ironbutterfly

We used to own a German Shepard cross the people swore it was a GSD x Belgian however we only saw the mum so never called him anything more than a shepard x. But we had people asking if he was a wolf, he had been hit by a car and had an odd gait. We nicknamed him Mr Woolfe because of it and peoples faces when we called him was hilarious. I get asked if my SBT is an English pure bred, when I say no they go "oh so he's just a staffy x". If I can be bothered I'll explain there's no such thing as a English SBT but a lot of the time now I just smile and nod, their brains just don't compute.

Both my daughters are 2 and 3 when we bought our SBT so their input on the matter was nil. Once we had spoken to our breeder and seen some photos, then did I start talking to them about our boy and that we were getting a dog but more in preparation than anything. They got to pick out a toy each prior to picking up our boy and picked the colour of his collar, lead, bedding and other 'accessories'. Basically he is my dog so I make the choices (except OH chose his name). Once the girls get older and are capable of being responsible then they may be able to help select our next dog, with much guidance from me as possible ;) . Both our girls help with feeding, grooming and training our dog (cat too). We take him down the beach atleast once a day so exercising is a family affair.

I know it may sound silly but that is one of the things I considered when we bought our dog. OH thought I was mad but he sees the sense especially after having a SBT trying to sit on you while driving :laugh:

I couldn't own a small breed, whatever we got had to be either medium to large. Having owned a long haired mutt before I knew I wanted a short coat as we go to the beach a lot. I didn't want to have to worry about clipping either so the only maintenance had to be brushing. I've always loved bully breeds but OH wasn't so sure. He wanted a typical dog (Lab, Beagle, BC the ones the media generally portray) I finally talked DH around to the bull breeds by saying it was going to be my dog so it had to be something I was happy handling. I gave him a choice between a SBT or BT (I wanted a BT but he didn't like the head shape) so I got a SBT. I think our next will be a BT, we would love a brachy bully but as we are going to move to a hotter climate we decided to hold off until we move cooler again.

I'm confused. OP I own a SBT and I negotiated with the breeder to leave him entire til over a year old. If she choose to mate him it was up to her and we would further negotiate from there but if not then he would be desexed. At no time did/have I consider him as a sire to my next pup, I would never look at a dog in that way. Having an entire dog be prepared to be accosted by the uninformed general public that think you have a great dog and want to mate it with their abcde dog. We've had our boy for over 6 months and have been asked that many times I've lost count and now just walk away. By what I can gather the breeder is offering you to pay less for a dog that could do well in shows and potentially be bred from. They will show him for you and take care of the mating. You say you want the breeder to be in control and therefore this is what they are offering you, their level of control. Whether you take it is up to you.

I put I'm unemployed but it's by choice as I'm a stay at home mum

Another aspect to the ad is VW is often considered part of 'the dark side'.

My boy is the son of a Toptaurus dog, he has a beautiful temperament and great with my 2 daughters (3 &4). Wouldn't/couldn't ask for anything else!

I might have to use that in the future.

I think this guy caught me off guard which made me even more uncomfortable, if it had just been me by myself I wouldn't of even entered into a conversation (I'd be too busy running up and down the beach). Usually once I say it's up to my boy's breeder most people leave it but this guy was so persistent.

Went down the beach this afternoon for a walk. all up it was 4 kids, my sister with her Mini Schnauzer, myself and my SBT. We were only down there for a few minutes when I noticed a woman watching my dog then she made a few gestures towards her partner. He eventually came over and asked about my boy. In our rather short conversation he expressed interest in putting my boy over his Amstaff bitch. I flatly refused. Saying it is up to my dog's breeder. He then went on to say he's "pumped out" (his words) 3 litters of puppies from this bitch. I thought I was going to vomit and seriously wanted smack him upside the head. He started carrying on about where his bitch came from, how much he paid for her and mentioned the kennel name. I looked up the kennel as I thought about sending an email saying this guy is breeding your lines with SBT (the 3 litters he's done have been SBTxAmstaff). Well by the looks and what I've read this so called 'breeder' isn't going to care either. It's people like him I really hate! I wanted to go into a whole spiel about BYB but I was shocked by his audacity and the way he talked. Definitely the kind of person doing a disservice to Amtaffs and SBTs. So how do you handle BYBer or the ill-educated morons in the street? Do you try and educate them? Unfortunately this is a common problem in our area. People even pimp out their pets on FB.

That is how I would sum them up, too, in my very limited exposure to them! They come complete with a cheeky grin. What colour is your sister's dog? Needle puppy teeth are a shocker. Glad we don't have that anymore! My sisters is a salt and pepper. He tries to play with my staffy but a 20+kg boof against a few kg lunatic, well needless to say he must like getting squashed as he always comes back for more! My SBT is both cheeky and smart but I think the over exuberance of her MS puts him into a completely different kind of category. She has hinted that I'll be dog sitting if they go on holidays but honestly I think I would go mad after having him for even a few hours!

As the mother of 2 young children myself I would seriously listen to the advice being offered and wait until your children are older. Mine are now 4 and 3 and we have only just this year brought a staffy into our home. As both my girls are older it frees up time for me to train him, they can also help in training and caring (brushing/feeding/washing) him. My sister has a 1yo and a 7 yo and they in the last month brought a mini schnauzer. I have to say it is insane. It is seriously hyper and won't stop jumping. My dog gets annoyed after 1 hr and will actually sit on him to make him stop! He is really quite smart and cheeky. My sister is struggling to train him, she doesn't have the time that he requires. Another thing is their teeth are also like needles and being a pup he likes to mouth. Both my daughters won't go near him and call him "naughty dog" because he nips at their ankles, both my daughters adore dogs and if allowed will spend hours brushing, patting, cuddling and talking to them.

I've been stalking the forums for almost 2 years on and off. Reading about different breeds and various ideas and training techniques. Finally joined the other day because we are picking our Staffy up soon and I'm guessing I'm going to be asking loads of questions soon, it's been awhile since I've had a dog