Category: Preserving

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Breed rescue

Rescue sounds like something people do when houses are burning down, rivers are flooding, dog fighting rings get busted . . . purebred dog rescue isn’t nearly as dramatic as all of that usually. It’s more normally a small very tired group of breed enthusiasts who are constantly fielding messages such as – URGENT will be PTS in one hour if you don’t respond – or – we have seventeen Staffords in the shelter please come get them – or we have a Stafford and won’t allow a breeder to pull we would rather euthanize than support breeders – or I bought a Stafford but my breeder never told me he might grow up to hate other dogs please come get him – or – my brother passed away and now I have a 12 year old Stafford who needs a home and I cant keep him – or even – we have two staffords but are having a baby, moved to an apartment, got deployed, went to jail, new girlfriend who hates dogs and need to get rid of them. . . SIGH.

Purebred rescue is not something I enjoy. It is mentally exhausting. It takes up a lot of bandwidth in my life which I sure could use elsewhere….but it is also something I feel obligated to do as a lover of the breed, as a breeder and as a responsible person.

Purebred rescue costs money. Purebred rescue takes a LOT of my free time. Purebred rescue means lots of fund raising to help cover the cost of transporting, shelter release expenses, veterinary bills, training costs, foster care, transportation, feeding and caring for dogs whom another person produced and another person owned. And now the dog is our responsibility.

Purebred rescue means making decisions. Deciding whether or not a dog is indeed a Stafford. Deciding what we need to pull a dog from a shelter (not always easy). Deciding who will foster, train, care for the dog. Deciding how to market the dog and how to screen potential homes. Deciding who can do home checks, background checks and transport the dog to a new home.

Purebred rescue means paperwork. Paperwork to provide shelters showing we (The Stafford Knot, Inc.) are a non profit 501(c)(3). Paperwork to locate breeder. Paperwork to get owners to sign release forms for owner surrenders. Paperwork for applications. Paperwork for contracts. Paperwork to register microchips into new owners names. Paperwork to keep in touch with new owners. Paperwork to offer new owners to help educate them on the breed. Paperwork to try to get new owners to join breed and all breed clubs to remain active and involved.

Purebred rescue also includes owner surrender and helping breeders Rehome Staffords. Owner surrenders are usually quite emotional. This means 100’s of texts and phone calls. Emotionally draining phone calls. Phone calls with tears, excuses, anger, frustration and heartbreak. Purebred rescue can sometimes mean making difficult decisions regarding the future of a dogs life.

With all of this my job is to remain calm and compassionate. When the phone gets put down – I can then break down myself. But not before then.

Purebred rescue means being yelled at, cussed at, lied to, gossiped about, rumors told, accusations hurled about, abused in so many ways by breeders, shelters, other rescues, owners and strangers on social media. And throughout all of the abuse it also means remaining calm and true to the goal which is the safety of the dog in question.

The Staffords are why I do this. I would love to stop and let others take over. I have tried to quit. The sad truth is that we ALL need to be involved. This is not a job for a couple of people in each breed. We all need to work together and do the best we can do. Breeders need to step up – carefully screen new owners. Remain in contact with those owners. Be their support. Microchip and register that chip for life and put your name on the chip along with the owners and veterinarians. Sponsor owners club memberships to encourage participation with other Stafford owners. Get owners involved. Make it well known in your contracts, in your conversations and on your web pages and FB pages that you are available for the lifetime of the Stafford you produced or rescued. Make it well known that there exists a community of Stafford enthusiasts all Stafford owners can turn to for any reason.

Purebred rescue is not the enemy nor is it something nice to have to do. BUT it is something we ALL should be doing.

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Looking for a Stafford?

I have noticed an increase in people reaching out for help after buying a puppy and realizing they might not have gotten exactly what they were hoping for. There is a real need for more education on this breed. A number of ‘pop up’ breeders are literally cashing in on the upsurge of popularity in Staffordshire Bull Terriers.

In an effort to educate we are working on marketing ideas to try to reach people BEFORE they purchase a Stafford puppy so we can make sure they are well equipped with all the information they need to make a good purchase from a breeder who will support and mentor them, a breeder who is involved in more than ‘making puppies’, a breeder who does (and can prove) all breed appropriate health testing, a breeder who will take back a dog they have produced for any reason at any time, a breeder who is involved in breed rescue, a breeder who is well educated on the breed – an honest preservation breeder.

You deserve to bring home a puppy who has been enriched and raised in a loving home environment for the first 8-12 weeks of its life. You deserve the correct temperament. You deserve a happy and healthy, well adjusted puppy. A Stafford puppy should be confident, eager to learn and energetic. Whether or not your breeder feeds raw, naturally rears or not – they should be a well respected active member of the Stafford community. Help us help you!

The new marketing campaign will be designed to target regular people looking for a puppy so they have this information in hand! Tell us what you search for when looking online – tell us what you expect to find – tell us your thoughts on what you are finding when searching. Send an email to wavemakerstaffords @gmail.com with the subject: Stafford Search Study so that we can put together a helpful education campaign.

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Why the intense interview?

Our application is very lengthy. Our interviews are quite in depth. We do home checks. We talk on the phone with people interested in buying a dog from us. We meet potential buyers in person and ask they visit us or we meet them at their home or a show or event. We have a very detailed contract and we discuss this contract with our buyers, negotiating it and altering it until both parties are in total agreement. We are interested in the well being of the dog we are selling – we have to trust the home it goes to – we have to know for certain the dog will be fairly treated, well cared for, loved and kept in a healthy environment. Our interest stems from a responsibility we accepted when we decided to breed a litter or do rescue.

We are very open on this website, in person, in writing and on the phone about the types of homes we seek out. There is no hidden or shady agenda. We answer emails, phone calls and PMs and will also tell a person if they are not a good match for us.

Sometimes we make errors in our judgement and we have to live with that. We have blogged about one huge mistake we made in our first litter. Scroll back in the blog and you can read the details for yourself – but let’s just say – we won’t make this mistake again. So if you contact us and you feel we are being a bit too ‘intense’ please know the reason for that is our history of being scammed and our dedication to protect the animals we are responsible for.

If all you want is to PayPal your money for your 1st, 2nd, 3rd pick puppy and be on your way ….well we are not your breeder.

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Nature of the Beast – Taken from SBTCA

Nature Of The Beast
The following is meant to introduce the uninitiated to the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Because this link is more about the personality of the dog than it is an in-depth dissertation on breeding or training, anyone wishing to pursue either topic should refer to the books and magazines listed under the Club Bibliography Link In This Section (About The Stafford)

Characteristics & Temperament
Although individual differences in personality exist, there are some things that you can expect to find in the personality of every Stafford. They are tough, courageous, tenacious, stubborn, curious, people-loving and comfort-loving, protective, intelligent, active, quick and agile, and possess a strong “prey drive”.

They are extremely “oral” youngsters and need a safe alternative to furniture, toys and clothing for their busy jaws. Staffords love to play tug-of-war and to roughhouse, but YOU must set the rules and YOU must be the boss. This is not a difficult task if you begin working with your Stafford when she is a puppy.

Most adult Staffords, particularly bitches, make excellent watchdogs; but in general they are inclined to protect people and not property. Their alert, muscle bound appearance is so striking that it’s easy to forget that they are smaller than most American Pit Bull Terriers. As Steve Eltinge in the book, The Staffordshire Bull Terrier in America says, “When a Stafford shows its teeth in a snarl, it can be frightening. They look tough and can be a positive deterrent to thieves, but because of their natural fondness for people, most Staffords are temperamentally ill-suited for guard or attack-dog training.” As with other members of the Bull and Terrier family, they can be the biggest people lovers in the world!

A Staffordshire Bull Terrier desires, more than anything else, to be with her people. Most adore a car ride, going on hikes and walks, enjoying a romp up the beach, and cozying up (or on) to you when you settle down for an evening of TV or reading.

Whatever the activity, “From the time it awakens in the morning until the quiet of night, a Stafford lives life to the fullest.” (Linda Barker, writing in The Staffordshire Bull Terrier in America, by Steve Eltinge).

Care and Training
Staffordshire Bull Terriers are a “natural” dog and generally robust. The short coat of this breed requires little grooming other than an occasional brushing and a bath. The downside of this drip dry coat is that Staffords are susceptible to fleas and ticks. The general remedies to discourage fleas and ticks are recommended, as well as a thorough going-over with a flea comb during the worse months of summer. Staffords covet human attention to the extent that I have seen several of them gather around their “person”, waiting to be combed from head to tail for fleas!

Care of nails, ears, teeth and anal glands are the same as they would be for any other breed (beginning when young and attention on a regular basis).

The Stafford is not a dog that tolerates weather extremes easily. Because of its short coat, it prefers plenty of shade and water on sweltering summer days (a child’s wading pool has been a popular choice in the past; supervised of course). Its Bulldog ancestry and brachycephalic (short-headed or broad-headed) respiratory system can contribute to overheating. Watch carefully to be sure that your Stafford doesn’t become overheated during intense play in the summer; if she appears to be wheezing or gasping for air, find the nearest source of cool – not ice cold – water and soak her to lower her body temperature.

Staffordshire Bull Terriers can boast a number of obedience and dogsport degrees and are “quick studies,” provided the trainer utilizes a positive, creative approach. Staffords are smart with a capital S. Young puppies enrolled in Kindergarten Puppy Training classes can begin to learn good habits and mix with other puppies. In addition to AKC obedience competition, Staffords have been successful Therapy Dogs, Canine Good Citizens, participated in Agility and Flyball Competitions and even “gone to ground” with other terriers!

Staffords are exuberant, impulsive, sometimes bull-headed … and surprisingly sensitive. A trainer must learn to be persistent, patient, and firm. Rome wasn’t built in a day and a great deal of ground may be lost in trying to adhere to the sort of inflexible techniques and rigid time frame advocated by some training books. Basic obedience training (at the very least) is a must for any Bull and Terrier. It helps to maintain control in unexpected situations. Because of their impulsive natures, the other cardinal rule of Bull and Terrier ownership is “always think ahead.” An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! When it comes to strange – and especially aggressive – dogs, few Staffords are complete pacifists. Most will not back down if they are attacked or menaced, and some just don’t get along with strange dogs, period. This is a physically and mentally tenacious breed; be prepared!

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the differences between the American Staffordshire Terrier, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Bull Terrier, and an American Pit Bull Terrier?

Some eight or nine varieties of dogs come within the general classification of Bull Breeds. Although all lay claim to the Bulldog as a common ancestor, there are physical differences that make each distinct from the other:

A) Size – The American Staffordshire Terrier (AmStaff) is a much larger, leggier dog – sometimes almost twice the size of a Staffordshire Bull Terrier! The Bull Terrier standard does not include size restrictions and dogs from 35 to 100 pounds have been seen. However, the breed generally weighs in between 40 and 55 pounds, making it larger then the Stafford. Pit Bull Terriers also range widely in size. Many of today’s UKC-registered APBTs are on the smaller side; others, dually registered as American Staffordshire Terriers with the AKC are larger and heavier.

B) Ears – Although it may have natural or cropped ears, the American Staffordshire Terrier is usually exhibited in the United States with cropped ears, as are some Pit Bull Terriers. The ears of the Bull Terrier are naturally erect. Erect (or prick) ears are a serious fault in Staffords, whose ears should be “rose” (like those of an English Bulldog) or half-pricked.

C) Head – The heads of American Staffordshire Terriers, Pit Bulls and Staffordshire Bull Terriers are similar, although the cheek muscles on most Staffords seem to be more pronounced, and the head deeper through. The head of the Bull Terrier is entirely different. When viewed in profile, it resembles an egg turned on its side and is much longer than that of the Stafford. The cheeks of a Bull Terrier are not pronounced.

D) Temperament – All Bull and Terrier breeds have a natural love of people, although that love often does not extend to other members of the canine kingdom outside of the family circle. Many adult AmStaffs project a more serious demeanor; Bull Terriers have a unique and extremely well-developed sense of humor; Staffords may possess the strongest “prey drive” and the superior ability to focus; they are also an “emotional barometer” par excellence, very sensitive to psychic atmosphere in the home. But remember that every individual is different and each of these dogs shares a common ancestry.

How are Staffordshire Bull Terriers with children?
The Stafford is known by the affectionate nickname, “The Children’s Nursemaid” or “The Nanny Dog.” Their tolerance of, and affection for, children is well known. That doesn’t mean, however, that it’s a wise idea of put the puppy and child together without supervision. Children should learn to respect the dog and neither should indulge in play that is too rough. Some Staffords – even the males – have a “mothering instinct” and will stick right by the little ones, whether they are puppies or kids. A Stafford, “tough” and not as quick to react to pain or discomfort, is likely to make allowance for the attentions of toddler, finding a refuge only when things become too overwhelming.

Can I keep a Staffordshire Bull Terrier in an Apartment? How much exercise will she require?
Staffords can make a home with you anywhere; they are happy as long as they are with you. They are an athletic dog, however, and need more exercise than most dogs. Bursting with energy, they need vigorous exercise every day! A long, brisk walk on leash (or harness – a useful alternative for some) will give you both a workout. Staffords love the heady freedom of being allowed off lead for a run, hike or romp and it’s delightful to watch them. Of course, it’s a good idea to make sure that they’ll come back when you call them, first.

Are Staffords a noisy breed?
Staffords, in general, are not mindless and persistent barkers. They may bark or “talk” while playing (you will be amazed by the range of arggling, yodeling, grunting, moaning and monkey noises, etc.!), or to alert you of a visitor. However, they are “quick studies” and if you have another dog in residence and THAT dog is a barker, your Stafford will probably pick it up.

They have such a nice, short coat. Do they shed?
In a word: “Yes!” . . . at least once a year. But because Staffords have a “hair” coat, rather than a multi-layer “fur” coat, they produce less dander and the shedding is minimal compared to what you may expect from a Golden Retriever or German Shepherd Dog. The close, short, glossy, “teflon” coat loses dirt easily, dries almost instantly, and does not absorb odor. Staffords are truly “wash and wear!”

What About Keeping a Stafford Outside?
Staffords are not temperamentally or physically suited to spending long periods of time out-of-doors. They need to be with their family and should be house dogs. Given the opportunity, they will convince you that they belong in the bed at night and will be most comfortable on the couch or in the car . . . wherever you may be. If you are not comfortable with this kind of intense camaraderie, do NOT buy a Stafford. Stafford-owners-to-be should have a fenced yard where their pet can play in safety. Remember that Staffords are terriers and can dig like the dickens. They can turn your garden or their yard into a minefield and have been known to go under or over a fence. Secure the bottom of the fence with an “L” of chicken wire. If your dog is the climbing type, a very tall fence or a “shelf” around the top will discourage him. To thwart thieves or those who might tease your Stafford, do not leave him out in the yard for long periods; supervise his outside time and take the opportunity to play with him. Remember that Staffords can overheat if they over-exert themselves on a hot day; conversely, their short coat offers little warmth in the winter months when they stop moving. IMPORTANT: Invisible fencing systems are not an appropriate alternative for Bull and Terrier breeds. The Stafford’s high pain threshold means that — if sufficiently provoked — he may cross the boundary with minimal discomfort. Once out, he must brave the boundary’s shock to re-enter the yard. Invisible fencing does not prevent strange dogs from invading his yard and harassing him . . . a potentially dangerous situation.

Do they like to swim?
Staffords can be divided into three categories when it comes to water — 1) They will do anything to avoid it, 2) They like to wade and wallow, 3) They enjoy full-body immersion and will swim, dive, and retrieve. BUT no matter which approach your Stafford may take to water, NO STAFFORD is really very seaworthy or buoyant. The percentage of body mass that is made up of muscle practically guarantees that they must work very hard to stay afloat. Therefore, a Stafford should NEVER be left alone near a filled swimming pool. More than one of these guys has paid with his life after falling in, struggling to remain afloat, and then tiring and sinking before anyone noticed.

Can I keep a Staffordshire Bull Terrier with another dog or with a cat?
Staffords, like members of any other breed, are individuals. While some may live peacefully with other animals, some will not. Puppies brought up with cats and other dogs generally do well. If bringing an older Staffordshire Bull Terrier into your home, first introduce the dogs away from the house in a neutral area. It should be easier to bring a Stafford into your home than bringing a strange dog into the home of a Stafford. Encounters should be supervised and the dogs observed to determine how a hierarchy develops.

Should I consider a male or a female?
Both will offer much love and affection. Females tend to be better watchdogs; males tend to be larger. If you already have a dog in your home, your choice is simpler: If you have a male, buy a Stafford female. If you have a female, buy a Stafford male. This combination is the best, especially in a two-Stafford household. People sometimes ask about the wisdom of bringing two Stafford puppies home at the same time and most would advise against it. Each puppy deserves individual attention and is less likely to get it as a “twin.” Puppies are a lot of work! With two puppies to keep each other company, the temptation is often to let them amuse each other. Sometimes your pups will decide to bond with each other and place you second on the totem pole. You don’t want that! No matter which sex you select, spay or neuter if you have decided not to breed or exhibit your Stafford.

I have a busy schedule and when I’m home I like to work undisturbed.
By all means, DO NOT BUY A STAFFORD! These dogs crave attention, companionship, and are tireless love sponges. This can annoy those who are used to a dog that amuses itself, is content to sit in its basket, prefers the companionship of another dog, or will settle for a quick occasional pat. Ignoring a Stafford or shutting it away from you will only make your pet an unhappy, frustrated nuisance.

I’m looking for a guard dog . . . will a Stafford fill the bill?
Staffords were not developed as watchdogs. Clare Lee, writing in The Pet Owner’s Guide to the Staffordshire Bull Terrier notes that, “he rarely barks, greets all your visitors and may well let them walk off with the family silver.” If you desire a dog that will be suspicious of all comers and actively repel them, then choose one of the working breeds designed for that purpose. Staffords may guard a car and will most definitely protect family members – especially the weaker members – but they rarely ‘guard’ the home.

What sorts of toys are safe to give my Stafford?
There are no such things as “indestructible dog toys” for Bull and Terrier breeds. But some have tried these: Boomer Balls, Wolf-sized Nylabones, large-sized Kongs, or some of the Puzzle Cubes. Anything else might be chewed up, swallowed or destroyed in short order.

SO . . . DO YOU STILL THINK YOU’D LIKE A STAFFORDSHIRE BULL TERRIER?
It is recommended that you read as much as you can, go to local dog local shows in your area where you can see them, and contact one of the breeders listed in the SBTCA Breeders Directory to ask questions and arrange to see dogs. And above all, be sure that everyone in your household wants this energetic and loving addition. A Stafford could easily be dependent upon you for the next 16 years!
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#staffordnotstaffy

For years I have used the above hashtag much to the annoyance of some. I have had people ‘unfriend’ me on social media (that’s okay with me btw everyone doesn’t need to follow me). I have had 100’s of discussions on this topic. My viewpoint can be more easily described in the following blog post by someone I follow. I didn’t write the following however it sounds exactly like I had:

Not long ago, we wrote about the Staffordshire bull terrier. We explained why we share our home on wheels with two Staffordshire Bull terriers, Mojo and Venus.

Whenever we walk in a city or travel by public transport, we frequently hear comments such as: ‘Cute stafford!’ or ‘I’ve got one just like that.’ When we do find ourselves in a conversation, people often wonder why our dogs are so small. ‘They must still be puppies, right?’ Another sentence we commonly hear is ‘My neighbor/sister/mother-in-law/friend (take your pick) has a staffy too, but it is much bigger and bulkier!’

We usually just swallow our pride. Often though, we can’t refrain from explaining that Mojo and Venus are purebred Staffordshire Bull Terriers who both fit the breed standard. And to be honest, it’s not about pride at all.

We can’t judge people for thinking it either. It’s just what everyone is told, by hobby breeders, by every media outlet, by friends and family, and et cetera.  So how could we even blame them.

Just a recent example

Recently, we were offered a position working on a campsite. We indicated that we owned dogs, explained that our dogs are purebred Staffordshire bull terriers, and that they would be taken along to the campsite with us. This was alright. The employee would try to find a campsite that allowed dogs, so that we could work for them. Three days later, we were informed that the employee’s colleague also owns a ‘stafford’. He was certain that those dogs are not allowed on campsites in the country. Our breed was supposedly classified as one of the two categories of ‘dangerous dogs’ in France.

What our contact person failed to realize, is that her colleague did not own a Staffordshire bull terrier. More importantly though, she did in fact not read up on the rules thoroughly. Though the American Staffordshire Terrier (which is also commonly referred to as staffy) is banned in France, they are not to be confused with the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. They are a different breed entirely. The fact that people have become accustomed to referring to groups of dogs under one term has resulted in difficult situations for owners of pure bred Staffordshire Bull Terriers.

After all, there were no vacancies on campsites where dogs were allowed, but we are welcome to work for them next year. We sent over some clear information with good references, and our purebred Staffordshire Bull Terriers are now welcome, too!

Staffy has become a dangerous grouping term

Why would we bother that people call every blocky-headed dog a staffy or pitbull? The simple answer is, it has consequences for both the public opinion about purebred dogs and their owners.

The term Staffordshire Bull Terrier starts with ‘staff’. The name will remind people of stories they might have seen or read about in the media. A big blocky-headed dog (of unknown heritage) attacking a child will be referred to as just another staffy or pitbull. 

The problem here is that although these incidences rarely include purebred Staffordshire Bull Terriers, they do bear the brunt of it (and so do the American Staffordshire Terriers whom have not been involved in any incidents in the Netherlands for over 15 years). People have come to see the breed as dangerous by hearing bad publicity about ‘staffies’ everywhere. But what even is a so-called ‘staffy’? For as far as I know, it’s a non-existing breed.

All dogs with a similar appearance, both purebred and mixed breeds from responsible breeders, backyard breeders, and shelters, are grouped together and bundled under one name. Why? Because it’s simple. But effective it certainly is not. Though their appearance may show some similarities here and there, their personalities often do not.

Even professionals do not seem to care

At university, I came to realize that even professionals can’t distinguish between breeds and do not care to label dogs correctly. During my time working in the largest animal shelter in the Netherlands, there were numerous blocky-headed mixed breeds with floppy or pricked ears, short and long legs, squished noses, undershot jaws, and … You name it. All of them were referred to as staffies, both amongst colleagues as well as to potential future owners. Staffies where said by the manager to make up 75% of the shelter’s population, yet during my stay I only saw one individual that clearly resembled the Staffordshire Bull Terrier and no American Staffordshire Terriers whatsoever.

Shortly after my time in the shelter, one of the dogs labeled as a so-called ‘staffy’ was rehomed. Within a week, it ended up biting a child. The dog was tall (his head reached my hips), had floppy ears, legs that belonged to a giraffe and a strong undershot jaw. In no way did it resemble either a Staffordshire bull terrier or American Staffordshire Terrier. Five days straight articles kept popping up on the internet about how yet another staffy had bitten a child. Journalists started speculating about the need for a breed specific legislation.

If the law were to go through, it would mean that purebred Staffordshire Bull Terriers would get punished for something they didn’t do. We do not mean to say that we have a perfect solution for the problem – as there certainly is a grave issue with a strong increase in incidents. But we do know that we should seek a solution that fits the issue at hand. We should rather focus our attention on all the (mixed) breeds and their irresponsible breeders and owners!

Characteristics

We don’t mean to say that mixed breed dogs should be discriminated against. On the contrary. Though characteristics are specified for every breed of dog, individuals differ. Both genetics and environmental circumstances play a strong role in the behavior that any dog will display.

One must simply remember that individuals referred to as staffies, most times do not resemble the Staffordshire Bull Terrier breed and its characteristics. A mixed breed that looks like a Labrador retriever does not influence the way we look at the Flat Coated retriever, does that make sense?

Grouping all dogs with some similar features, read blocky head, under the term ‘staffy’ has caused ignorance in the public and media. People no longer recognize purebred dogs from mixed breed individuals. Nor do they make the distinction between American Staffordshire Terrier and Staffordshire Bull Terriers, while there is in fact a large difference between the breeds. And above all, we’d hate to see purebred Staffordshire Bull Terriers get banned due to badly informed owners and irresponsible breeders of (mixed breed) dogs.

Even between breeders of every breed, there are many differences to be found! Venus is a sports-bred Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and Mojo is a show-bred Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Though their appearance is very similar, their behavior is incredibly different. Staffordshire Bull Terriers are often referred to as nanny-dogs on many websites, and they are friendly and happy dogs. But we’ll be the last person to say that the breed is your ‘perfect calm family dog’. But we’ll talk all about that in two weeks!




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An Open Letter to All Breeders

AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL BREEDERS
By Lynsey Smith 

-If you don’t have goals: DONT BREED.
( Producing “great” pets, or big and impressive ISN’T a goal). Far too many breeds have been RUINED because people breed simply for pets with no REAL goals for the breed. 

-If you don’t TEST your dogs in some way (health and/or temperament and working ability) DONT BREED 

-If you don’t research the history of the breed to know what to look for (other than “great” pet or big and impressive) DONT BREED 

-If you don’t become familiar with the dogs within the pedigree of your dogs in order to know what traits may show up in a breeding: DON’T BREED 

-If you breed back to back to back to back to back: STOP BREEDING 

-If you never hold any pups back to watch how they develop in order to determine if you are meeting your goals: DON’T BREED 

-If you make “picks” at birth or a week old BEFORE a pup can even show you anything about itself other than it’s sex and color: DON’T BREED 

-If you will sell a puppy to anyone with the cash or to someone who knows nothing about the breed and you dont bother to educate them: DON’T BREED 

-If you “ride coattails” of other breeders in order to talk up your own dogs even though you have done nothing with them yourself (ex: “champion bloodline” or has a “famous” dog back in its pedigree): DON’T BREED (get off your arse and prove your own dogs first) 

-If you do not know your own dogs pros and cons and are unwilling to acknowledge their faults and adjust your program accordingly: DON’T BREED 

-If you do not offer to take back dogs or puppies if they are not working out for whatever reason and will allow a dog that YOU brought into this world to end up in a shelter or worse; don’t say that you LOVE your breed b/c clearly you don’t so do the dogs a favor and DON’T BREED 

-If you are unwilling to learn from others, take advice (good and bad) and in the process BETTER THE BREED: DON’T BREED 

-If your aim is to make a name for yourself or fatten your wallet and not to better your breed: DON’T BREED

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Preservation

I did NOT write this but I sure wish I had!

Come talk to me, my friend dog breeder. Pour yourself a cup of hot beverage and come sit on my couch, a beautiful Boxer at you feet, a warm tiny Dachshund in your lap. Let’s talk.

Today is my special little anniversary. There are never flowers or balloons, gifts or parties on this day, but I always quietly celebrate it in my head.

Twenty seven years ago to the day I became a dog breeder. My first litter of puppies was born in the middle of the night on November 19th 1991. There were nine of them, but one didn’t make it. My fault, my mistake. I will make many more mistakes in the coming years. Wrong pairings, unnecessary c-sections, poor choice of a puppy owner, we’ve all been there.

If anybody asked me that day why I was entering the world of dog breeding, I would’ve said, “to better the breed! Of course!” You fall in love with an amazing animal who gives you their all, who makes your life complete, who makes you a better person. As a natural progression of that love you become enamored with the whole breed and want nothing more but to give back to it. Your passion is fueled by love, you’re here to do great things!

“To better the breed! Of course!”

How much I came to loathe that answer!

As a dog person, you’re familiar with Pavlovian acquired reflexes, right? You ring a bell, give a dog a cookie, and repeat several times. Soon the dog will start salivating in anticipation at the sound of a ringing bell. Its body learned the cookie is coming when the bell rings. In science it’s called classical conditioning. The bell is the trigger, salivation is the response. The dog doesn’t take the time to check if the cookie is on offer at all. Trigger-response. Trigger-response. A new neuron path has been created.

Our human brain is too subject to different kinds of conditioning, including classical. That’s how we learn, that’s how we keep ourselves safe in the big world filled with dangers.

When a newly emerged dog breeder starts learning, one of the first lessons he extracts from the slice of the society that mentors him is that the only acceptable motivation to breed dogs is to better the breed, and the only acceptable way to better the breed is by improving their health, temperament, and conformation. Soon it becomes a mantra, repeated any time the trigger questions are asked.

“Why do you breed dogs?” (Trigger)

“To better the breed! Of course!” (Response)

“How do you better the breed?” (Trigger)

“By improving health, temperament, and conformation! Of course!” (Response)

Just like the Pavlovian dog who doesn’t stop to think if the cookie is still there, dog breeders stop considering the meaning of the words they utter and whether the learnt response still answers the question asked.

Dig a little deeper, my friend, and ask a breeder what exactly they do to improve the three pillars of purebred dogdom everyone finds so important, and you will hear, depending on the experience level of a given breeder, something along the lines of: “Oh, I health test every one of my stock before breeding according to the latest scientific recommendations”, and “Oh, I participate in dog sports and only use animals who are able to perform in order to make sure their temperament is correct”, and “Oh, if I have a bitch with a shorter scapula, I pick a dog with a correct scapula to make sure my next generation has improved conformation”. Ad nauseum.

My oh my, the pride we take in belonging to the elite group of top class dog breeders, doing the right thing the right way, and doing it for the right reasons! Not at all like those dreadful other breeders who have not yet been conditioned to drool when the bell rings.

Self aware much, my friend? Yes? Really? Sure sure? Let’s talk about what really is in your heart then. I’m going to dissect you slice by slice until I get to your very core. That soft, raw, unprotected part of you that you will never admit exists, not even to yourself.

Past your first 5-10 years in your breed, when the newbie confidence fades and the rose colored glasses come off, you suddenly realize what kind of bovine end product you really are in.

Your soul fills with quiet but absolutely terrifying dread every time you put two dogs together.

What looked great on paper turns out to be very different once it hits your whelping box. You did fix that short scapula, but suddenly your pasterns have gone to hell. You worked for years to obtain the best tail set in the country, but now 30% of your dogs have a wry mouth. And hey, I know that you painted that mask on your bitch’s face. She was not born with it. I know about a repaired cruciate ligament on the pinnacle of your breeding. Keep telling yourself that “she just jumped wrong”. And I know that you dread that someone will find out just how much trouble you’re in and kick you out of the elite breeders club.

You spent $2000 in health tests and a year of your life researching two pedigrees, not to mention the two months you spent catering to your puppies’ every whim, day and night, to exhaustion, sometimes (often) forgetting to shower or to cut your own nails, but now your puppy owner just called you to say a dog you sold them only three years ago is dying of cancer. Guess what, they also shared their grief on Facebook, and your archenemy read their post. You know they’ll file that information in that large cabinet of dirty laundry they have on you, and it will come out, embellished with all sorts, to mar your name and destroy your reputation.

You achieved IPO 3 with both the sire and the dam, with pretty high scores too (only took you four years of strenuous daily work meanwhile your own life was put on hold, your husband divorced you, and your kid picked up a drug habit), but now two in a litter of eight pee themselves and pancake on the floor when their owners take them to Home Depot. You pray they never bring them to a class led by your fellow club member who will surely ask about these dogs’ breeding, put two and two together, and gossip relentlessly behind your back until every single one of your stud dogs never sees an outside piece of croup again.

Cryptorchidism. Mismarks. Poor coats. Open fontanellas. Cow hocks. Cleft palates. Kinked tails. Yellow eyes. Flat feet. Generalized anxiety. Deafness. Hydrocephalus. Bad bites. Epilepsy. Elbow dysplasia. Hip dysplasia. Hemivertebrae. OCD. DCM. ARVC. IVDD. PRA. DM. JRD. SAS. TNT (that’s not a real one, I’m just checking if you’re paying attention).

My god, if you by some miracle and sheer luck manage to avoid all of the above, what if your next litter is not better than your last? Surely everyone will discover then that you are not improving the breed! You finished four champions the year before, and only three this year. Tsk-tsk-tsk.

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Is your coffee getting cold? Let me pour you a new cup.
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Admit it. If you’ve been in this game long enough, there is a giant, unspeakable amount of fear in your heart. You love breeding, but you dread it. You rarely can predict everything when planning a litter, and even if you think you can, the litter usually has a way of proving you wrong. If not this litter, then the next one. Disaster will strike. It will find you one way or another.

Do you know why people of so many different professions get along, help each other, form trade unions, fight for their interests, but dog breeders seem utterly unable to? Do you know why dog breeders like nothing more than to engage in endless bickering, bullying, scandals, and witch hunts? Why dog breeders truly enjoy singling one of their own out and running them into the ground? I’ll tell you why.

Three words.

Fear.

Projection.

Overcompensation.

A psychologist would’ve had a field day at a dog show! His friend the psychiatrist would’ve too!

A dog breeder in her heart of hearts is completely terrified the world will discover she is a fraud and a failure. No matter how much effort she puts into her breeding program, she’s never “quite there”. The breed is stubbornly refusing to be improved. She is scared others will discover that she is *gasp* not bettering the breed and not improving health, temperament and conformation. Her show ribbons become her shield against the onslaught of the outside world, but come Monday, and she’s back being unsure of herself. Shouldn’t she be achieving more progress and faster? She’s doing everything right, after all! More ribbons bring a temporary relief.

He builds a defense layer upon defense layer to conceal his tender, scared baby core. The core that knows the truth. Without these defense layers, the breeder will crumble and fall and spend the rest of their sorry life curled up in a fetal position under the bridge, chanting, “I failed, I failed, I failed, I didn’t improve my breed.” Our defense layers are our everything and we spend inordinate amount of time coming up with different ways to grow them.

One type, The Breed Police, does so by relentlessly hunting down and calling out others. She wants to see them burned at the stake, pulverized, and mixed into dirt. She spends her life noticing the slightest flaw, real or imaginable, in other breeders and their work and shouting Tally-Ho the moment an opportunity to gang up on someone presents itself. She knows for a fact that Mr.So-And-So bred his bitch at her very first season, that money hungry excuse for a human being. She will tell everyone that Ms.So-And-So’s prized stud dog carries hip dysplasia, albinism, parvo, and fleas, just to rejoice in watching the community bully poor Ms. to tears. You see, as long as it’s happening to someone else, it is not happening to her! Look carefully, and you’ll see that her own dogs’ water bowls are growing a green film because she’s too busy joining yet another witch hunt on a breed forum somewhere. She knows, on a very primal, subconscious level, that by preemptively striking against someone else, she temporarily delays the outer world collectively striking against her.

The second type, The Breed Guru, does so by developing a narcissistic side to his ego, a classic overcompensation for the feelings of being insignificant, feelings of being a total fraud. He sits on his high horse, his nose up, his shoulders broad. He, and he alone, knows how to do things right. He, and he alone knows what lines to breed, what pitfalls to avoid. He, and he alone, knows the precise proportion between the tibia and the fibula of a dog in order to give it productive gait. He, and he alone, the almighty guru, knows how to raise and train puppies, how to house and feed dogs, and how to deal with the public. He might be a terrible husband and a worthless father, the dog world being his only arena of self realization. He fights tooth and nail to rise up in the ranks, trampling anyone who gets in the way. He bribes, he sucks up, he steals, he lies. Look, he is the president of the breed club now! Watch him puff his chest at the club meetings. Look, he puts on a bow tie and now he is a judge! He gets to tell others what he thinks of their breeding efforts, and you are paying him for it. Look, he is invited to judge in Japan! Have you ever been to Japan? No? That’s because you’re a bad, bad, very bad breeder, that’s why. Follow the Guru, preferably with pen and paper, and take detailed notes. Mr.Guru likes to be called a mentor. He likes to have a following. In thirty years or so, if you’re being a good, obedient little puppy, you might manage to approach his degree of greatness. Just God forbid do not ever question him about his achievements in actual dog breeding and whether he’s had any at all. Of course he did, but that was many many eons ago, way before your time. Or not. Does it even matter now? You don’t question a judge.

The absolute key element, common to both of the aforementioned types, of not letting your core crumble is to lie to yourself. Make excuses upon excuses as to why you are not succeeding in “bettering the breed” and believe in them with your whole heart. Aggressively attack anyone who doubts your excuses are valid. Torn cruciate? She just slipped and fell! Yellow eyes? Lack of iodine in the water! Cryptorchidism? Everyone knows it’s in the sire’s line, not your bitch’s line, the stud owner lied through their teeth when you inquired, and you, poor innocent soul, bought their shameless lies! Shyness in a dog you sold? Naturally, those owners had no idea what they were doing and ruined the dog’s perfect temperament you bred it to have. Overbite? Again, the owners played tug-o-war too much with that pup, and pulled the whole jaw out! Umbilical hernia? The bitch yanked on the cord in labor! Kinked tail? The wasp flew in through the window and bit the newborn pup right on the tail! Cancer? The owners wouldn’t diffuse essential oils in the house even though you told them so at least a hundred times, and have you seen those high voltage power lines a mile from their house? Allergies? That’s environmental, not genetic! A child bitten in the face? We all know how those spoiled millennials raise their even more spoiled brood, that child must’ve tortured the dog! Mismark? Err, just hide that one from the litter pictures you proudly post on your website and quietly sell the mismarked pup with no papers to someone looking for a cheap dog and old enough to not have an account on social media.

Are you, are you really bettering the breed, my friend? Don’t tell me, please don’t. I don’t need to know. Just ask yourself this question and give yourself an honest answer. It’s enough for me.

The complete cognitive dissonance between the Pavlovian mantra you adsorbed early on and the reality causes you to live in fear of being discovered. You go on projecting and overcompensating left and right, while making excuses upon excuses to others and to yourself until you lose all track of what really is happening, what’s true and what’s not. You become a Breed Guru and a Breed Police type rolled into one, lacking any hint of self-awareness, snapping at newbies and everyone else at dog events and only selling your precious puppies on spay and neuter agreement and a seven page long contract.

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What’s that? You’re done with your coffee and you want to know if we can open a bottle of wine? Of course we can. Let me get the corkscrew.
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My friend, I want you to know that I love you. I truly do. I’m made from the same dough and I’m a part of the same world as yourself. Have been for the past twenty seven years now. I don’t know why I deserved this, but by some grace observing the dog world from the inside gave me just a hint more insight than you have right now at this very moment, and I want to share it with you, so that tomorrow you wake up wiser and freer than you are today. I want you to lose that fear I see deep in your eyes every time you bad mouth another breeder to me. I want to tell you just why you are not “improving the breed” the way everyone, including yourself, thinks you should.

Consider this.

At the very exact moment the stud book of your chosen breed closed, the selection of genes available to your breed abruptly closed off too. No new genes have entered your breed since that very day, spare for an odd mutation. You have been working with exactly the same genetic material as your predecessors. You’re working with exactly the same genetic material everyone else is working with today. We are all in it together, in the same very swamp.

Listen carefully.

As long as the stud books stay closed….

…..YOU. CANNOT. IMPROVE. YOUR. BREED.

Spare me your rabid Pavlovian drool right now. Here, take a Kleenex. Have a sip of that wine. Forget that you’re a breeder, take a step back, and look at our dog world as an outside observer. Turn off your emotions and turn on the scientific part of your brain. I promise I will give it to you in the simplest possible language and the shortest possible sentences, because I know you’re in shock right now and don’t comprehend well. I have been there!

The breed is not what you have in your house. It is not what you see at a dog show on the weekend. It is not a picture in a book. The breed encompasses every single member of it across the whole planet. Think of it as one common global gene pool.

Stud books are closed. Therefore what? Gene selection is predetermined. You cannot modify these genes. You cannot bring new ones in. All you can do in the given realm is SHUFFLE the genes back and forth. From one dog to the next, from kennel to kennel, from country to country, from continent to continent. Whatever your breed’s ancestors collectively brought into your stud book is ALL you have to work with. Worldwide.

You can, temporarily, obtain a larger portion of alleles responsible for say a better shoulder than your peers have in their kennels. Maybe you’ll get a few more show ribbons, although given the current trends, nobody seems to want a good shoulder anymore.

You can, again, temporarily, produce a number of litters not affected by hip dysplasia. Your kennel statistics will go up, so will your stud dogs’ use and puppy sales, until you discover that now your precious darlings with perfect hips carry megaesophagus.

You can have a line, for a while, of confident, drivey temperaments that bring joy to you and everyone around. Until you just don’t anymore. Mother Nature is a funny broad!

As a whole, your little personal successes do absolutely nothing for the breed. It still has the same very genes it had started out with. You will come, you will go, as if you’ve never existed.

That other breeder you just bad mouthed to me for an hour, the one with horrendous disease in his lines. Do you want to know something? Lean over, I’ll whisper into your ear….YOUR LINES HAVE IT TOO. You just haven’t found it out yet.

What’s that, you say? Can you not just BREED OUT all the bad genes and KEEP all the good ones?

No. You cannot. Not unless your mailing address ends in the word “Utopia”.

Every time you select for a specific trait, you destroy a small part of your breed. Selecting for example for black eyes, you start discarding all dogs with yellow eyes. By discarding the gene responsible for yellow eyes, you put the whole complete genomes of the yellow eyed dogs into the trash bin. Along with the yellow eye gene you remove 2.8 billion base pairs of DNA from the breed’s gene pool with every dog that you do not use for breeding. Essentially, by being zealous in selecting for uniformity of type in any given trait, you rob the breed of the other traits it once had. Remember, we started with a limited, given number of genes in your breed, predetermined by the first dogs accepted into the stud book? If you only select for black eyes, and your buddy only selects for black eyes, and your buddy’s buddy only selects for black eyes, the gene pool of the whole breed becomes more homozygous and impoverished. By selecting for something you can see with a naked eye, you are inadvertently selecting against something you don’t see, including traits that are vital for survival. Would you prefer to have black eyes or a piece of code in the immune system that instructs the T-cells to attack and destroy osteosarcoma cells? Would you rather have a perfect coat or a dog who is able to fight off mycoplasma? Would you rather have a great topline or an ability to process copper?

Would you rather have your dogs die of heart disease or lymphoma?

Would you like to know what happens when someone favors one trait over the other one and starts artificially selecting for or against it?

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Hold on, another glass of wine is coming.
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I will tell you a story that was relayed to me by a good friend, herself an old breeder.

In another galaxy, far far away, there once was a breed so fine, so good, everyone and their uncle was standing in line for a puppy. There was many breeders working with this beautiful breed, and it was so popular, that it was not at all unusual to have one hundred dogs of this breed in one single class at a show.

What was the breed, you ask? Look down, do you see that beautiful brindle body pressed against your foot? The best of the best, oozing nobility and expression, so smart, so loving, so brave, so loyal, the world has never seen a better one!

All was well. So many people wanted one of these dogs that breeders never had a problem finding the best of homes. Because they sold so well, breeders had the means to import dogs from other galaxies and travel to far away shows. They built beautiful kennels, bought the best of meat and mead for their dogs. And the dogs? They were healthy and happy.

Until one day. First one puppy in one kennel developed a strange problem, never before seen. Then another. Then one more. Then a tsunami of sick puppies came. Something silently mutated somewhere in the tiny, invisible doggy chromosomes, and now there was a new, very much hereditary neurological disease that was impossible to treat and always resulted in death. The name was PA.

Passing through the stages of shock and disbelief, the breeders pulled together and decided to defeat the disease. They collaborated with geneticists and veterinarians and exercised the strictest selection methods. Both parents and all of the siblings of any confirmed case were removed from breeding. Pedigrees were carefully studied, and a lot of personal sacrifices were made as famous champion after famous champion were denied any more stud work. A few years went by, and the breeders emerged victorious! PA was done with! An impressive feat, considering this was happening in an era before the Internet and way before the dog genome was sequenced. Happy, if a bit shaken, breeders could carry on. Scientists received ample accolades. Dogs were no longer dying young.

All went back to old ways. Beautiful kennels. Happy healthy dogs. Satisfied owners. Huge entries at shows.

Until a few years later. First one dog dropped dead in the prime of its life, then another, then one more, and soon it was apparent that a new deadly disease had reared its monstrous head. There now were dozens of known cases, and soon a few hundred. A cardiac disease dubbed BCM was swiping across the breed, definitely very hereditary, and definitely very deadly.

The breeders once again put their heads together, obtained advice from the scientists who in their turn were excited to be of service (a vane lot, them), and went on to fight this new malady. Once again the pedigrees were studied in depth, offending lines identified. Parents and siblings of known cases once again removed from breeding. Once again, famous champions were immediately removed from stud. Once again, the breeders won! What a success story! The world watched in envy. Happy end? If only.

Wouldn’t you guess it, not a full decade went by, when the news arrived that puppies once again were dying. This time it was a kidney disease known as JRD. First one, then another, then one more, on and on, until there was no doubt there was yet again a new nasty killer of undoubtedly hereditary nature. Scientists came to arms, preparing for another battle round, calling to select, calling to cull, only this time the breeders weren’t so keen. Some of them wouldn’t report cases, and some pretended the problem didn’t exist. Some doubted the familial nature of the disease, and some just were plain old worn out. What happened? Why the same very breeders who actively battled, war cries, banners and all, against the previous two killers, would suddenly appear to lose interest?

The population genetics was a rather new science in that galaxy, but it was progressing by leaps and bounds. A lot of study material was now readily available to anyone who cared to look for it, and it became plainly obvious that every time the breeders selected against one single deleterious gene, removing dogs who carried it from breeding, other dogs came into their place, now doing double the work, and spread their recessive nasties instead. If the breeders continued the way they had previously done, bottlenecking the population over and over again, the situation would have simply kept repeating itself, with more and more new diseases, until there was NO DOGS LEFT.

Every single organism in the universe carries something bad in its chromosomes. As long as the overall number of genes/possible alleles in the species/breed/family is broad, the organisms belonging to it will fare well as a group. Disease will appear, but rather sporadically, on those unlucky occasions when two of the same recessives meet within the same body. Artificial selection needs to be done carefully and gingerly, to not affect the overall soundness of the gene pool. Especially so in closed populations like the purebred dog! Yes, they will get sick, yes, they will die, yes, they will break our hearts over and over and over again, but that’s a part of being alive. Remember, as dog breeders, all we do is SHUFFLE genes. We are not gods, we cannot create new ones in place of those we carelessly have thrown out. With a closed gene pool, once something is gone, it’s really gone and you will never be able to bring it back.

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Do you still want to breed for those black eyes more than anything else, my friend? How about more wine!
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Yes, we CANNOT IMPROVE a breed with a given gene pool that is closed shut and cannot be enriched. It’s like a sealed jar. Please abandon the ego-sponsored mottos. Abandon the Pavlovian mantra. You now know that you are not and never will improve the breed, and it is perfectly OK to say it out loud. I’ll be right by your side to support you if anyone argues with you. Go ahead, say it! We are ALL in the same boat, you know!

What we must do instead is PRESERVE our breeds. Preserve the work of generations before us. Do not come in, with your youthful exuberance of a baby rhino, trampling over other people’s work, proclaiming that you are the breed’s new savior. Not unless your name is Jesus.

The best you can do in your time on this planet as a dog breeder is to HELP PRESERVE YOUR BREED.

Just what does PRESERVING mean?

To preserve something is to KEEP IT FROM DETERIORATION. Do you feel the difference between improving and preserving? Within our reality, it means keeping the breed’s global gene pool of your breed as wide as possible.

It means meticulously saving old lines from extinction. Don’t let a fashion or a trend set in and destroy old lines. Hold onto them.

It means paying attention to any signs of increased homozygousity affecting the very fabric of a dog.

It means using as wide a selection of dogs within your breed to produce the next generation as you possibly can.

It also means, when the push comes to shove, when the breed has spent its entire lifetime with us, thought its birth, growth, maturity, deterioration, and it is now time for it to go, we must let it. Everything dies, my friend, nothing lives forever. From an ant to an elephant, from a carrot to a tree, from a business to a country, everything in this universe goes through those same very stages. Birth, growth, maturity, deterioration, death. When the time comes for your breed to go, let it. Many other breeds have died and I bet several of them have ***found their rebirth in the very breed you love now***. I’m whispering now. Can you read my lips? What I am saying (and not saying) would really ruffle a whole lot of feathers out there.

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More wine? No problem!
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It’s too early for your breed to die, you say, and I know you’re right. It’s late night now, and I was getting too gloomy. Right now we are working on preserving it. Let’s summarize! In order to PRESERVE a breed, you need three things above anything else.

POPULATION

POPULARITY

PEOPLE

The larger your breed’s POPULATION, the wider the selection of available alleles within the gene pool, the fewer disease, including hereditary disease, autoimmune disease, and yes, the dreaded cancer, you are going to see. You want as many worthy representatives of your breed to participate in preserving their genes as possible. Remember, every time you put your nose up in the air and refuse to place a nice puppy with a new breeder, but sell it to be neutered instead, you are robbing the breed. Do not let this become an elitist sport at the expense of the breed itself. Do not exercise too strict a selection. If your breed has a disease with a DNA test for, by all that is holy, do not announce you now only breed clear dogs. Love your breed, support its population, let it keep as much genetic variation as possible. What about disease, you ask? Gingerly, my friend, gingerly, and remember everything that lives will one day die.

In order to support population, your breed needs POPULARITY. The breed needs to be in the public’s eye, and the breed needs to be able to offer real value. Be it as a show dog, a working dog, a hunting dog, a therapy dog, a herding dog, a service dog, a lap dog, a couch dog, it must offer something special for the public to want to own them. Identify the unique valuable qualities in your breed and talk about them to others! Run ads! Sponsor documentaries! Do they have the softest silkiest coats that blow the stress right off of you when you come home and rub their ears and neck? Can they fetch ducks out of the water better than anyone else? Do they have the most beautiful eyes that melt your soul? Are they always happy and energetic and ready to join you on a hike? Do they make you laugh with their comical ways? Venture out of the small world of your peers, bring your dogs out on the streets, let people see what they’re missing, tell them about your breed’s unique qualities, get them interested. Let your dogs be ambassadors. Humans have an innate appreciation of beauty. Stop hiding those beautiful dogs in your backyard. Remember, dog breeders are born from pet owners, pet owners are born from general public. Interact with the general public, and wonderful new breeders will sooner or later funnel through.

Finally, realize that your favorite breed is utterly doomed to a very rapid extinction, unless it has PEOPLE. It really really needs people just like yourself, ready to sacrifice all their time, all their energy, all their money, and their whole very lives to the altar of their beloved breed. It needs passionate people, people with drive, people who will not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk. Stop being a snob! You’re not the only one who should be allowed to breed dogs. You must stop, completely cease bullying, gossiping, witch hunting, running down, bad mouthing, hurting, poking, questioning, judging, naming and shaming, defaming, tormenting other members of our clan. We cannot win by fighting our own people, dude! You must do all you can to attract new people into your breed and be as helpful and supportive to them as you possibly can, as if they were your own kids. Do not “mentor” them, please don’t. Too often, “mentoring” turns into a hunt for obedient young slaves to manage your own breeding program. Stop being so disgustingly selfish. Help young breeders with their very own breeding programs, not tied to yours by blood or financial obligations. Make yourself and your knowledge available, but let them make their own mistakes, just like you made yours when you first started out. They learn from their mistakes way better and faster than from your boring lectures. Encourage them, don’t tell them “my way or the highway”, don’t withhold from them. Celebrate each and every time you’re given an opportunity to attract a new person to your breed, for they are the very blood of dog sport.

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More wine?
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Accept that not every breeder will have the same priorities as you. Luckily! Remember what happened when we all attempted to breed for black eyes? Let you breed for that elusive perfect scapula, but please, please allow others to breed for perfect rears, long eyelashes, or cute dog smiles, or their dogs’ wonderful ways with the children. Ensuring that we all have different priorities is what gives your breed the very vital genetic diversity! Stop, please just stop whispering ringside, “have you seen that dog’s horrendous tail?” Yes, I absolutely have seen it. I also have noticed your dog’s awful rear. OK?

Stop giving in to peer pressure. Nobody has all the answers. Your mentors, your club members, your breed wardens, your judges – stop letting them think instead of you, stop letting them command what you breed, how you do it, and what your priorities are and should be. Think for yourself. Do your best. Be your own worst critic. Do not listen to anyone until you understand their true motifs. The only responsibility you have as a breeder is that to your dogs and that to your puppy buyers. Stop trying to please the crowd, it’s impossible to be liked by everyone. Walk your own path, but don’t tread on others toes.

Stop demanding admiration. I don’t have to like your dogs in order to love and respect you. I might secretly think your dogs are awful, but I also know that your right to breed them is exactly the same like my right to breed mine, and you can bet I will stand up for your right, for my right, and for her right too. Did you just call her “only a pet breeder”? Do you truly believe, in your heart of hearts, that the number of your dog’s teeth, the size of its ears and the angle of its stupid hock spell a higher value to your breed than her dog’s friendly disposition, its ability to be housebroken in one month flat, and its excellent immune health? Let’s ask a layman which of the two dogs they would rather bring home. Falling off that high horse is going to hurt.

Let her feed kibble, while you feed raw swan tongues. Let her vaccinate her dogs, while you dab the newest coconut oil panacea on your dogs’ ear flaps instead. Don’t forget to add apple cider vinegar. Let her keep her dogs on a dusty couch, while yours are in the castle of a kennel. Let her sell her puppies for twice what you ask – as long as her buyers are happy, good for her! Are you envious? That’s a bad emotion that will surely shorten your life. Stop being so darn judgmental, you are only a human, just like her! Live and let live.

I am a firm believer that the quality of a breeder can only be truly evaluated on two single points. First, are her dogs happy? Second, are the people she has business dealings with happy? As long as you answer “yes” to both of these questions, you are looking at an EXCELLENT breeder. Stop right there. Stop looking for any other flaws in her. Chances are you have more of them than she does!

Drop your “holier than thou” attitude. Nothing, absolutely nothing hurts your breed more. Remember, I know where you got that attitude from. From the fear in your heart. Every breeder out there has exact same fear in exactly the same place. Please try to sympathize, not antagonize. There isn’t “us” and “them”, there is only “you” and “me”, do you hear? We be of one blood, ye and I.

The wine bottle is empty now, I’ll drive you home to your dogs. In the car on the way to your house I will admit to you that I don’t have all the clear cut, neat, easy answers. I’m only a dog breeder just like you. All I have is some ideas, mere ideas, born of twenty seven years in dogs, fifty champions, a single all consuming passion, and a lot of broken idols. Will you let me know what you think?

Thank you for celebrating my anniversary with me. We be of one blood, ye and I, my friend dog breeder…

Alexandra Gav
November 19, 2018

Posted on

Introduction To The Staffordshire Bull Terrier

By: Alan Mitchell (Hoplite)

The Western Staffordshire Bull Terrier Society

General Appearance—-Smooth coated, well balanced, of great strength for his size. Muscular, active and agile.

The Staff is an athlete. Everything about him should mark him as such. There should be no exaggeration in his make-up. He needs enough bone/substance; enough muscle; enough strength of limb etc; but not too much of any of these features. He will need strength and vigour, allied to speed and suppleness, with endurance and stamina in abundance. The cloddy, heavy boned, over muscled dog may look impressive but he’ll lack the speed, agility and stamina of the athlete. The lightboned, racy dog will lack strength and power. The one in the middle will get the job done.

Characteristics —Traditionally of indomitable courage and tenacity. Highly intelligent and affectionate, especially with children.

The Staff’s temperament is legendary. His intelligence and willingness to please is taken for granted by his friends and is a source of astonishment to others. He is a pleasure to have around. He loves human company and thrives on it; seems to know just how to behave with the big ones, the small ones, the old ones, the loved ones, the neglected ones. He’ll make you feel special, “read the paper for you”. He knows he’s your best friend. He knows you need him. Not renowned as a guard of property but attack his friends at your peril, especially his small friends. Should not be used/trained as a guard/attack dog. You may have trouble calling him off.

Temperament—Bold, fearless and totally reliable.

But he’s all dog. He’ll play for hours. Take him to the field and his sporting instincts will surface. He loves a romp; he’ll hunt with the best of dogs. And though his past might suggest an aggressive and vicious spirit, this is not the case. He owns the ground he stands on and is never craven. Just socialize him as a puppy with other dogs/pets/animals and he’ll never be a threat to any. Maybe, it’s a confidence born of his past. He has nothing to prove .He knows he’s top dog.

Head and skull —Short, deep through with broad skull. Very pronounced cheek muscles, distinct stop, short foreface and black nose.

The Staff’s head should have a skull/muzzle ratio of 2:1. So the foreface/muzzle is short in relation to the rest of the head, shorter in this respect than most terriers’. The stop, the step down from the top of the skull to the top of the muzzle is quite marked. Not as deep as in other breeds with this type (Bracycephalic) of headpiece eg; Boxer, Bullmastiff. But it is definite and will affect the setting and shape of the eyes and overall expression. The Staff’s skull should be balanced for equal width and depth and be well padded with muscle, with well-developed cheek ”bumps”. These are the muscles which close the jaw and enable your Stafford to grip with power and endurance. His foreface, muzzle and jaw, should be equally balanced for width and depth and continue the strength of his head as a whole. A foreface which falls off below his eyes makes for a ”foxy” head. But too much bone will make him coarse and take away from the quality of the head. Enough is the key word. His nose is black. His nostrils wide/open. He’ll need to breathe through them at times so little, pinched nostrils will not suffice. Remember, he’s an athlete so all his parts will have to function well.

Eyes — Dark preferred but may bear some relation to coat colour. Round, of medium size and set to look straight ahead. Eye rims dark.

To complete the expression the darker the eye the better in any colour of dog and the light coloured eye in the dark coated dog are not clever. If the stop is correct, the eye size and shape should be as well. If the stop is shallow, eye shape will be almond and the expression will suffer. If the stop is exaggerated, the eyes will be overly large and prominent, again moving from the correct expression. Eye rims should be dark but will bear a relationship to coat colour and pigmentation. The colour, whether of the eye or rim, is a cosmetic feature and has no effect on function. Should be judged as such.

Ears —Rose or half pricked, not large or heavy. Full, drop or pricked ears highly undesirable.

The Staffords’ ears should be quite small and light. Pulled forward the tip should not extend beyond the corner of the eye. They are preferably rose shaped and fold back close to the back of the skull. Remember his past. Big, heavy, untidy (badly carried) ears present an easy grip for his opponent and packed with tiny blood vessels bleed profusely. (Ever wonder why ears were cropped?)

Mouth —Lips tight and clean. Jaws strong, teeth large with a perfect, regular and complete scissor bite, i.e. upper teeth closely overlapping lower teeth and set square to the jaws.

Heavy, loose lips have no functional value and, again, present a grip for an opponent and a possible point of injury for the dog himself. Lippy dogs in action, trying to get a quick grip, often fang themselves. Ever seen a lippy lurcher? And they have to get mouth on, a grip, in a split second! Lippiness makes for a coarseness in the foreface. Jaws, as mentioned under HEAD CLAUSE should be strong. Look for fill below the eyes and width in the muzzle. Fault a heavy and prominent lower jaw, often making for an undershot mouth. Fault a weak, receding under jaw often accompanying an overshot mouth. Look for balance in strength between top and bottom jaws. And do not confuse a jaw fault with untidy dentition. Teeth should meet in a scissor bite. The scissor bite is important for all carnivores. This is the nip which the animal uses to cut through the skin/hide of its prey; this is the nip with which the bitch opens the sack to release the newborn pup. The incisors are precision instruments, the close scissor bite their means of operation. The canines are the striking/gripping/catching tools. They puncture and hold. The molars are the crushing tools. They break-up and grind the food for swallowing. So that all these teeth can exert maximum pressure they must be set square to the jaws; they must be in line to support each other. Teeth, which are not set square or in line, will sustain more damage in normal wear and tear and would have sustained massive damage in the dog pit. Ask anyone with working terriers about the importance of good mouths. Look for big, strong, well-placed teeth in your Stafford.

Neck —Muscular, rather short, clean in outline gradually widening towards shoulders.

Compared to humans who balance their heads above their shoulders, dogs carry their heads in front of their shoulders. This construction requires a strong neck, stronger in relation to the weight of the headpiece. Nature provides them with a strong neck.

Dogs, as carnivores/preyanimals, hunt and catch their food. When they strike their prey, they strike downwards, hit with the head/foreface/upper canines and grip by closing the under-jaw. The strength of the strike comes from the muscular neck which delivers the hammer blow. The dog kills by shaking its prey and crushing with molars. Too short/stuffy a neck means the dog must shake with its whole forequarters to get the job done. Too long/elegant a neck is weak. So look for a rather short neck; I take this to mean of moderate length. I think that length from nose-tip to occiput could be a guide to a proper neck length. (If you’ve ever had the misfortune to witness a fight between two dogs, you’ll know that the shaker did most damage. And you’ll know that getting the opponents off the floor and stopping the shaking was the key to the separation.) The power for any head action comes from the dog’s neck.

Forequarters —Legs straight and wellboned, set rather wide apart, showing no weakness at the pasterns, from which feet turn out a little. Shoulders well laid back with no looseness at the elbow.

The front legs/forequarters carry the whole front, the heaviest part, of the dog so they need to be wellpositioned, continuing the line from the shoulder to the feet, providing the optimum base of support. Not outside the body of the dog and not too close below the body. The body of the dog is tied to the shoulder blades by the big muscle groups of the neck, shoulders and chest. It isn’t propped, it is slung. Well laid-back shoulder blades allow for a longer attachment, make it easier for these muscles to carry the weight and provide a smooth meeting of the neck and upper back, the cervical and thoracic vertebrae. Upright shoulders make for a stuffy neck and a dip behind the withers. Length in the shoulder blade and upper-arm allows for longer, more athletic muscle as opposed to the short, bunchy, heavier muscle which short limbs tend to carry. The heavy muscled dog may look awesome but the athlete will get the job done with less puffing and panting. The pastern, the main joint above the front feet, equivalent to your wrist, needs to have a little give. With the other joints of the front limb it will cushion the impact when the foot hits the ground loaded with the weight of the dog. So, while this joint should be strong and able, it should break the line of the leg. Staffords’ feet turn out slightly from pastern to sole. There are those who say that this was to give the dog a broader/more stable base of support in the pit, making it more difficult for his opponent to unbalance him. I think it’s just a little peculiarity of the breed. Refer to “wide front” in next points.

Body —Close coupled, with level topline, wide front, deep brisket, well-sprung ribs; muscular and well defined.

The coupling for the majority of folk is taken to mean the loin or the part of the back from the last rib to the hip joint. Close coupled, therefore, means short in the loin. A short loin is a strong loin but lacks the flexibility of a longer loin. This flexibility was vital to a dog in the pit. It permitted him to turn with speed and power and it transferred the pushing/wrestling drive from the big muscles of the hips and thighs to the business end. So how short is long or how long is short? As with the neck, stuffiness here is a fault. This flexibility in loin is a virtue in the brood bitch .She needs to be able to get round with ease to perform her matronly duties. The older, “less delicately reared” would say, It’s a poor bitch can’t lick her own arse!

The level topline, so much a feature of posed dogs, so often lost on the move. Topline, again, is taken as the back from behind the withers to the top of the croup. We consider level to mean like a tabletop. But the spine of a dog, that structure which determines the line of his back is not level to this degree. It may be level for the length of the thoracic spine, the ribcage, but it will rise slightly over the lumbar spine, the loin. The spine for the length of the loin is the only bone, hard tissue, in that part of the body. A slight rise, as in a humpback bridge would seem to make sense here and strengthen this part of the assembly. So while we don’t want camels, we do need to be as suspicious of the absolutely level topline as we are of the not so level one. Look at other working breeds, agile and athletic ones, and maybe we won’t be just as hung up on this particular clause.

Widefront. Not sure why. I believe that the Stafford with his bulldog ancestry would always have been a wider fronted dog than other terriers.

They, with their earth dog ancestry, would have needed to be quite narrow to get to ground and follow their vocation. So I tend to think that this clause may have been a comparative one. I’ve heard it said that the Stafford needed this wide front to give him stability in the pit. A lot of the time in the pit, at least one and often both front feet are off the floor. And if he needs width the dog can place his feet to get it. It’s been said that the space between the front feet, the brisket and the ground should be a square. So in a 16-inch dog, whose brisket comes to his elbow, the width between the inside of his elbows should be 8 inches. (Withers to elbow = elbow to floor.) I certainly would not be happy with a wider front than this and as a choice would prefer the shape between the legs to be slightly rectangular with the short end on the floor.

Deep brisket. The brisket should be no deeper than the point of the elbow.

The dog does not need any more depth. Look at all the working/hound breeds. Indeed more than this is an exaggeration and an impediment. It, quite simply, is extra weight for the dog to carry. It will take away from his ability to perform.

Well-sprung ribs. I was always led to believe that spring of rib referred to the way in which the rib connected to the spine and their capacity for expansion. Ribs were required to spring to the side before they curved down to form the chest wall. This gave the dog the room he needed across his back and gave ample curvature to the ribs as they reached to the sternum. The front ribs, flatter than those behind, gave room for the elbows to be tucked under the shoulders with room to move freely below the dog. The rear ribs have more curve. There is a temptation to admire Staffords with massively barreled ribcages and great depth of brisket in the belief that this provides more room for heart and lungs, so increases stamina and endurance. But it isn’t the size of these organs but their efficiency which is important and bulky bodies are only more weight for the dog to carry. The Stafford should, like all performance dogs be well ribbed back. This is where the room and protection for his vital organs is found. So we are looking for dogs whose ribcage is carried back below, before the tuck-up begins. His forechest should be evident and fill the space between and in front of his shoulder joints but not overly so. We don’t want pigeon chests.

Hindquarters —Well muscled, hocks well let down with stifles well bent. Legs parallel when viewed from behind.

Wellmuscled. This is where the propulsive power comes from. Staffords should have strong, powerful thighs. Not just for movement but in his earlier existence he had to drive his adversary back, to unbalance him and to bully him. Like it or not it was a vital feature.

Hocks well let down. The hock joint, your ankle, should, in the Stafford, be close to the ground, to his pads and toes. This, quite simply, gives stability to his hind limb in all its actions.

Stifles well bent. Equivalent to your knee. In a comfortably freestanding dog the stifle joint should be sufficiently bent to place the hind foot just behind a vertical line from hip to tip of toes. Easy to pose a dog thus. So try to find him off duty. (Having moved a dog in the show ring he should be allowed to come to a comfortable stop unaided, unposed. Then you’ll see the bend of stifle.) The ability of the stifle, and indeed hock, joints to open and close is an essential element to movement. This is how the dog uses his legs to drive and reach, to change the length of the limb to clear the ground and swing through its movement. See under MOVEMENT CLAUSE.

Legs parallel when viewed from behind. Hocks, from joints to feet should be parallel. Again, beware the posed dog. Well-constructed Staffords should stand four square without any assistance.

Feet —Well padded, strong and of medium size. Nails black in solid coloured dogs.

Well padded. Thick, spongy pads are a requisite for comfortable, hardwearing feet. Splayed feet with thin pads have short duration and break down easily. Get a shoe with a good sole.

Strong. There should be a natural clenching in the joints of the dog’s toes which makes for compact feet. Feet will be sized in proportion to the size of the dog, to the bone in the dog. Small feet on a heavy-boned leg are as wrong as big feet on a lightly boned specimen. Look for balance.

Nails black in solid coloured dogs. Easy but cosmetic.

Tail —Medium length, lowset, tapering to a point and carried rather low. Should not curl much and may be likened to an old-fashioned pump handle.

Medium length. Should reach the hock.

Lowset. Origin is just off the level of the topline.

Tapering to a point. Easy. All tails are thus.

Carried rather low. Stafford tails should curve from origin to hang down.

Should not curl much and may be likened to an old-fashioned pumphandle. For the younger generation, who never took the bucket to the pump, the handle hung down and flicked back at the bottom. The Stafford at ease carried his tail in this position, even on the move. Alerted, he lifted it in response to an excitement/threat which might require an answer. But he did not carry his tail erect. The gay tails, seen so often today, can be an indication of a fault in construction/movement, a shallow pelvis and stilted rear action.

Gait and movement —

Free, powerful and agile with economy of effort. Legs parallel when viewed from front or rear. Discernible drive from hind legs.

The first clause is easy. He should flow across the ground. The second is more problematic. A moving dog, of any breed, will not move with legs parallel. It was a rough guide. Old-timers (even older old-timers) used say that terriers should move like a train. Most terrier breeds are relatively narrow-chested so convergence to a centre line may be difficult to spot and they may appear to move parallel, like a train. But this is simply not true. Efficient and balanced movement requires that the feet converge to minimize any lateral displacement and keep the centre of gravity of the dog above and within the base of support or as close as possible to this.

Otherwise the dog will roll to each side with each step, a waste of effort, inefficient and cumbersome. So look for this convergence in the line of the leg from shoulder to foot, from hip to foot. It will be easier to see at faster pace. Judges should require dogs to move at a fast trot.

Discernible drive from the rear legs. Viewed from the rear, the only measure of drive we have is in the pads of the feet. Moving away and really pushing/driving off his rear feet the dog will show us his pads. From the side we look for the dog to leave his foot well behind him when he drives and to close the space underneath when he reaches forward. His rear foot should replace his front foot just as it lifts to reach forward. It should not set down two inches behind. Your dog moves by moving/swinging his limbs at the joints of origin ie; the shoulders and hips. To clear the ground with each stride he shortens these limbs by slightly closing the joints; in his rear the stifle and hock joints and in his front the shoulder and pastern joints His feet should be picked up enough to clear the ground. His topline should hold its shape and flow forward without any bounce or up-down movement. Doing this he will cover the ground with ease and economy. These are the indications of sound movement. These are what we should look for and reward. Possible aberrations. If he is showing pads but moving off-line, crabbing, he is trying to match good drive behind to poor reach in front. If he seems to be prancing at the front, may be he is attempting to compensate/synchronise poor front movement with good rear movement. If he is snatching and running at the back, may be he is trying to catch up, to match poor drive at the back to good reach at the front. The other possible problem area for movement could be the result of breeders breeding for even shorter backs. Remember the ”close coupled” clause. It is easy to focus so much on any particular attribute that we exaggerate it to faulty proportions. So consider the possibility of a back so short that it leaves no room for drive and reach below. Then we need to straighten the stifle and stilt the movement to get any balance/coordination. (I suggest you take a look at the Smooth Fox Terriers. But don’t mention my name.) And, take heed, this can be done. We get short stuffy dogs, which move and show smartly for clever handlers, but do not move well, as in efficiently and effectively.

Your dog will move in the ring at a trot. This gait means that the front left leg and the rear right leg move together, then the front right and the rear left. But they do not move simultaneously. The front foot moves just a split second before the rear. This precise timing is programmed by nature in every well-coordinated dog. It enables the dog to move smoothly without tripping over his own feet. All dogs, like all humans, are not necessarily well coordinated. Some are clumsy, awkward. Left foot doesn’t know what the right foot is doing. Used to be referred to as neuro-motor morons. You know the dancer who was always stood on your toes!

Coat —

Smooth, short and close.

Coat texture should be soft and velvety, a little bit longer and more profuse in dogs kenneled outside but smooth and close to the body.

Easy to care. Good food, exercise and a warm bed. Only needs an occasional bath and the sponge down when he’s been in the ”sheugh”.

Colour—Red, fawn, white, black or blue, or any of these colours with white. Any shade of brindle or any shade of brindle with white. Black and tan or liver colour highly undesirable.

No such thing as a good horse being a bad colour. This is a matter for personal taste and colour in a Stafford is purely cosmetic/aesthetic. The dominant colour in the breed is brindle; the black brindle is now predominant though there are still quality dogs of all colours albeit with much smaller gene pools. The tiger brindle carries the genes for the full colour spectrum, others tend to breed colour predictably. Breeding reds/pieds/fawns constantly will dilute coat colour and if at the same time strong pigmentation is retained, black hairs will appear in the coat to produce a grizzle or smut. The black and tan is the extreme of this. So an occasional cross to a brindle is needed to prevent the appearance of these undesirables. I have a notion that liver is really a weakness in colour and that black/tan is so dominant, that were it allowed, it would quickly swamp the breed. But check this stuff out!

Size—Desirable height at withers 35.5 – 40.5cms (14-16ins), these heights being related to weights.

Weight: Dogs: 12.7 – 17kgs (28-38lbs);

Bitches: 11-15.4kgs (24-34lbs).

This should be straightforward stuff but causes a lot of division amongst enthusiasts. We need to remember that the standard is a guide, so none of these heights or weights are cut-off points. We will get quality dogs outside these marks and we should be always willing to appreciate and reward quality. The folks who drew up the standard were describing what, in their opinion, was the ideal Stafford. I can only say that “Virtus in medio stat”. The ideal is in the middle and to keep it there we have to use dogs on either side of it, in this case above and below. If we use the ideal as the top limit then we will breed down; if we use it as the bottom-line then we will breed up. And we have a breed which could quiet easily split into two types, a terrier type and a bulldog type.

We need to always look for the bull and terrier type.

Faults —Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree.

This is the pit for the faultfinding specialists; the dentists, the chiropodists, the optometrists etc. We need to be able to look at the whole dog and see his virtues. We should view all dogs from a distance, assess them against the standard and judge them as examples of their breeds before we move close enough to get caught up in the details and cosmetics. I do recall reading a statement by the late Raymond Oppenheimer, of Bull Terrier fame, about one of his breed. He said something to the effect,” He was as full of faults as hell of fire but the best Bull Terrier I’ve ever seen.” We need to be appreciative in our judging, not mean and smallminded. The standard is a guideline open to interpretation, not etched in stone. To have digested it and memorized it word for word, but be unable to apply it sensibly, is to have wasted time and will make no contribution to the future of any breed. If we can’t identify the virtues what will we build on? The quality of present Staffords is the stepping-stone to the future.

Note —Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.

If your number concept is weak you may have to use your fingers.