Talk:American Staffordshire Terrier

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Incorrect Info On Am-Staff's

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Need new picture!

The picture is most definately an American Staffordshire Terrier, Not a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, please know what you are talking about before you post!!! Also, AmStaff's, raised in a loving enviroment are some of the most people friendly, protective dogs around. I've owned several dogs of various breeds, as well as an AmStaff for 14 years. The AmStaff never bit anyone and was by far my families favorite. It's a shame Pit Bulls have been abused and set loose into residential communities where inocent children have been injured. It is naive and narrow minded to think that a Lab or Shepard systematically abused for years would not act the same. It's a pity for the Pit Bulls and even more for the Am Staffs who are painted with the same bigotted brush. You should be ashamed of yourselves. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.118.149.210 (talk) 00:35, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

That's not an AmStaff, its' a Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Different dog. (comment written by ?)

The origin of the American Staffordshire Terrier breed was in England; not U.S. History needs to be researched and verified.--Kate1032 23:47, 24 August 2007 (UTC) The name "American" was not added to Staffordshire Terrier until the latter 20th Century, in the U.S. --Kate1032 23:56, 24 August 2007 (UTC) Removed a link to the APBT (American Pit Bull Terrier) because it is not an informational direct link regarding the AmStaff. The link should be on an APBT Wikipedia web page if one exists.--Kate1032 00:02, 25 August 2007 (UTC)Removed dead links.--Kate1032 00:24, 25 August 2007 (UTC) Any citation for "Jake the Dog"?--Kate1032 01:12, 25 August 2007 (UTC)Removed "Tiny" the dog from the Black Dog film reference as "Tiny" was an APBT (American Pit Bull Terrier).--Kate1032 01:27, 25 August 2007 (UTC)The "APPEARANCE" section needs to be re-written--Kate1032 01:33, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

• Citation regarding some films; Library of Congress Motion Pictures - American Memory series--Kate1032 10:51, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Dangerous animal

this is wrong the date is off the person who wrote it never had a pitbull An 18-month old child died today Aug 26, 2008 after it was savagely bitten by an American Stafforshire Terrier. The baby was playing on the floor, the dog was on a sofa and it suddenly savagely attacked the kid. It's criminal to write that American Stafforshire Terrier are ' family companion, American Staffordshire Terriers are highly stable around both children and other domesticated animals'.

"Today is just another day - to me they're all the same I have the worst of genes you see, I bear the "Staffy" shame. The shame is in our numbers, there's thousands with no home. Thousands just like me you'll find, in kennels all alone.

My mum was "just a Staffy", my father - well who knows? Mum, too, became unwanted, as the last puppy goes. And then begins the process, of money-making deals A life of "moving on" unfolds, who cares how the Staffy feels? If you have the cash to hand, the Staffy pup is yours But that pup is getting bigger now, just look at those big paws.

You brought me for your image, thought I'd make you look more tough But you'll find my boisterous nature has already got too much. If you had thought to train me, with kindness and with praise You would have had a faithful friend to share your darkest days. I would lay down my life for you, but you simply cannot see You make sure you get your money back on what you paid for me.

And on it goes, until one day, I'm no longer worth a dime The retail on an adult staff - not worth the waste of time. So what happens to a Staffy now? Do you really want to know? Do you care what will become of us, when we leave our final home?

Have you ever thought to wonder, "Where is that Staffy now?" The "Staffy" has another name; he's become a "stray" somehow. Me, I was put into a car and driven far away The door held open, I jumped out, I thought to run and play. It was with joy and happy heart I turned to look for you You drove away with all my trust and a piece of my heart too.

I wondered round for many days before I was brought here. Now I wait with heavy heart, trepidation and with fear. Seven days is all I have you see, seven days for you to claim The little dog that you threw out, for which you have no shame.

This is my last goodbye now my seven days are up If only more thought had gone into the future of that pup As the needle empties to my veins I lay down with one last sigh I'm sorry I was born a Staffy, because it means that I must die." —Preceding unsigned comment added by Donnerwetter45 (talk • contribs) 20:48, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

This article is terribly biaised. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.86.174.228 (talk) 17:11, August 26, 2007 (UTC)

Is this a joke? First off, the date is wrong. I move that this neutrality dispute be removed immediately - we might as well say that the saying "Dog is Man's best friend" is biased because dogs have attacked men. I'm sick of people writing that "it's criminal to say..." let's avoid hyperbole please. Oy veyKaiguy 20:23, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

For the dead kid, no, it is probably not a joke (cf. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=24&art_id=nw20070826171341312C850803) . And the saying "Dog is Man's best friend" is just a saying, not a fact. I agree on the neutrality dispute, it's contradictory to tell a dog race is "highly stable around children" when one of its members attacked and killed a child. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Potemkine (talk • contribs) 09:43, August 27, 2007 (UTC)

The 27th August 2007, in France, an 18 month old boy died. He was attacked by an American Staffordshire terrier a week earlier. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.41.115.228 (talk) 08:49, August 28, 2007 (UTC)

8/31/07 - We have an angel for a pet. She puts up with the antics of my 2-3 year old monster/son, and she is loving with all people (including babies and children) who comes to our home, while still being an excellent and obedient guard dog. Despite her perfect behavior and disposition, she is a dog and, much like children, dogs have inherent traits. Dogs behave in the way they are raised. Our Rottie, we believe, was taken from our back yard because she loved everyone. Our Doberman/German Shepard was the star of the community as a child (although a dear friend of mine was mauled by one similar and underwent millions in treatment), but the cocker spaniel we adopted was mean and aggresive (so was our shitzu). ALL dogs are prone to snap and, unfortunately, all dogs have the propensity to be jealous of or dislike children, not just particular breeds. ASTs are ferociously obedient, in general, which is what makes them great pets and great fighters, alike (not substantiated by any references, just many things I have read over the years). How they are trained and kept is the difference. In an encyclopedia, I expect truthful generalizations and there would be an assumed disclaimer that not all information on things as changeable as dogs' personality traits can be 100% accurate. These generalizations are correct and, despite the sadness of the 18-month old's circumstances, this could have happened with any other dog (or cat) large enough to do such damage. I feel very sorry for the family, but I maintain that the dispute is inaccurate and that these dogs are generally loyal pets and wonderful with children. Perhaps the article can benefit from the word "general" a bit more, but disputing based on one incident is difficult to substantiate. Jeina27 03:50, 1 September 2007 (UTC)Jenna

Some member of every breed of dog has, at some point in time, bitten a person. Some member of most dog breeds have killed a person at some point in time, many of them children. It very much depends on how the individual dog was raised and trained and the individual circumstances. In this particular article, the description was taken almost verbatim from a website and left out an important qualifier - that the dog be properly trained and socialized before being considered a good, stable family pet. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.101.0.67 (talk) 00:41, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

9/11/07 - Where was the baby's parent? In another room I expect. That is why it's not a good idea to leave a child alone with any dog (even if it's a family pet and the sweetest thing in the world). The child could have done something to the dog to provoke it. I move to have all notifications on this page removed. It's a matter of opinion not fact that this breed is dangerous. It all depends on how these dogs are raised (and that goes for every breed). When we first started researching the breed as a family pet, we found a statistic that there are more Labrador and Golden Retriever reports of biting incidents than any other breed. I adopted an unknown Am Staff from the shelter here in Texas and I have two small children, 6 and 3. I adopted her because she is gentle, loving, and generally protective of my small children. She was a stray - could have been used for unlawful breeding (I live in South Dallas... one of the hot spots of dog fighting)... but regardless she was an unknown to us. We took her in because she needed a home and she showed an overall sense of motherly caring for our children. But I WILL NOT leave my children unattended with her even for a minute. I call her to me when I leave the room and she stays by my side when I'm not in the same room with the kids. - Lucy Casimir, Dallas, TX 09:26, 11 September 2007

Ah, well Amstaffs and APBTS were BRED to be extraordinary with children, making a well-bred Amstaff much safer around children than many breeds that are not bred for such a trait. And what's with everyone posting about Amstaff attacks? Do you see anyone posting about the two siberian huskies that mauled a child to death or the golden retriever that attacked a child, causing her to need 56 stitches in the head alone? No. Sorry, all breeds attack. RiotMonday 23:18, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Shut up for all "country man"!!!!!!!!! I grown up with an AMSTAFF, he is wonderful, never bit me, helped me very much!!!! Common and let's banning every mother cuz some mother kill their child!!!

I've grown up with a Staffordshire Terrier and the animal has never once made an aggressive action toward me. The dog used to sleep at the foot of my bed every night and never once attacked me. Just because there are some instances where there is an animal who attacks a person doesn't necessarily mean every single animal of the entire breed is bad. It follows along the same logic to say "A black man mugged me today, all black people should be banned from America." Just because there are a few instances in which a dog attacks its owners doesn't mean the entire breed is bad. This breed just happens to be a physically strong breed that is capable of doing some harm. Besides, no creature usually attacks unless its provoked. If I beat my dog all day long, starved it nearly to death, and pumped it full of drugs to make it angry, sure my dog's going to kill the next person it sees. Don't let the actions of a few bad owners create a generalization of an entire breed of dogs. [anonymous] 15:41, 7 October 2007 (EST)

Also, let's not forget that you are not supposed to leave a child in a room unattended with ANY dog. The reason the child was attacked was not the dog's fault, but the parents. 18:45, 9 November 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.50.145.186 (talk)

I read that article as posted above, a) a "pitbull" is not a breed b) American Staffordshire Terriers are a recognized breed, and are not a "pitbull" c) the contributions at the bottom of the page discussing dog attacks are not attributed to any bully breeds, the woman who need the facial transplant was attacked by a black lab. The dog which attacked this woman's baby was not even hers, so what was she doing leaving her baby with an unknown dog in her home? poor parenting. I guess we should note that Black labs are a dangerous dog because one of them ripped a woman's face off. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.87.130.244 (talk) 07:21, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Temperament

This section is in serious need of revision. It is heavily biased and speaks of the dog breed as if it were an individual. Please edit.

APBT and AST

I have edited the american staffordshire terrier here on wikipedia because a lot of historic facts were denied or falsified, for example that the APBT is a fighting bred offspring of the AmStaff, because people found out that AmStaffs have fighting abilities. the opposite is the case, the AmStaff may be a offspring of fighting dogs and may still have rests fighting dog heritage and there are few fighting bred AmStaffs, but overall it is a showbred and compagnion bred dog only. Sending to pit for example the dog on the first pic, would be fatal for the dog if the opposite is a game bred pit, because they are small, extremely agile not half as stocky as the shown dog. Please don't think that i am a fighting enthusiast, but: you can't deny history. fighting is the history and this must always be minded,to understand where these dogs came from, and it would be even dangerous to deny it, because this explains the extreme hunger of these dogs for exercise. a breed that is able to fight for more than 3 hours, needs proper exercise for body and brain, otheriwse they will destroy your home and may get dangerous. A American Stafford may not be as keen on exercise as a chinaman line gamebred APBT but still there is a heritage of these dogs, and they need exercise for example fly ball or agility or exen drug or bomb detection. Especially for this they are more suitable than for example the GSD, because they were bred to not give up and to show no mercy in pit, and the same they do in this job! How cruel fighting biz is, especially the AKC, keeps its traps shut about a FACT: Real fighting pits were never bred to attack humans, not in America not in the olde home britain. the dogs were bred dor fighting against other dogs only, aatacking humans was not in the breeders at all and is not today, in old england in the worker slums the dogs were used to live with the family, the wounds beeing aided by the whole family after combat, including the children, and the pit men stay in the pit with their dogs during the fight. The fact that the UKC and the ADBA still register AST as APBT was no were to read. There were no information about the apbt beeing registered as AmStaff because it has become a national icon after ww1, and no notice that these were for example colby dogs, and that exactly these dogs are still used to bred gamebred Pits nonsense like that pit bulls are always vicious to other dogs, my dog Jess a real fighting line pit , made her life great with other dogs, was really playful, you could only see her fighting dog ancestry when she was attacked by other dogs, for example my parents bernese mountain dog, in the way she fought back! Its all a question of proper handling and socialisation!

My family is a old family of german dog men, my gradfather was a dog handler in the Waffen-SS in WW2 (not very glorious but thats a different thing), he handled GSDs, and was a passionated dogman, and after ww2 he still bred the type of GSD he was used to handle in service, breeding them for Schutzhund and as wokingdogs for police and shepherds only (if you would have told him that you want the dog as a pet only he wouldn't have handed a pup to you), while others started to riun the gsd in show, for example breeding the gsd with almost diagonal backs, the hips almost lying on the ground, he bred for exercise, while others had dogs with hip dysplasia he never had a single hip sick dog, also because he had no problems with making an outcross with Malinois and Altdeutscher Hütehund, the non FCI indigious german herder, using east german gsds only. But many couldn't understand his way of breeding his dogs, and today you will have problems to find the old type of gsd, not even in the east.

I myself am a passionated dog man of the apbt, my last dog Jessy was a chinaman dog, and i dod several tests with her and asts and no dog of the ast breed could be compared with her in fitness, in exercise. While she was able to make 40 km running right beside the bike , most ast began to have problems after 20 kms. I was quite done, and was thinking of a pause, while my dog was not thinking about a pause!

At least something to the socialisation and temperament: No dog is born mean, its all of proper handling and socialisation! A AST and a Pit may not be handled by dog noobs, its a breed that should be reserved to dog veterans and people who know exactly what their doing! Only these people know how do! Example: Do you think a noob in aviation, who has learned how to fly a cessna should be put into a cockpit of a F-16 fighting jet, and get ready for take off?! no, because he could never handle the plane proper, and if he would get of the ground, in the end he would for sure risk his live and maybe the others lives! The APBT is the F-16 of dogs, while poodles are the bi-plane among dogs.

APBT and AST are mercyless in Combat, the so called lock yaw phenomene, the dogs don't really lock their yaws, they just don't wanna let go, that's the point! if you as the handler don't know what to do the other dog is sorry for saying it like this: FUCKED UP! Especially the videos and images of rappers and other cribs handlind pit bulls through the media, leave a impressions in the society, among the scum and among the main society. If now a little mobster of even just a wankster or suburbia-pseudo-gang$ta gets a pit or a staff, the problems are almost for sure to come! this is the reason for bsl.

I live in Germany, and since 2000 AmStaffs are banned by federal laws, and by state law in almost every state of germany. the reasons were irresponsible handlers, for example the guys from hamburg, who caused the death of a child because of giving their dogs amphetamines. they have been known to the police of the hamburg state as violent and criminal. The media, especially the firesetters of the newspaper "Bild" started a campaing of of hate against these dogs, telling trash like that the pit bull has a bite power of 1000 kg, and loads of other bullshit. the consequence was the ban... since then we, the handlers are condemmned to keep our dogs in illegality in some states and in others to live with beeing terrorized by the governent and having to pay taxes up to a few hundred Euros per year! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Perroalano (talk • contribs) 13:43, 23 February 2008 (UTC)