Owners need to work harder to keep their Staffies under control

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/ashford/news/teens-and-horses-attacked-by-97373/

There have been too many similar stories recently. It is such bad news for every other Staffy who lives under the the permanent threat of breed-specific legislation.

Yes, I know it could happen to anyone, including me - but it's just not acceptable. Do you think, in general, these incidents could have been completely avoided?

And, yes, I do think often - it could happen to me. There is no guarantee that it won't.

Yes these incidences can be avoided. I walk my Flo over Wimbledon common and Epsom downs where we regularly meet horses and I automatically put her on lead. I don't think she would go for a horse but I won't take the chance and it reassures the rider that I have her under control.

The guy in the clip was very wrong and had I seen it I would have told him so and perhaps more.

We are responsible for the actions of our dogs when out, we can't just switch off and think everything is fine if we aren't alert, I think it's common sense. It's not just Staffies, it's all dogs from small to big!

Ditto, I always have and always will clip on my dogs whenever they are near any animals. I even did it with Mungo who used to come on rides with me. I have been on the receiving end, with dogs chasing my horse (mostly collies and terriers) and it is extremely worrying. It's a testament to the horses and riders that they didn't panic and end up with the horses bolting goodness knows where.

As for the man's attitude... 'no, no, no' denying anything happened, that's disgraceful. All dog owners, not just us staffie owners, need to be proactive in keeping others safe and also take responsability for any incidents that do happen.

What calm girls they are, as for the owners they tar us all with the same brush
Katy can be reactive to other dogs, so when we are out I'm always looking out for other dogs. If I see any I clip Katy on her lead, she's never been confrontational off lead but I'm not willing to take a chance!!!
If your unsure keep them on their leads!!!

same goes with cattle were all responsible here there are staffy owners in my area their dogs are vicious gives the rest of is a very bad name

Mia05 - when you talk to the owners with vicious dogs, what do they say about how they raise them and train them?

I find this really upsetting and was actually coming on here to ask about how people deal with the staffy 'reputation' We have a pup and have just started hearing all the u needed comments "it's one of them playground dogs" or "its them vicious things". Do any of you ever say anything to these people or do you just stay quiet. It's so upsetting

Please don't let ignorant comments upset you. Trust me you will soon grow a thick skin as sadly many of us have had horrible comments when out with our pups. I always find that when misty is being well behaved then I get much more smiles from people then if she were a Labrador acting the same way. It's all about perception, if people see a well behaved dog that's what they will remember. Of course there are always people who see us and run a mile. My current favourite is a guy in the park with a little spaniel. Misty is always on her long line and literally when he sees us he drags his dog away and puts  him on a lead and only when we are far enough away does he take the lead off. It's so funny, even funnier when his dog took off running to come and meet misty and ignored his recall. I thought the guy was going to cry ha ha his dog and misty got on fine but he was having none of it. Even last week a big dog, not sure of the breed, came running up to us and misty and him had a lovely chase. The owner was screaming for his dog to return but was ignored, he was blowing his whistle and screaming but his dog was far too involved with misty. The guy came over so I told him why misty is on the long line as her recall is sketchy and he wouldn't even speak to me!! It's a shame as the dogs got on like a house on fire and I would have loved to have dropped her long line so they could have had a proper chase but I wouldn't as he obviously didn't want them playing.

One thing I have found is that other owners of dogs like German shepherds, other staffs, huskies, rotties etc will always give you a smile as it's like some club we are all in where we have dogs that the public might be ( wrongly) scared of.

Don't let anyone upset you, the forum is always here and sadly we have experience of this. To be honest I have only had one guy say something horrible to me and I stayed silent. Sometimes people are not worth speaking to x

It is so sad. We have literally only been out and about this weekend and have already seen about 10 people cross the street to get away fromantic our 13 week pup who was well behaved and on the lead. On the plus side we have also had a couple of people cross the street to say hello. And nicest of all was bumping into another staffy owner of an adult staffie who said they had to grow a thick skin due to the comments. I guess it's something we are going to have to get used to but like has already been said these irresponsible owners are making it bad for everyone. We even had Zeus at a puppy class therefore proving he was being raised properly and another puppy owner made the comment. Never mind ours was the most sociable there (maybe a little over social lol)

I really like Emma's post above, I think she kinda gets it in that one reply.

Let's talk perception, my Flo is Deaf so we bought her a Hi Vis jacket that says Deaf on both sides for two reasons 1. Joggers and cyclists would be able to see that she can't hear them coming 2. If I'm trying to call her back I wanted people to realise that she isn't some rampant mad dog ignoring me, she's Deaf!

Now, with the above in mind imagine the two different scenarios, my girl with Hi Vis on and we get smiles and aww's and then the swerving picking up dogs thing without the Hi Vis. It's the same well behaved dog!!... Ok most of the time

So it really is all about perception, if you have a well behaved dog that has great recall then you'll put an awful lot of other owners to shame, and they could well take a good lesson from most Staffy owners

I'll add one last thing, be proud of being the owner of a loving loyal well behaved Staffy