Oh for goodness sake!

Oh please!!

Herbs and I were out for a walk this morning and on our way back a lady and her spaniel came down the path towards us. She was on the phone and her dog was happily running around. Herbie did his usual thing, stands and stares then rushes forward and stops at the last minute, wagging his tail and looking at the woman, not the dog. The dog pretty much ignored him! However, because she was on the phone she was distracted and only saw him at the last minute. I know he is powerful and with that big gob can look a bit scary, but she actually screamed and made him jump, then she bumped into him as she was still walking and he staggered back a bit, but he's 30 kilos so she definitely felt it! She then shouted a loud Ow! and I did my usual spiel, 'Sorry, he's friendly, but a bit big, doesn't know his own strength' etc. And she said, not to me, but down the phone 'Oh no, I thought he was going to attack me, he had that stance on, oh no, ow, ow'!

By this time Herbie has wandered off, as has her dog, I am a bit embarrassed, but then I think, hang on, what kind of an idiot does she think I am, if I had a dangerous dog who attacked people, I would have him muzzled and on a lead the whole time! If she had bumped into a lab or a German shepherd or something similar, I bet she would have said sorry, and made a fuss of it, but not to a staffie, it's so unfair!

Fortunately Herbie has no idea about 'breedism' and just loves everyone, long may that last! I gave him an extra cuddle in the car ... as you do ...!

I'm so fed up with these people on their phones when walking their dogs!! If she was paying attention she would of seen he was no threat I had it yesterday, before entering the field I could see a woman ambling very slowly down the field with a jrt off lead on her phone. She eventually turned & saw us (Katy on lead) said its ok he's friendly I said quite clearly Katy wouldn't be if he came too close so she finally clipped him on Problems averted
Please put your phones down!!!!!!!!

well said Jen!!happens all the time when we are out walking with sash too,some people

30kg? Jeez he is a big lad. Anywho, don't worry, he didn't do anything wrong

Yeah, he is a big lump! Broke my little finger when I grabbed his collar to stop him chasing a bike, pulled my 83 year old mum over chasing a squirrel (I told her not to untie him!), put his head through our old fence (it was a bit rotten and he was trying to get next doors chickens) and so on! He is 80% Staffie and 20% American Staffie, the American bit makes him tall and the staffie bits make him ... broad, to put it politely. Plus, he is a piggy spoilt piggy so is a bit over weight!

9austin wrote:Yeah, he is a big lump! Broke my little finger when I grabbed his collar to stop him chasing a bike, pulled my 83 year old mum over chasing a squirrel (I told her not to untie him!), put his head through our old fence (it was a bit rotten and he was trying to get next doors chickens) and so on!  He is 80% Staffie and 20% American Staffie, the American bit makes him tall and the staffie bits make him ... broad, to put it politely. Plus, he is a piggy spoilt piggy so is a bit over weight!

Jeez, no wonder at that weight, Nita is around 16kg and she pulls me even at 6'2 and 16 stone.

I don't think he is very overweight, a bit, definitely, but we can still see his waist, and it is made worse by the fact that he has gammy legs and has had operations which mean shorter lead walks, which he hates.  Less walking means less exercise which means less food which means boredom ... you know how it goes, a vicious cycle.

Should I start a poll, is Herbie overweight? ... maybe not! They are a strong, solid breed, if yours is half his weight and you still feel the pull, that proves it.  She has a lovely face by the way, is she full staffie?

Oh that drives me nuts too. I had 3 run ins with a woman walking 3 labs who each time piled on top of Millie (who as we know is the not world's bravest at the best of times), and the 3rd time one of them actually bit her. Each time she was on the phone, not looking what her dogs were doing, not checking ahead to see if there was anyone coming. I'm guessing either my warning about reporting her or a run in with others sunk in eventually and I've not seen her since. But seriously, 3 full on dogs and you think it's ok to pay more attention to your oblong bit of plastic than to them?

Re Herbie's weight, it's difficult to see from a moving shot but it looks like there may be a little more over the ribs than ideal. Get a sideways shot of him standing still, that's easier to see. The test should also be that you can feel but not see ribs with light pressure.

To be honest I think walking your dog should be a pleasure to share with the dog not talking cr*p to your mate when you should be paying attention to your surroundings. Whilst on the same topic... walking down the street and an idiot is poka hunting or whatever and wanders about the pavement and inevitably straight into you, happens with serial texters too

Have to say, Herbie looks fab. He has such a charactful face

Thank you, he is a little (big) darling!

Oh, and don't get me started on people pushing prams on the phone ...

Oh, and don't get me started on people pushing prams on the phone ...

They are my favourite, especially when you have to squeeze into a bush or something as they have commandeered the whole pavement and they won't even acknowledge you.

My boy is 22.5kg now, but the non-staffy portion is am-bull and rottie so it's to be expected. He's hd various injuries in the past couple of months and is now on very short leaded walks and superjumpy around other dogs. When we could still take him to parks I was constantly saying "he's injured and in pain can you please call your dog" to people on their phones who have failed to notice Lord hoppityhop.

He recovered from a neck inury only to slide along some mud and do his back knee in.

Crazy people, you have to forgive their ignorance. Lovely looking boy x