My aunties afghan hound was shot dead - they live in Derbyshire and the dog jumped over the farmers fence (which she had never done before) where there were sheep. She was heartbroken as she was a lovely gentle dog. I know farmers first priority is the sheep but personally I couldn't lift a gun and shoot an animal. Then again I'm not a farmer.

As you say Oliversmum, "a lovely gentle dog", just like all the Staffs here are claimed to be, whilst they last that is.

"Zoe, you said'' and they had a small child with them aswell'', yes we all know staffs were originaly bred for fighting and therefore can have a tendancy to be aggressive to other dogs, but whats the kid got to do with it ?

The way i read it, you were implying that these owners were irresponsible to have a child with an dog aggressive staffie, come on we all know how great staffs are with kids !!"

I was implying nothing of the sort for goodness sake, I mentioned the child because Im sure she didnt exactly enjoy seeing her dog attack this lab!!!

Zoe thats exactly how I read it, that it was a horrible thing for a child to see.

Cheers Leanne, atleast you can see I aint on a witch hunt for staffies :p

"It's a problem with the human rather than with the dog "

Afraid not - this breed has an innate tendency to fight with other dogs - this trait should and can be bred out of them by selectively breeding from ONLY sociable even tempered animals - my observations from around the ringside is that this is highly unlikely to happen because breeders value the 'spirited' type of temperament and encourage their dogs to spar with each other to highlight  this characteristic to the judge.

The fact that the breed attracts those who want to cultivate a 'hard' image is a direct result of breeding for a 'game' temperament - the future of the  Staffy breed lies in the hands of todays breeders and judges - is'nt it about time they took a long hard look at what they are producing !.

Yvonne

Exactly - it's a problem with the human :D

Daisy

I agree with you Yvonne...its a problem with the 'breed' perpetuated by irresponsible owners and breeders.There are good and bad in every breed however tooooo many staffs are bred from dog aggressive parents.If only social staffs were bred from then eventually the dog to dog aggression would become less of a problem.IMO a dog can have spirit without this need to fight.Now I love staffs and beleive in 'punish the deed not the breed' but until the idiots out there breeding their dogs 'cos they're big and hard' stop the staff will continue to get a bad name.
I think people need to take a breath when answering this type of post ....the initial cry is 'YOUR ONLY POSTING IT COS ITS A STAFF'.....not true.GSD,lab owners etc don't protest if its their chosen breed doing the deed....the problem is that staffys DO tend to attack more dogs than other breeds because 1/of their dog aggressive nature ,2/ because of their huge numbers.I know not all staffs are aggressive...I owned one who was had the softest of natures (got chased by a nasty minature poodle....lol) but in general they are untrustworthy around other dogs.If you took 100 staffs,labs,Gsd,collies etc at random whos would takes bets that a higher percentage of the staffs would be dog aggressive than the other breeds?
You can't slate people for posting about a dog attack....whatever the breed.....if it happened it happened and people have a right to talk about it.
One last thing....STAFFYS ARE FANTASTIC.....when correctly bred and raised....its just a shame soooo many dim wits own them.
Archer 

here here Archer. 

I read Zoe's post to be simply 'sigh' - as in saddened at another dog attack -regardless of breed and the fact that a small child had to witness it as a sad event -not a critiscm(sp) of anyones responsibilities in owning a dog and having small children -thats how I saw it anyway ;)

in response to Yvonne
what rubbish, I've been to shows, ringcraft classes, etc with a particular interest in the staffies.  Only ONE dog out of a very large group was remotely aggressive towards its counterparts.....
It isn't a nice trait, I agree, but I'm afraid the majority of problems do stem from the human interaction....
Yes, the breed has a tendency to fight with other dogs, but this is often encouraged by the occasional irresponsible owner......the type you describe as wanting to cultivate a hard image....these people are not EVEN in the same class as responsible owners...
regardless of the breed type!

and your comment regards breeders and judges taking a long hard look at what they're producing, rather sweeping don't you think????  Blinkered, one sided view????

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