Am I The Only One?

I don't have a dog right now, but I've had staffords in the past.

I walk our park most mornings as I like the exercise & I know quite a few of the walkers. There are many stafford/stafford crosses &  they're all lovely although some are a bit 'enthusiastic'!

But all I hear is "bloody bull breeds"  and "dangerous dogs" etc.

I don' t honestly know why the staffords & stafford crosses around here should suddenly become 'devil dogs'.

They're gorgeous, with no exceptions!

I think it’s down to stereotypes and ignorance.

I’m lucky in that staffies are relatively unknown here so more curiosity than finger pointing.
However Nifty has a deformed tail (about half is missing) so she gets mistaken for a bulldog which often has a shorter stumpy tail too ...

Other than that, I’m pleased to report that Nifty continues to charm all those who meet her (and who aren’t dead licked to death ! )

gillybrent wrote:I don't have a dog right now

That's sad. I hope it won't be like that for long.

I don't hear the 'bloody bull breeds' stuff much but that's mainly because I pick my walks. We have 5 or 6 walks where I'm fairly sure I'll meet very few people, usually no one, and the few we do meet we know and they're the right sort. I'm not overly keen on sharing my walks with people anyway, but have lost patience with the idiots who let their precious fluff balls run up to you and then blame your on-lead dog for any altercation, usually started by said fluff ball.

Where you do sometimes hear it is at Danaher, when people looking for dogs dismss the lovely bullies we've got in, even though they are otherwise perfect for their homes. The staff rarely even try to change their minds, if they're not open to a rescue dog for what it is, they're not the right home for it anyway.

They don't know what they're missing out on, that's all I can say.

I’m the same as you Liz, crossing off certain route now where people are idiots I’ve had the same telling me to watch my dog when he’s on lead and there’s is off lead! There’s a couple of people in my area that have good dogs that interact great with hank and the owners aren’t afraid of him either.

I had one women the other week mumble “oh god” under her breath as I was approaching her, so I said he’s friendly to her and she still looked like she wanted to run off to which her dog tried to get at hank and was barking, she didnt even apologise. I’ve had a lot of that where they look scared of him and it’s their dogs that go nuts and hank just stands calm and looks as to say “what have I done “

Absolutely agree with everything that's been said. Leah is a very friendly dog and it's a shame when you see people physically draw back or pull their children away. One woman we met burst into tears because Leah went up to say hello!
The only bother I've had is similar, wee yappy aggressive dogs who should be on a lead. I always try and manage Leah's encounters with other dogs and clueless people can make this difficult. She is my first staffy and I am so glad I ignored the 'advice' given.

I think we've all had some experience of this. I'm doing an interview for someone's masters degree in the early new year which will be covering exactly this issue. This won't be a public film but hopefully I'll see the finished article.

-Ian- wrote:I think we've all had some experience of this. I'm doing an interview for someone's masters degree in the early new year which will be covering exactly this issue. This won't be a public film but hopefully I'll see the finished article.

That's great Ian - the more opportunities to get the message across the better.

That's exciting, Ian! I do hope there will be some way we can see it, especially as I'm assuming Flo will have a starring role.

The stupid thing with all these reactions from people is that I get the complete opposite with Millie, who is generally described as 'sweet' and has even on occasion hit 'divine'. I've had a couple of priceles looks from people who then ask what she is, when I reply she's a staffie cross.

Yes, I’d love to see it too

How bizarre Liz! How can they say all those nice things then want to retract once knowing she’s a Staffies cross.. surely she doesn’t look any different from when they said she was divine.. grrr I hate some people