2 Big Staffies Moving In Next Door

[Quickasyoucan]

I was thinking about this a lot overnight. I have no problem with calling a spade a spade and I will not protect the reputation of any individual dog regardless of breed that has actually done something.

If a neighbour moved in next door to me and their dog started digging under the fences and attacking mine, I would be reporting them to council, whether they had a stafford, a mini poodle or a chihuahua. I reported the cat that attacked my dog and did $120 worth of damage to his ear.

But what the OP's post did is assume that (1) the dogs because they were staffords or 'staffies' would be dog aggressive (yes they might be but they might not be either) AND (2) that because the owners owned staffies they wouldn't be responsible and keep their dog in.

That is an awful lot of assumptions.

I agree that people need to be honest and upfront about the pros and cons of their breed. We could set out a list here of breeds that have the potential to be DA and those that are wary of strangers; those that have the potential to be boisterously over friendly and those that have the potential to be escape artists and it would be a long list I assure you that spanned many breed groups.

I think what responsible stafford owners object to is the assumption that because their dog is a stafford it will automatically be a vicious dog killing machine. That's pretty much not fair on the responsible dog owner who has done everything they can to make sure their dog is a good canine citizen and has chosen their breed of dog for the right reasons.

As an anecdote, my brother is not white (he is adopted). When we were young he used to get stopped by the police asking whether he had stolen the bike he was riding or the car he was driving or whether he had a police record that never once happened to his 3 white sisters. Of the four of us he is probably the least likely to pick a fight (they don't call girls bitches for nothing ), but the assumption is that because he is not white that he would be a criminal. Statistically he might fit the profile since there are an awful lot of black people in prison in the US and I don't doubt in the Uk, but I don't think anyone reasonable would think that was fair. He is a just a normal bloke with a good job who happens to be coloured.

There are responsible owners with well behaved staffords out there. Just because someone is black or a stafford doesn't automatically make them bad.

I guess what I am trying to say is there is a fine line between realism and prejudice.