytayles are fading away and good people are owning these dogs. For the idiots that have them, the risk to the public is no greater should they own any other breed as they're just as likely to treat any other animal the same, as mentioned by someone else there are plenty of other breeds more capable of hurting someone than a pitbull. I just think we should get away from the extremes of what people perceive a pitbull is capable of because it's not the norm.

I sort of agree, but the majority of pitbulls aren't conditioned or trained to that extent, and i'd bet money that any pits that have made headlines certainly aren't the ones that have been trained to fight etc.. They're normally your average mistreated family pet.

The breeds victim to BSL what I believe is the potential danger that can be caused in the wrong hands, more so than what they have actually done. I would be interested in the views of anyone who has trained Pitbulls in protection work and civil agitation which does provide a clearer understanding why these breeds have been targeted with BSL. Cheers Nev They've been targeted because of the media and politicians, they really suited the label that the media portrayed and joe public just lapped it up. regardless of how they can be trained, even SWF's would love to do protection work but sadly they just aren't big enough!!. They certainly haven't been targeted because they excel at any sort of dog sport, protection etc.. Dog fighting and it's losers helped put BSL in place, now it's up to all the good dog owners to put a stop to it.

Just to add my opinion, when looking at a dog i want it to be well put together, ie a good gait, well proportioned, the things that a lot of judges should look at and in turn it should be these dogs that excel at working titles because they are more physically adept to do so... so they should theoretically go hand in hand. All the other stuff like colouration, length of coat, eye colour, or any sort of beauty fraff doesn't interest me. So if a breeder had the physical and health aspects at the top of their list then yep that's what i'd look for, most show breeders surely would feel the same...

I mostly agree, i saw an amstaff the other day, but the owner was only too happy to say well basically it's a pitbull..? do you think many amsatff owners want one because of the their past links to the pitbull because this bloke certainly wasn't the first person i've heard this from, and it's a bogans way of saying if he gets in trouble "well he's not a pitbull so there" Your right about the good breeders distancing themselves from the bad, but shouldn't this sort of control come from government authorities and not socially run organistaions. Licensing to ensure breeders aren't doing the wrong thing etc.. Then there wouldn't be any need for any bans on any breed, think of it this way, there is only one breeder of Oenpelli pythons in the NT(maybe australia) no-one else is allowed a license, don't know why because they're hardly in massive numbers, they're regulated, why can we have the same system for any of the breeds on the restricted list? Granted they have a whole lot of work to do before getting around to the BSL issues whilst they still allow pet stores to sell dogs, what a disgrace this country is when it come to these issues, the UK banned it years ago, and so too did the US i think so why can't we?!

it's not about the pitbull breeders , it's about a few amstaff breeders doing the wrong thing and attracting bad publicity then having them blame pitbull owners for the trouble caused by people from within. What are amstaff breeders or AKNC as a collective whole going to do about these breeders that are AKNC registered breeding dogs way over standard and selling them on the hype that they're tough. Amstaff numbers far outweigh that of the apbt, it would be great if they could all be kept safe.

No, too late. Time for responsible breeders of registered and recognised breeds to distance themselves from the losing team. Is that tongue in cheek? I know that is the stance of SBT, because if not the amstaffs will be the losing team if these "registered" breeders keep at it...

I thought blue was acceptable for amstaffs? not that it matters

I grew up with a mongrel who was a great dog, then had boxers from about 7 onwards.. they are mega boystrous.. so maybe you should start crossing off breeds that you don't want, then go to the pound take the boys and see if there is a suitable dog there. At least the boys get to meet the dog and see how it will beahve with them.

The thread title, Amstaff Breeders, not BSL not pitbull v's amstaff argument. i nor APBT are refferring to amstaffs as pitbulls, what i'm saying is that there are a minority of amstaff breeders aiming for huge tough monsters in their breeding program, this has nothing to do with pitbulls or their plight but you can draw a common line where amstaffs are being bred to look and act tough and it'll be their downfall and all along they can say well they're pure bred AKNC registered dogs they can't be bad.... Websites full of pics with dogs head to toe in leather spouting crap about how they behave etc.. and they're flogging pups by the truck load to people who want a tough looking dog Now this isn't the norm and the majority are great amstaff breeders, but we all know that means nothing.

yeah right. I wonder what all of the Amercian Pit Bull owners have their dogs registered and chipped as ? certainly not APBT Well if it was safe to do so, i'm sure they would... though i don't see APBT mentioning registration, that must be your gripe. This thread is more about AKNC registered breeders doing more to promote the real amstaff, not the massive dogs that are infiltrating their ranks and becoming the norm.... people mention what the undesirables done to the pitbull, well now the are breeding amstaffs under the AKNC banner and portraying them in a "they're so tough" kind of way.