Nub Waggin

I wanna get a bull breed of some kind in the future when I get more experience with dogs in general

how are Staffies with other animals? energy levels? compared to AmStaffs and bullies and bullymutts? she's so pretty

2nd continued anon ask: oh and any really bad health issues in the breed? lines and breeders to avoid? pls info dump about Staffies I wanna know Everything

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Thank you! I think she knows she's pretty, she uses it against people to make them give her food.

It depends on a lot honestly! And to be fair I only have experience with owning Shark (staffordshire bull terrier) who is from show lines. I don't have much intimate experience with how they compare to American Staffordshire terriers or other bull breeds in the home. Most of my experience with those mixes of breeds is at my job as a technician at a veterinary clinic (so not ideal circumstances).

As far as I know, Staffy bulls are a bit less prone to dog aggression than Amstaffs, but I'm sure it's still individualized. Shark is 32 pounds, honestly her portability is a huge plus compared to 60-70 pound bully breeds. It's allowed me to airlift her out of situations easily. Shark is great meeting dogs for hiking sessions, I don't allow nose to nose on-leash greetings, we just start off walking together and casually let the dogs get closer while they aren't focused on each other. But she's also ready to throw down in true terrier fashion if she gets offended, overstimulated, or thinks I'm going on the defensive (she thinks she's my back up).

When it comes to other animals, Shark thinks very young puppies and kittens are adorable (I can post a video of that) but also has gotten swatted by quite a few adult confident cats. I do think if we had more opportunities to meet cats who liked dogs, that Shark would snuggle with them. The cat who lives with us is more nervous and Shark will playfully chase her when she's excited, and has chased a cat outside when it ran, but has also tried to wiggle up to a different more laidback outdoor cat to try to befriend it. Typically she ends up annoying confident cats because she still wants them to play with her and she does that by running around and playbowing at them. But she has also growled at a cat she didn't know at a new house because it kept trying to bat at her tail and she had not adjusted to the new situation and was stressed.

Shark has a good chase drive and loves lure coursing and will chase wild rabbits (she has also called off of them before though thanks to her food drive and our training). She is highly interested in rabbits in cages and in rabbit fur toys, but has not been allowed to interact with one outside of a cage. If there is a frog outside and it moves, she will pounce on it, but if it stops moving she will gently tap it with her paw and if it stays still she will leave it alone. Shark hates horses on the TV but couldn't care less about them when we saw them at RenFaire, aside from watching them. She is highly suspect of pig smells, but we don't have many chances to interact with them anyway. Shark does barnhunt and will search for rats because I ask her to in return for food, but if the rats are not moving/running she again does not care a whole lot about them without motivation.

Energy level wise, she needed 3-4 adventures (hiking or in-store/ downtown exploratory sessions or otherwise) per week until she was about 2 years old, or she would get intense zoomies at night haha. Now that she's older, she can be more of a weekend warrior. She loves snuggles so much that she's pretty content chilling in bed or on the couch with me, unless there is food to be eaten, then she is very talkative about me sharing with her. She can also hike 6 miles, take a 2 hour nap, and then be ready again. She's very adaptable and really down for most adventures (not paddle boarding though, she gets bored being on the board for extended periods of time). She loves a game of tug but really enjoys wrestling and play bitey face or Allowed Destruction Time of cardboard or toys. She is very good in that she doesn't eat nonfood items so I don't have to worry about her ingesting those things.

Because she won't be bred and I would not get into breeding, I don't have the most comprehensive information on those topics. Shark did have base narrow canines when she was young, a very mild case, and her breeder said I could wait to see if they corrected themselves, but I don't play that game and I had a dental specialist vet remove her lower baby canines and create a gingival ramp to help her adult teeth move in more appropriately, and we did ball therapy. I know Staffys generally get tested for eyes, hearts, patellas, hips, etc and they have a genetic cataract disease to test for as well. Temperament testing is a plus, but dogs that go out and do things are even better. I knew some of the other dogs her breeder had placed were doing rally, scentwork, and heard of one acting as a service dog. Most of them were either doing conformation or just being the family dog in a house with children. I do think staffys have a tendency to love children, though of course they should never be left alone to be a true nanny dog with them. During Shark's AKC STAR puppy program she was introduced to lifesize american girl doll type figures and she was so excited and wiggled up to them because she thought they were actual children. Shark has also done a single Day Camp program with me where we presented a very age variable group of children a bunch of veterinary and dog related information. Shark did super well going around and saying hi to each child and performing her tricks for them. They all swarmed her after they came back from a snack once, and she put herself in her crate to decompress and then was ready to rejoin me in our little demonstration a while later and she re-engaged on her own decision. She is so eager to please and will literally do tricks for anyone who asks if they have cookies.

Shark is from Irresistibull Staffords in Monroe, GA. She does have both staffy bulls and amstaffs. Shark was raised with the majority of the Puppy Culture program - I highly recommend choosing a breeder doing some form of puppy enrichment/raising protocols but that's the only one I have experience with and it did create a puppy that slept through vacuums and was very enrichment seeking and made a lot of eye contact to ask for things, she watches airplanes and a few months ago noticed a drone in the sky when we were just hanging out in my car, she's very observant and she thinks a lot it seems like haha.

One of my favorite breeders to watch on facebook is Beret Walsh of Theatric Staffords. I would trust her opinion on breeder related things and recommend reaching out to her!!

I would highly distrust anyone purposefully breeding specifically for dilute (blue) staffords, ESPECIALLY breeding a blue to blue pairing. Staffords commonly have skin/allergy issues, it comes with the type of hair I think, that short little stubby hair coat, and Shark herself gets mild seasonal allergies that I can manage with Miconahex Triz medicated shampoo and sometimes cytopoint injections as needed. But dilute staffords have weakened hair follicles so they become more prone to it, especially if they are from two dilute parents, so there's no good reason to breed for that other than the general public demand/infatuation of blue dogs.

I would recommend talking with a breeder prospect for a while before committing to them so you can get to know them and their views, I feel like people in the breeding world with bull and terrier type breeds can trend towards being stereotypical conservative/republican types and I've heard a couple stafford breeders practically brag about... heavily disciplining (one used the wording.. "beat the shit out of him") their stafford to make it be quiet/behave without any pushback from the other breeders/show people they are talking with. Staffys, despite being a ready-to-throw-down-with-dogs terrier, are ironically so sensitive towards people that they are easy to bully and overpower. Once I was trying to teach Shark how to retrieve to hand and I put too much pressure on her without enough clarity to pick up a toy and she completely disengaged and didn't want to play the game anymore, I waited almost two years before trying again.

I did a lot of preventive training for Shark as a puppy through B.A.T. 2.0 by Grisha Stewart and Control Unleashed Protocols from Leslie McDevitt and Relaxation Mat Protocols by Karen Overall. Anything you can do to set your dog up for success when their reactivity and dog selectivity comes into play as they age will only help you more. Teaching rear end awareness is also honestly so so helpful for a breed that is just GO GO GO and a bowling ball at high speeds when they get excited, I'm sure its saved Shark from injuring herself more times than I know of.

Some bully type friends on here:

@konmari-dogs is Australia based with a bull-arab mix, I learned a lot from their blog about reactivity/sensitive dogs and working with the dog's comfort levels.

@molosseraptor has corsos but is actually who I went to for help in getting a list of breeders to start looking at, that's a service they offered 4 years ago. Shark's breeder was on the list and I realized I had actually met her at my local dog show a couple years before.

@doberbutts is a dobe guy but has a lot of training experience with different dogs and is a big terrier fan haha, just a wonderful resource all around

@albusthefakepitbull we've gone on a hike with them, they have a lot of reactivity training knowledge!

@paws-on-contact has a dual registered american staffordshire terrier/american pitbull terrier Rune, and has had other bully mixes. They haven't been on tumblr lately but I'm friends with them on facebook and love seeing what they get up to.

@notfruits has an american bully and an american staffordshire terrier so would be a great resource to look at the differences between those breeds! Kiwi and Shark had a playdate once when they were younger.

Here are some never before seen (I think) Shark pictures from her 1.5 year old photo shoot.