Staffyluv

How scary for you and Jasper. I hope he is better and home soon.

Totally gorgeous.. I am going with Pei cross as well.. My sister had a gorgeous Pei cross who had the course hair, I had never felt anything quite like it.. She used to call him Velcro dog.. Because he felt like Velcro and he was always stuck to her..

Roova I will let the more experienced and knowledgable breeders answer about the genetic side of things for you, as I am not a breeder but just a lover of the breed. From my experience, every second blue pup/dog I have come across cost the owners a fortune and has some sort of allergy of the skin.. They are not worth more than any other well bred Stafford pup because of their colour but until people stop paying these ridiculous prices for a colour then they get everything they deserve... My old Stafford had skin allergies and ended up with Mast Cell Tumours. I read a web page (and i will try to find it but it was years ago), where the writer believed there was a link between allergic dogs and MCT as MCT is on the rise along with the amount of dogs with allergies.. Also MCT release histamine, the same thing that allergic dogs release when they come into contact with things that they react to... There are a great number of health tests that can be done and if you are breeding dogs that could be prone to these issues then you should be testing for everything.. I would expect this would be very expensive, perhaps that is how some justify the cost.. However, these days Blue is not rare, there are so many of them. We met a 6 month old blue girl that her new owners had walked from one side of town to the other, then she played with my boy for half an hour or so before they walked her home again.. To top it off, all they could talk about was finding a blue boy to give her a blue litter when she is ready.. She was a very pretty pup and I tried to educate them about breeding blue to blue and that the breeders I have spoken to would never do that but the guy was pretty adamant that he knew about it all.. However we have loads of great breeders and they do the right thing by the breed...

Or the word 'English' any where near the words Staffordshire Bull Terrier...

Hard question to answer, but I'll try. I like a (dare I say it) "masculine' type dog, I like the appearance of a muscular dog and I like a dog that is willing to defend it's owner and property. In terms of temperament, I would say I prefer a dog that is CAPABLE of holding it's own in a fight, but takes a lot of pushing to do so. I'd like to think a stranger could approach me and my dog and be able to pat it. i hope that helps ! Cheers OK, not a Stafford then. I'm afraid as a breeder, I'm not fond of prospective purchasers who want a dog for appearance first and foremost. And Staffords make dreadful guard dogs...much better WATCH dogs....ie, WATCH the burglar come in the window, WATCH the burglar take the TV, HELP the burglar carry the DVD player and then jump in the car to go for a car ride. Staffords are more than capable of holding their own in a fight, it is, after all, what they were bred for but they don't take a lot of pushing as a rule because quite often, the body language of the "pusher" is enough to have them on alert. Strangers can most certainly approach my dogs for pats, especially if they are under 3 feet tall....but I prefer they not do so unless I give permission. Totally agree - not a guard dog at all. None of ours have been. However they are happy to be the meet and greet committee.. My current boy is a total wuss.. He has been bailed up by a few dogs now and he rolls over. We have a little Pom at our park who tells him what to do. My old guy wasn't like this at all - he was pretty friendly until a couple of other dogs got the better of him and then I couldn't have other dogs around him. It was all to stressful... We've never had boxers but I have an aunt and uncle who have had a few - they love them and I have to admit all their dogs have been really lovely dogs.

I can tell you now that it's not an over generalisation and that anyone who is raising an SBT or an Amstaff should be doing so with caution. The SBT should be a gentleman unless set upon and the majority of SBT's will finish what someone else starts. Many dogs find the SBT to be rude and pushy in terms of the way they play and the SBT doesn't readily accept being told to bugger off by another dog. The best piece of advice I can offer potential new owners, is to socialise your young pups with dogs of known temperament, not in a dog park free for all. Raise your SBT to focus on you and for you to be the best thing in the world. An SBT that is indifferent when it comes to other dogs and one that has a recall is the best and safest to live with. That is spot on Pav.. I used to let Zig have free reign at the dog park - now he stays on lead, to continue his socialisation (unless there is no one there, then he is off lead and chasing a ball or the regular crew he plays with are there).. Although we were on our own in one section of park yesterday, when some people turned up with a 6 month old stafford pup and she had a ball playing with Zig.. When some others turned up with littlies, we left as we were in their section of park.. Lots of dogs find issue with staffys and the way they play.

Are you sure? That sounds enormous. I think my girl is around the 14-16 kgs mark Im sure they vary between sexes but 25 kgs sounds way over. I could be wrong, From memory a full grown male Stafford is about 15-18kg (obviously varying a bit depending on fitness and breeding lines)... Girls are smaller, again, just from memory, about 11-14kg.. Hopefully a breeder will see this and set this right if I am wrong. Ollie was really big for a Stafford and he weighed in at about 21kg . The other Staffords over the years: Zac, entire male 17kg Ellie, desexed female 15kg (she was a tub of lard and used to just hang with mum all the time.. Bella desexed female, was always about 13kg Paddy, desexed male about 16kg.. He was actually quite a little guy. Louis, entire male was a hefty 15kg.. Again he was a little guy. I have Ziggy now (staffy or amstaff cross, unknown heritage) at 18 months he is pretty fit and weighs in at 26kg this week.. I have seen some grossly humongous Staffords over the years.. I remember going to a dogs day out with Ollie when he was a little tacker and seeing these Staffords that had to be 30kg, they were huge, big, chunky dogs... Not at all like the Staffords we had grown up with o we the years...

It could be a loud noise from outside (something like a chainsaw or mower)... I just played it and all Zig did was sit up and tilt his head to the side. He went back to sleep half way through it.. It does sound spooky though.. You tube it for sure..

I use a Lupi harness on Ziggy, it works the same.. Pulls ups under their front legs.. I must admit the sporn looks mor comfortable than the lupi harness..

I totally agree with rewarding at the right times... At the moment he has to be really hungry to want a food reward over other dogs in the group. It's good that we gain with a group of dogs that all have their issues.. There are no meet and greets in our group. It is teaching him, that he can't say hello to every dog he meets. Thanks for the link, off to read it now. Are there any recommended books on this?

Yep and I only have one dog.

I have been keeping an eye out and we haven't seen any more yet.. Maybe he was a Lone Ranger... Hopefully that will be the end of it.

Thanks Kavik :). As I said on the blog, for me it's one of the valuable things I've learnt about training dogs. We notice this especially when running dog and handler workshops - we see dozens of dogs change how they respond to the handler, their focus, their desire for the reward, their durability and desire to work simply through changing the way the reward is delivered, when you see how quickly the dog changes you can't deny the difference reward delivery can make. ETA: And of course there is a practical element too, if we look at something like playing tug how you present and handle the tug can either encourage the dog to engage with you and increase it's desire for the tug or it can turn the dog off tugging. The number of times I have seen people say 'my dog won't tug' only to watch them and see how they handle the tug is making the dog turn off, has been huge! Show them how to do it right and the dog can turn into a tug monster almost straight away. Super interesting stuff, though getting OT now! :) Sorry to go off topic but do you have a link for this blog huski? This has always been my biggest issue with Ziggy as he is not food focused at all, he really doesn't care if you have food or not. I have been using a squeaky tennis ball but this is distracting for others at training and I would love to be able to get him to focus more on me with food... If that is possible.

Good news and fingers crossed for clear margins for you... Ollie didn't have clear margins but with the right treatment you can be lucky and still get a decent remission..

The side effects are noted because they can happen.. From what I have read about it (no experience with it because it came out much later than we could have used it), they don't seem to happen much... Good luck with it and please keep us updated, I for one will be very interested to hear about your treatment..

RIP Sooty, what a precious story... I am so sorry you had to say goodbye.. It feels very unfair that their time with us is so short compared to our own.

Awe thank you so much everyone... He really was a blessing and came into our life at a time when we needed him as much as he needed us.. We need another foster, it's been a while since we said goodbye to Pippa and he needs another furry as much as I do...

Me to, I really can't believe it has been a whole year - and he has grown so much.. We gave him the 31st March as he was about 6 months old when we got him. Probably should have given him the 1st April (he tends to be a bit of a fool sometimes)..

Today is 1 year since we got Zig from the Queanbeyan pound.. My how he has grown - he was about 12kg when we bought the little lad home (at about 6 months old). Today he is some 26kg at about 18 months old.. So glad you found us lad..

perhaps a rescue or shelter might like that spare food.. If I get something that doesn't work out for the dogs we have here, I take it out to the local pound.. They are always really grateful for the extra good food and blankets we take out. Back on topic, I agree with others, I would suggest it is the fat content... I hope you work it out... Why would you give a food that has made dogs sick away to a rescue or shelter, surely they don't need the problems It may not make all dogs sick.. It may just be that your dog is sensitive to it... Obviously I wouldn't give something that was out of date or that I thought it was the food that was not good. I had a 20kg bag of nutro and the dogs just wouldn't eat it, so I gave it to the pound... Better than just throwing it out.

Haha, that was my first thought.. Isn't it nice when they choose us.. She is adorable T, congrats...

He has a hard time settling in a class situation because all he wants to do is play with the other dogs.. That is why we now limit his time with other dogs.. It's sad because he really goes nuts for other dogs and it is so nice to have such a super friendly dog after having the last years with Ollie who became reactive after being belted up a coup,e of times... Classes can be stressful enough but I find the days that I am chilled out, he does much better..

perhaps a rescue or shelter might like that spare food.. If I get something that doesn't work out for the dogs we have here, I take it out to the local pound.. They are always really grateful for the extra good food and blankets we take out. Back on topic, I agree with others, I would suggest it is the fat content... I hope you work it out...

I think Ziggy's had a few goes at the wasp because I heard hin snuffling and quiet woofing, scratching around on the other side of my desk before he yelped when it got him... I think he has learned his lesson, there were about 4 of them late yesterday afternoon just under the eaves of my office and he wouldn't come in the door... We checked it out and couldn't see any sign of a nest, we couldn't hear anything that would suggest there were more in there... Apparently (according to a client yesterday) the European wasp tends to stay close to home, so they don't travel to far from their nests... So I guess I will be seeing more of them.

Wow... Well I have finally finished reading the whole thread.. Ow I have quite a few more things to try with Ziggy and his focus issues... We are doing much better theses days. I have discovered that he really does have a short attention span, compared to a lot of dogs. We were training for to long.. Our training classes went for 2 hours and he would get to 45 to 60 minutes and lose it.. I would become frustrated and get cross with him, he would stress and it would all go to shite... I talked it over with our trainer and we only stayed for half the lesson. Once I started reading him better and noticing when he had had enough, I would pull him out on a high and we would do some fun stuff.. So our training lessons went back to 45 minutes most times.. I also had to miss his dinner the night before training and no breaky before we go, this makes him food focused (cause he is starving). But half way through the lesson the food focus goes so we switch to the squeaky tennis ball (not so good for other owners), if we have to but I try not to squeak it to much. He can go to the dog park and play with his mates (there is a group that meets up and all the dogs get on great)... His recall is good for up to half an hour, some days less. So once I see his excitement level increase and his recall slips once, I leash him and we leave. He stills gets fun, he learns if he misses my call, that we leave... When we train at home we keep it to 10 minutes a time. We have a few minutes in that time that we play. We still have issues with walking on a loose lead. We have a lupi harness and it seems to be the only thing so far that stops him from literally dragging me around.. He is so strong.. I think we might try a back pack and see how that goes... But I have gained so many ideas on ways to do things from reading this thread. I am lucky with Ziggy, he doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body. He just reacts like an idiot when he sees another animal (dog or cat), as he just wants to say hi... He wants to get up close and often a bit to personal and he doesn't seem to learn that is not the done thing... Hence the reason he has a group of doggie friends that he can hang with as they seem to have a good dynamic when they are together...