Removed my original heading. I was wrong to say this site is biased. Sorry folks.
The Irish staffordshire bullterrier is just as is, an ISBT. they have been bred in Ireland since the early 1900s. They are not crossbreeds anymore than the uk staff is. they have just been bred for a different purpose instead of show. Im not saying that unscrupulous breeders have not crossed a pit bull through some strains of the breed, as they have done with our staffs in the past. I know because I witnessed it. Lets not have anymore witch hunts on any breed. I have had bull terriers since 1966. Im not a young ned. Im not a drug dealer I abhore dog fighting of any kind. Ive had 3 staffs 1 pit bull and now have 2 Irish staffs. My dogs are non aggressive and well trained. They will not eat your children as they are not allowed to play with children on thier own. The only incident my dogs ever had was when an alsation attacked my latest pup breaking his leg and costing me 1000 pounds at the vets as I had forgot to add him to my insurance. This does not mean I dont like alsations. I love all dogs. It means I dont like the people who dont have control of the dog. So please give the guy who does'nt have K.C registered dog a break. After all the dog makes the paperwork. The paperwork does'nt make the dog. Mines still goes woof and wags his tail, he does'nt know he's not in the club. I never told him.

Hi

I know nothing of your breed I have rotties
and what you said is right
at the end of the day a dogs a dog love or loathe a breed its personal choice.
The biggest problem is some of the idiots that get the breeds.
Dont tell your little man he isnt in the club
he can join mine :-) but only if he is a dafty though :-)

agree with many of your points except about the strains of irish stafford being bred from irish stafford stock from the early 1900's,most go back to dogs sent from english show lines like pal of aveth,brinstock glenagow,topcroft toreador etc which were sent in the 1950's 60's and 70's.the dogs were used in the trials there and the winners bred together to start the various strains and working ability was prized above conformation.if a dog worked was the key to if they were bred and many of these staffords were bred with wheatens,kerrys and bull terriers for producing trial dogs,i am not saying your average ISBT has wheaten or kerry blood but i will say most contain a little (english) bull terrier so as not to make them strictly pure stafford.if you doubt what i say ask those in the know like the owners of psycho or stormer and they will tell you what i just wrote.

Dont expect anybody in this biased site to believe me but here goes anyway.

Hi and welcome (?)
If this is such a biased site in your view, then why ever would you want to post here? Just curious. Especially about what exactly on the boards is considered "biased" by you.

Personally, I've never heard of your breed. But that's ok. There are hundreds of dog breeds in the world past and present that many of us have never heard of :rolleyes:. Thanks for the information on it. I'll file it away in my brain to remember if I need it someday.
regards,
toodles

Thats a bit cheeky dont you think!!!!
I would say most people on this site are anything but biased in fact some of them answer posts I wouldnt even waste my time on !! there is a wealth of un biased information on here given freely by some very experienced people and if you cant find it your not looking properly and if you find it and dont like it its up to you wether you come here again.

Yes I'll hold my hand up, I'm biased against anyone breeding or promoting a Pit Bull replacement, which I have been lead to belive Irish Staff are. If I have been missinformed then I apoligise and I'm glad, but I will need some convincing. Jackie

Have to agree with you on this one Jackie, but then, I'm bias!

John

I wasnt saying anything other than its cheeky to insult people on the site
am I wrong then?

Your quite right Mattie! But I rather suspect this post is just here as a wind up so I for one will not waste my time posting on it. :(

John

Irish Staffs are a very old breed, and have a much lighter frame and athletic appearance than SBT's. I don't think they are or ever were a Pit Bull replacement, there are still plenty of those around, dog laws or not!! There have been plenty of posts on this board from people who want to breed strange coloured dogs, or want obscure crossbreeds of dogs. Maybe we shouldn't be so quick to condemn someone for their choice of breed.
Dawn.

It's not the dog I object to Dawn, it's the manner of the post. We put a lot of time into trying to help people but a posts that starts off by saying that we are bias is not going to get any help from me!

John

The time people take oh here to help people is anything but Bias..

Sound like someone is convuncing themselves..

Pam

Hope you don't mean me Pam ?

John states it is not the breed of dog he objects too, but then says he agrees with Jackie !! she says she does not want to promote a pit bull replacement, did I miss something then?

If they guy thinks the site is full of biased opinions, he can go elsewhere can't he !!
Dawn.

No Dawn,

I mean everyone on here is very helpful and takes time to answer people including you and everyone.

Not Bias at all. Opinions come from info that we hear and see.

Pam

Hi Pam.
That's what makes the board so good, if you think about it, anyone buying a dog, or anyone who has a problem with a dog, need only refer to previous posts, there is a wealth of information on here, from people from all walks of life. We are all learning all the time, it's good to share our thoughts and opinions with each other.
Dawn.

HI Dawn, When I first joined I was a bit apprehensive, but I soon learned how to interpret peoples posts and likewise they will have mine. As many have said the written word always sounds harsher and we all are passionate about our dogs breed.

I feel welcome now and have met a few nice people and also learned alot whcih is what is is all about.

BFN

Pam :-)

I have to say ive found the people who post on this board nothing but welcomming, before i joined this board i was going out of my mind because i couldnt find a pomeranian breeder, but a few days after i posted on here problem sorted!!

I Am sorry for going off the deep end (see my reply in the visitors board "Breeding for colour"). When I asked the question about breeding for colour the first two replys I got were about why is it not kc reg, and yes it is a pit bull replacemnt. I thought here we go again. I am used to people having their hackles up so to speak any time my type of dog gets a mention. So yes I probably did over react. The fact that I am still here to apologise may convince you that I am not here for a wind up. I have been treated with biased opinions for years for my choice of dogs, I have also had a lot of abuse on other boards(not this one yet) sorry to Christine the doberman remark was not aimed directly at you.(I think Dobermans are great dogs I have a friend who bred them) Thanks to Dawn for a bit of support ( you obviously know a bit about the breed) The reason I was interested in breeding for colour is that I am going to breed, However I dont want to breed for "gameness." These dogs are going to be bred by others anyway. I would rather breed safe dogs for looks and temperament as most of this type of dog will end up as pets. The only way to ensure the safety of the public is with a better understanding of breeding. This in turn will save the breed from a bad reputation. The dogs I breed would not be used for fighting as the serious "dogmen" would'nt touch my dogs as they will not be "game" enough. This suits me fine as I dont agree with blood sports. Now my dog is a 50%black & 50%white,(Piebald or harlequin)so I am told, people stop me in the street to comment on how gorgeous he is. I thought it would be nice to breed this colour if possible. Any help or advice would be much appreciated. Once again, sorry to anyone i upset. I hope this explains a little as to why I get so defensive.

Dawn I was talking of people too, not the dogs they have no say in why they are born or what they are trained to do. Jackie

I agree with that !!
Dawn.

Hello All,
This is my first post here and im going to sound very silly so i`ll appologise first.
Ok my friend has a staffy(i used to have a collie) My friends staffy was and is the best dog i`ve ever met. So i decided to get a staffy having known Jody (the normal type staff) for years. There was an add in the local paper staff for sale 1 year old registered, etc, wife with new twins forces sale.Went to see the dog she seemed lovely,but big...looking back too big,but the guy told me she came from liverpool and they breed them big down there,but as there were papers i thought shed stop growing up the way,wrong.Shes all white,though ive been told its really blue,with a patch over one eye....anyway the papers say staff bull terrier,there from the intercontinental kennel club.But when i phoned them they told me she an Irish staff from the physco line.Now dont get me wrong i love rogue now and shes a great dog, but shes not a staffy as anyone whos not an expert would think.Shes magic with people follows me around like a dog etc,but you can just tell the fighting instinct is not far from the surface and she has already tried to stamp her authority over my girl friend when i was out one time,which shocked me,although it probarbly wasnt the dogs fault,but if she bit it would cause damage.Also she is not good with other dogs.Ive made her sound like a nightmare but really shes not.
What i mean is they should be called Irish bull terriers and drop the staffy bit.Ive beed told she has no pitbull in her,and i believe that,but at the same time i feel they,or atleast mine,because of her size and from what i can gather recent fighting history (i managed to find result of fights dogs from the same line as mine were in!) makes them different from uk staffs who have been bred without fighting inmind for ages.

Hi rogue

These dogs do require a certain degree of pack leadership training. Loads of people in here can help you with this type of training. I will take this to e mail as its been flogged to death on the board already. I have mailed you.

Mick

The Irish Staffie is not a replacement for the pit bull why should they be pit bulls are not banned here .
There is an add most every month for pit bulls,they are the latest craze again here for age groups 14 to 25.
they are being walked with their owners in the street and so far I have not seen one go for my dogs.Nor have I seen any battle scars on them.
Yes I know they are still people fighting them .But a certain type of person is responsible for that.and as it is an underground sport we would not be aware where the dogs are.
To be honest it is not something you would want to know as those people are dangerous and you might find on waking not to have a dog alive yourself.
Now the irish staffie is a very much fancied dog here very far removed from the A.p.b and I believe they will soon be assessed and allowed to be registered.Probably take 5 yrs but nevertheless they are now getting recognition for the wonderful family dogs they are.Also the silver colour is very attractive and have a lot of fanciers on lists for them.
Mick is very very protective of his chosen breed and sometimes he does go a bit over the top protecting their reputation, but his heart is in the right place and he loves his dogs to bits,and he will go to hell and back to help anyone with their dogs what ever the breed.

Yup Irish "Blues" have been popular around here (Merseyside) for years, to such an extent it could well be seen by some as a alternative strain of ISBT, like red nose dogs etc... People here do refer to their particular dogs as "Irish Blues" and "Irish Staffs" probably nothing in it?

My Irish Staff also got attacked by a roaming German Shepard who somehow escaped from his owners van, thankfully he could easily defend himself even though I was holding him on the lead. My Irish Staff is just too friendly with other dogs, I think I may have over socialised him after reading too much into Irish Staffs and recomendations from this forum to socialise the dog. My one just loves other dogs too much, maybe because he was bought up with my cousins doberman and cross breed staff from the age of 12 weeks. He constantly wants to play with all types of dogs even though he has been attacked on two different occasions strangely enough both times by German Shepards. This just shows how far removed he is from the 'traditional APBT image', which is known not to be as friendly with other dogs.

Who says its a bad thing to have a dog that can defend itself is bad, in this day and age with viscous dogs roaming free off the lead a dog has to have some defence. Luckily my dog has survived both attacks and come out with his physical and mental health intacked and they were pretty savage attacks aswell, attacking him completely by surprise for no reason. Ive met women who walk around with oven spray in their hand bags as it is a cheap equivalent of mace that can be used to spray in the attacking dogs eyes if their dog gets attacked.

Basically all im saying is be sensible and look after your dogs and having a dof that can defend itself is not so bad.

Why the fascination for resurrecting all these posts which have been dead for years? This one died 2.5 years ago and the man who started the thread has not been here for well over a year.

Regards, John