This probably makes me a terrible Stafford owner but...

Sometimes I wish Saxon was just a touch more intimidating to creepy people. I just had a 50-60 year old drunk walk up to me in the street and compliment me on the cleft in my chin. "Hey! Nice cleft! I like your freckles, but that cleft chin, man, it's overpowering!! Amazing!" The guy was a real creeper and I would have appreciated it if Saxon let out a bark or something to scare him off. He just stood there smiling and wagging his tail. An other stranger said, "Man why don't you leave the girl alone." If he hadn't been there, though, I don't know how I would have gotten myself out of that situation...

I've had a lot of times where Saxon has even attracted the creepers. I ACTUALLY had someone say to me once, "Wow, nice dog, and you aren't so bad yourself!" The rest of them either talk about how they love Pit Bulls or think he'd be a good breeder (these breeding experts always fail to notice Saxon's lack of balls...). One even said he'd be a good fighter. "I can see it in his eyes." Really? Bcause he's chasing a butterfly and wagging his tail...

I love my Saxon, but I wish that creepy people didn't!!

woody is exactly the same - had a drunk come over a few weeks ago complimenting me on woody and his breath was near enough knocking me out but woody was all over him!!!!

haha!! awwww bless .. im sure if anybody was to try and harm you saxon would have something to say about that!.
My previous staffy diesel was a big softy with people he met etc, but once someone tried to come up behind me in the dark on a walk once, and he noticed just before he got close to me and Diesel went mental!! he couldnt of run away fast enough.

Perhaps teach him to bark or growl or something on cue (preferably hand signal) to make him appear a little scarier when necessary? I'm sure he'd step up if there was any real danger, though.

Thanks for your personal story, Kelly. Makes me feel a little safer about Saxon. Maybe he just hasn't felt that I was threatened yet.

Ane, I was thinking about it, but I don't want to open up a can of worms. He already runs trough some of his tricks when he wants something really tasty that I have and I wouldn't want him to start barking when he wants a treat. We live in an apartment and people would complain if he barked. Plus, he very rarely barks anyway, I don't know how to make him bark!

CatStina wrote:Thanks for your personal story, Kelly. Makes me feel a little safer about Saxon. Maybe he just hasn't felt that I was threatened yet.

No probs! .. alot of the time they wont do anything unless necessary .. when my brother pretends to fight me lol, vinnie is always watching with a close eye and if i was to yell ouch! he goes up to him and will bark once.

I understand what you mean...

sometimes if someone like this asks me if they can stroke Mambo or ask the stupid question 'does he bite' I just say 'not really' (for question 1- suggesting that I'm not sure of Mambo's behaviour ) or 'yes he does' (question 2 - of course he bites, he has to eat somehow! )
it usually works and people don't come closer. but Mambo is not over excited when he sees stragers from the distance so it's easier. but if someone approached him without asking, he would be waggling his tail and being all friendly...

I understand what you mean, but i don't seem to have that problem people avoid me when harvs about anyway, but he is a totally different dog if i'm walking him alone at night he isn't interested in having a fuss off people and will warn people off by making himself look big and really staring at them, he never barks or growls but he knows he doesn't need to, he also seems to do it more to strange men as well.

I believe in time of need your dog would prtoect you, but it is nice to have a dog serve as a deterrence before this is needed. You could work on the "watch em" command. Police dogs and dogs trained in protection use this before issuing a bite command. You would not have the bite command of course, creep would not know that. It would aim to put the suspect individual on alert as well as teach your dog to focus on what (who) is making you uneasy. I know most Staffies are not as protective as some breeds (my former American Bulldog was instinctively protective) but you can foster some of these traits.

I guess I could always say "Watch Him" loudly to Saxon when I see a creeper. The creeper wouldn't know that he doesn't actually know that command. I am weary of actually training him to be protective because I wouldn't want it to get out of hand.

Yeh i agree. I had someone break into the house before and Romeo ran up to say hello to him! Pity he doesn't have any guarding instincts, but i don't think hes a particually intimidating dog to look at anyway, strangers always comment on how happy and cute he looks! He is trained to bark on command though, i've found that if someone is going to be scared of dogs, it doesn't matter what breed they are, big or small, they'll sh*t themselves reguardless.

I remember Caryll mentioned in one of the posts before (that was when someone told the story about annoying teenagers approaching a dog and shouting at him!) that you can just say sth like 'leave them, leave them!' loud enough to be heard by some uninvited people even if it doesn't make any sense to your dog
I like this idea

that you can just say sth like 'leave them, leave them!' loud enough to be heard by some uninvited people even if it doesn't make any sense to your dog
I like this idea

I've done that! I've also had incidences when Romeo been playing and they've thought hes on the attack. Hes well behaved so i could have stopped him going for the stick/ball they were holding or stopped him running up to them- but if its a dodgy group of people i don't bother. I've had groups of 'tough' thuggy teenagers squealing and running away from this little dog cause they think hes going to bite them. Actually- he thinks there playing a game with him!

shakespearesdog wrote: I've had groups of 'tough' thuggy teenagers squealing and running away from this little dog cause they think hes going to bite them. Actually- he thinks there playing a game with him!

and while they're running away, you can have some good laugh but you're probably left there with your dog all confused thinking 'i only wanted to play, why did they run away?!'

spuker1 wrote:I remember Caryll mentioned in one of the posts before (that was when someone told the story about annoying teenagers approaching a dog and shouting at him!) that you can just say sth like 'leave them, leave them!' loud enough to be heard by some uninvited people even if it doesn't make any sense to your dog
I like this idea

Yes, I've done that - believe me, it works, especially if your dog is pulling on the lead (I shorten the lead & it looks like he's pulling), and even more so if he's got that huge staffy grin!

I've always been lucky with my dogs, especially the males. They've always been a little suspicious of strangers & Dempsey especially doesn't like drunks. When I used to take Bandit out for a walk at night, if he saw someone walking towards me I'd first feel a sort of vibration through the lead, then a low growl & it would become a full throated growl if they came too close. Mostly, people used to cross the road!

I find that rather like with people-clothes maketh the man! If Romeos got his harness on people are a lot more wary, however they think hes adorable if hes wearing his bandana. Maybe i should start wearing a leather and brass harness, and see what reactions i get?

Charlie is the same. I left my windows in the living room open for him today when we popped out cos it was hot. My hubby said it would be fine cos Charlie was in there if anyone tried to get in. I answered: "Are you kidding, he'll let them come in and take whatever they want as long as they remember to fuss him on the way out!"

I do like to think though, that if Charlie genuinely thought we were in danger, he'd be protective, especially as I walk him on my own in the evenings.