Staffords Temperament

[Cleveland]

Im not looking to stir and this is an honest post so please bare with me.

We lost our old American Staffy to cancer recently, now he was a total sweetie and very very placid and laid back when it came to other dogs.

Not an aggressive bone in his body, so we bought a female cairn terrier to join the family and they were amazing together, but herein lies the problem, she is now on her own.

I am after honest answers, Stafford breeders please join in.

Are American Staffords inherently dog aggressive? Are English stafford the same?

Now i know we cant judge a breed and there will always be exceptions (like our boy) but as a trait do they have aggressive tendencies towards others?

I personally know 3 American staffords (males) and they are AMAZING with people, so friendly and lovely, but very dog aggressive!

Despite early socialisation, training and even getting a behaviorist involved they cannot be trusted around other dogs.

We would like to get another but i have serious concerns about the behavior i have seen first hand, and already having my little cairn i do not want to risk her at all.

Someone suggested English staffords rather than American as being more 'doggy safe'.

I have emailed a few breeders asking questions regarding temperament (its a must as we also have a baby and cat as well as our cairn) and none have replied.

Sorry for the essay, but its weighing heavily and i guess i just want some honest feedback.

Personally i would be happy with another cairn or westie but the other half loves his bigger dogs, i even suggested a golden retriever but hes pretty set on a stafford.

edited for spelling!

Edited March 11, 2015 by Cleveland

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

I wouldn't recommend getting a much bigger dog to go with your Cairn.

I am not a fan of staffy types at all and I've heard some horror stories from all directions - dog parks, owners and even staffy breeders.

They are popular but are also often not so good with other animals.

Look at the characteristics your partner is seeking (choice of dogs should not be based on looks alone, there should be consideration of all the breed traits).

Alternatively, seek a larger rescue dog that is known to be good with small dogs. Nothing wrong with a beautiful greyhound.

[Cosmolo]

I know many dog aggressive Staffordshire bull terriers and i know many who are very good with other dogs- under supervision and appropriately matched. Unfortunately my experiences with American Staffordshire terriers has been a little more skewed toward a majority being dog aggressive- however it's important to remember that dog trainers are more likely to see dogs with problematic behaviours.

Would your expectation be to leave the dogs alone together unsupervised? This for me changes what i would recommend- i have a Jack Russell Terrier and a Bull arab type who are best of friends and both are excellent with other dogs. But they do not get left alone together unsupervised.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

I should also say that I rehomed a 13 yr old Pomeranian recently to a home with an English Staffy. He is an extremely gentle dog that my friend took on at age 11, from a local pound.

He is good with cats and was good with her male and female Pomeranian who both passed away last year.

He goes down to the beach and mingles with many other dogs, no problem.

I was very concerned when my friend said she was bringing home a Staffy at first but he has proven to be a most wonderful dog.

I think she was lucky though, it's not something I would have risked.

[Taliecat]

Unfortunately our amstaff boy is extremely dog aggressive, despite training and socialisation.

My partners cousin also has an amstaff that is amazing with other dog, said cousins partner has a staffy, that is dog aggressive though.

It unfortunately seems to be quite common, but can go either way with both staffies and amstaffs.

I'd look at an adult rescue dog, that has been tested with other dogs.

[blackun]

Focus on individual dogs and its offspring and ask about siblings and their parents and grand parents rather then breed in general.

English stafford is a first cousin to American stafford, and American stafford is full brother to American pit bull. Difference between them is one short and the other is tall.

[Pepper21]

Being a terrier, animal and/or dog aggression is fairly common. If you were set on getting either an English Staffy or Amstaff, ask the breeder about parents and siblings temperaments towards other dogs. It seems to be largely a genetic component, and there may be some breeders breeding against aggression. Or get an adult dog who has been thoroughly temperament tested.

[melzawelza]

All dogs are individuals, even within a breed, and dog social issues fall on a scale (dog social, dog tolerant, dog selective, dog aggressive). Most dogs fall in the middle with a smaller amount being totally dog aggressive or totally dog social. Of course the problem with getting a puppy is you don't know where on the scaLe it is going to end up.

I'd recommend rescuing an adult dog that is known dog social/dog tolerant. There are plenty of SBT and Amstaff types in rescue that are great with other dogs.

Edited March 11, 2015 by melzawelza

[juice]

I find as a breed they get over stimulated very fast which can end badly.

I agree that perhaps looking at an older dog proven to be dog friendly maybe the way to go. You will get a good match and a trail period if its a good rescue, but beware there are some shonky rescues out there too, who lie to get dogs placed.

I rarely recommend my breed, but have you considered a Bull Terrier? All mine have been rock solid with other dogs,lots of breeders have older dogs looking for homes too

[Cosmolo]

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that while getting an adult rescue with a known temperament is a great idea, i would still exercise caution if the expectation is to leave the new dog unsupervised with your small breed dog. The margin for error when you have a significant size imbalance is very small.

[BarbedWire]

As juice has said perhaps you could look at some other bull breeds. Boxers are usually wonderful with children and other dogs but they do have health issues. Of course there is also the French bulldog but maybe too small for your husband. :)

[J.H.M]

We have a stafford (6 years old) and we introduced 2 English Toy Terriers puppies to the household, she is great with them but again as mentioned above ensuring that when they are playing the bigger boofier one keeps their manners is important. Jess hadn't ever shown any aggression with other dogs but ever since we have added the 2 little ones she is a lot less tolerant of dogs coming up to us on our walks. So much so if they try and walk past her to my OH and the little ones she gets a little snarky and I have had to pull her back and separate them.

Edited March 12, 2015 by J.H.M

[Sandra777]

Both Staffords and Am Staffs are more likely to be dog aggressive than say, your average Golden Retriever and NO it is not all about how you bring them up. The temperament of the parents is a good indicator but not 100% reliable.

I would also suggest an adult dog from a known source (ie not straight out of the pound) with specific temperament features you want.

[Lasareina]

I have two staffordshire terriers ... One is extremely good with other dogs - I would put her on the dog social end of the scale above. My male is the opposite ... He can't be let out in the dog park for instance. I think he mainly reacts out of anxiety instead of aggression, and put it down largely to how we socialised him as a puppy... I think we would go about it completely differently next time now that we have more experience. That being said ... Both Hunter and Juno were socialised in the same way and reacted completely differently.

Hunter is dedicated to Juno and they get along perfectly 99% of the time. Sometimes Juno has to put her foot down when he gets overbearing, and this usually results in a bit of noise, and then Hunter slinking around with his tail between his legs avoiding her for half an hour before the go back to normal. I can see that if there was a big size difference this could be a more worrying situation, especially if the smaller dog decided he was going to be boss over a younger but bigger dog.

Hunter gets along with maybe 3 other dogs he has met, mostly breeds like golden retrievers that he doesn't seem to find threatening. He also is fine with mums female dog. I think he would be fine with mums male dog as well except that Ninja does not like him and tries to bail him up every time we are there. In this one case Hunter acts super submissively rather than aggressively when anxious or threatened but we still need to closely supervise or seperate if old ninja is in a mood. Juno flops straight on her back and then will run around like a crazy dog with any dog she meets.

Two completely different dogs, same breed and same upbringing ... Definitely comes down to individuals :)

Oh and I would not trust either of them with a cat.

Edited March 12, 2015 by Lasareina

[melzawelza]

I have two staffordshire terriers ... One is extremely good with other dogs - I would put her on the dog social end of the scale above. My male is the opposite ... He can't be let out in the dog park for instance. I think he mainly reacts out of anxiety instead of aggression, and put it down largely to how we socialised him as a puppy... I think we would go about it completely differently next time now that we have more experience. That being said ... Both Hunter and Juno were socialised in the same way and reacted completely differently.

Hunter is dedicated to Juno and they get along perfectly 99% of the time. Sometimes Juno has to put her foot down when he gets overbearing, and this usually results in a bit of noise, and then Hunter slinking around with his tail between his legs avoiding her for half an hour before the go back to normal. I can see that if there was a big size difference this could be a more worrying situation, especially if the smaller dog decided he was going to be boss over a younger but bigger dog.

Hunter gets along with maybe 3 other dogs he has met, mostly breeds like golden retrievers that he doesn't seem to find threatening. He also is fine with mums female dog. I think he would be fine with mums male dog as well except that Ninja does not like him and tries to bail him up every time we are there. In this one case Hunter acts super submissively rather than aggressively when anxious or threatened but we still need to closely supervise or seperate if old ninja is in a mood. Juno flops straight on her back and then will run around like a crazy dog with any dog she meets.

Two completely different dogs, same breed and same upbringing ... Definitely comes down to individuals :)

Oh and I would not trust either of them with a cat.

Sounds like Juno is dog social and Hunter is dog selective (maybe could become dog tolerant).

BADRAP have a good article on this:

http://www.badrap.org/dogdog-tolerance

Edited March 12, 2015 by melzawelza

[Cosmolo]

I like that article that Melzawelza just posted and the bell curve- however, there are dogs beyond their particular definition of dog aggressive as well and to suggest that there is not a category of dogs who are beyond "needing supervision and a good leader" to manage dog aggressive behaviour is a little inaccurate IMO.

[Lasareina]

Sounds like Juno is dog social and Hunter is dog selective (maybe could become dog tolerant).

BADRAP have a good article on this:

http://www.badrap.org/dogdog-tolerance

Thanks Melzawelza ... Very interesting article. I wonder if Juno will move more towards the dog tolerant spectrum as she gets older ... She's settled down quite a bit but still shows that puppy eagerness to have everybody love her so I wonder if this will continue as she gets older. I wish I had more expertise to help Hunter become more tolerant ... I feel sorry for him when Juno gets to run around with doggy friends and he has to stay with me outside the park. Luckily he is obsessed with chasing his ball, Frizbi etc so that keeps him happy while Juno is socializing. :)

[Cleveland]

Thanks everyone, the replies are much appreciated.

Basically my concerns have been others thoughts too, introducing an unknown pup that may or may not be prone to aggression with such a size difference is going to be a gamble.

We are not looking at getting an adult with such a size difference, i have heard a few stories of so called rescues fobbing off dogs just to get them out the door. I wont bring another mature dog of such a size into the house, we will only get a pup off a registered breeder.

As it is i think partner and i are going to have to have a frank discussion on this.

I dont want to risk our little dog, and i know he would be horrified at the though of something happening to her as he loves her as much as i do but he is a bit blinkered because of our old staffy.

I think he thinks they will all be like him

I know for a fact though with him working full time shifts and me part time shifts and a bubs the dog isn't going to get the training a high needs breed should, being very honest and realistic it just wont happen.

Thanks again. Oh and i would LOVE a frenchie but OH isnt so keen.

[Yonjuro]

I go to an off lead fenced in dog park and have been going for around 13 months now. I have met some lovely Staffies that have been very social dogs with great owners. I have however met an equal number of bad ones and I am mainly talking about the owners who happened to have some overly muscular staffies that were anti-social. I will admit my view might be skewed due to the fact that the only fights I have seen have all involved these dogs and owned by people who don't seem to give a stuff.

The only time my Husky has been attacked at the park was with such dogs. I have found that they are great if they are getting it all their own way, but if they don't then all hell breaks loose.

Last week a very muscular blue staffie with a studded collar was all good and running around, but when it jumped on the back of my dog and bit into his fur, my dog snarled at him to back off and it went nuts. I was in there breaking it up and trying to get my dog the hell out of there. The owner did nothing except say "oi!" when I used my leg to block it. Thankfully my dogs double coat protected him, I put my boy on lead and walked to the other side of the park. This owner did nothing. It did go again when my boy was running, this time Ronin shouldered it and must have stepped in a hole as it hurt its leg and they left. His parting comment was "at least they got some exercise"

The only other time was when 2 sibling staffies went at my dog from either side. Again the owner was too far away and one of the dogs choked and spewed my dogs fur from its mouth! I also had to rescue a pug cross for the pair when the sibling went savage at it. I had to boot one of the dogs and wrestle the other off the pug X. Suffice it to say I was furious, not at the dogs really but the bloody owner as this is not the first time it has happened. Poor pug x owner doesn't come back anymore and it loved to run with my husky and his greyhound mate.

So my limited experience tells me that they don't like it when a dog doesn't submit to their behaviour and two together can be double trouble - again this is a generalisation.

[WreckitWhippet]

SBT male and female Cairn will be fine together. The males are rarely aggressive towards bitches and tend to take being bossed around by the girls in their stride.

I would personally be looking closely at the temperament of the parents. Buy from a registered breeder who knows their dogs, knows their lines and you shouldn't have an issue.

There is no way in hell I would have a female SBT and a female Cairn together.