is my dog a cross

My daisy is almost nine months and we rescued her as a puppy found roaming the streets. Right now she is 16 inches plus to the withers and 40-45 pounds. On her rescue form she is labelled as a staff cross in some and a staffy in others.

Pictures will be added soon!

can't really tell you much without picture though at 9 months old they grow in all sorts of strange ways

Need the piccys

You can never be certain unless the dog has a pedigree. Just be happy with what you have, and amazing that you have givrn a dog a forever home staffy x hyena here Xx

the vet said she was very stocky for her age and no fat.

I'm rubbish at guessing crosses but she sure looks staffy to me. She's gorgeous

she looks pretty staffy to me but as above without papers etc you can never be 100% , you will see how she is much better in a few months but she is a nice looking girl and a beautiful shiny coat

Yes looks like a staff majority to me, gorgeous dog. 

She looks Staffy to me  

Looks staffy to me, what a beautiful girl you have there

She's a lovely looking girl, looks staffie to me  

Certainly looks like a Stafford! I suppose the rescue people can't be 100% sure & that's why they've said Stafford x.

yes im in total agreement she looks like a staffie to me and a gorgeous one at that  

Thanks its her head that confuses me looks very American imo but I wouldn't care if she had six legs I'd still love her

Her head's perfectly normal for a Stafford of her age! 

I had to double take a little bit, she looks very much like my boy! She's gorgeous

Apparently she has a lot of puppy skin I hope her head doesn't get too wide!

She is gorgeous and looks like a staffy to me too!

Looks staffy to me, but you will never know 100%

I'm pretty sure that my Douglas is not a straight SBT either. It's difficult to know as he came from the rescue, but there are three things that I base my judgment on. I dont know if any of these will be useful for thinking about Daisy.

Firstly, Douglas is too big for a staffie - according to pedigree descriptions on the web, including wikipedia. Here the male is supposed to range between 13 and 17 kg. Douglas is a chunky 21.6 kg, or 47 pounds, not overweight. The female is described as being between 11 and 15.4 kg, even smaller. Like Douglas, Daisy overshoots the weight expectation by quite a margin. I would be interested to know if other people's dogs on this forum conform very much with the published breed weight range.

Secondly, Douglas does not *look* like a pure staffie as the distance from between his eyes to the end of his nose seems far too long. He has a regular snout, while most pictures of 'pure' staffies seem to have much shorter faces. Now, what is a 'pure' staffie? I'm sure I dont know, but presumably the people who breed them for show and sale have an idea about it. You can consult the online World SBT Pedigree Database and see countless images of supposedly purebred dogs of Daisy's age and colour and make your own judgment. For example, http://www.stamtavler.com/dogarchive/results.php?mode=advanced&name=&nickname=&sex=female&byear=200&landofbirth=United+Kingdom&landofstanding=&color=Black&kennel=&L2hga=&HC=&Phpv=&Patella=&HDright=&HDleft=&ADright=&ADleft=&action=Search.

The third thing is what several people have told me on the street - and this wont be helpful for thinking about Daisy. Many people have suggested that Douglas is a SBT crossed with an English Bull Terrier. I dont know if that's true, but it would explain the greater bulk and extended head shape.

Much more important than the look of the dog, in my opinion, are its early life and socialisation (or lack of) experiences. And here you really are at a disadvantage if you got your dog from the rescue or found it as a stray as you cannot know (or the rescue will not tell you). Douglas is consistently good with people, but has a few problems with other dogs that I think could have been ironed out if he had had better care in his puppyhood, but very difficult to change now.

According to dog behaviourist/trainer Ian Dunbar, we choose our dogs based on the three Cs: colour, conformity and cuteness. It's the invisible dog on the inside that matters most.

yeahbut wrote:Now, what is a 'pure' staffie? I'm sure I dont know, but presumably the people who breed them for show and sale have an idea about it.

It depends whether you mean 'pure' or 'pedigree'.

A 'pure' stafford is one that has had stafford ancestors, on both sides, in an unbroken line from the time staffords were first registered as a breed. Any dog that has had any other breed introduced at any time in his 'pedigree' (ie his written statement of ancestry) is not 'pure'.

A 'pedigree' dog is one that is registered as a specific breed with the Kennel Club of its home land. This means that all of its ancestors, right back to the time the breed was first recognised as a breed, have also been registered with the KC.

I'm not great with guessing crosses either but looks all Staffy to me too, she is gorgeous  

thankyou, daisy looks small to me I can't get my head around 13 inch staffies i really want to meet one!