Category: Sportsmanship

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Addition by subtraction

I’ve blogged before about how its super important to support one another, work together or if you can’t just remain silent. We all have at least one important interest in common. Staffordshire Bull Terriers. If we didn’t share this interest you wouldn’t be here.

We don’t have to be best friends with all Stafford owners. We don’t have to invite them all into our homes or even into our lives. We don’t even really have to like them or agree with their choices. But we can work together. We can have one another backs instead of stabbing them. We can support and preserve Staffords by letting go of petty unimportant feelings and setting all of the negative opinions aside and come together for the dogs. We can’t change others behaviors anyway. Its difficult enough to change our own!

In the past I have been guilty of saying things I am ashamed of. I have attempted to right these wrongs and try to be a better person. I recognize my weakness as lacking the confidence to be myself and now I am stronger. I was a weak follower. I did and said what was currently expected or popular and I never felt right about that. During my transition to becoming a stronger person if I saw a group acting disrespectfully I would try to defend or stand up for the person being bullied or wrongly accused. In those attempt it usually made things worse, not better. This may sound selfish but now I worry less about others and more about myself and the breed. I avoid bullies and crowds of lemmings and now stand on my own. I am honest with my words and actions. Its not a popular place to be but its right for me.

You are probably saying what does this blog entry have to do with Staffords? In the world of dogs I’ve been told I need thicker skin, get over it, just go with the flow…all words meant to ‘help’ me. The world of dogs is ugly. People act and speak standing precariously balancing between ego, self importance  lacking confidence and masking that with bully behavior. I’m at the point now that what others say about me just doesn’t matter. I know ugly things are said about me – untruths, half truths, I am given petty labels, gossip is spread –  just plain meanness. I know a person who told a potential puppy buyer that I was ‘intense’ as that would be an insult. Its not. I am. Another breeder told a potential buyer upon hearing she was on my wait list ‘good luck with that’. I don’t even know what she meant by that.  Recently two of my buyers were accused of cheating by their competition – they had not cheated – so I stood up and defended them. I was laughed at. I have had accusations that I was pocketing money from my rescue efforts – how laughable is that? I don’t need the money and anyone can look up the public records since its a registered non profit. We simply don’t bring in a ton of money and we keep excellent accounting records – people who accuse others of doing wrong actions generally are not above doing those things themselves. The dog world is an ugly place.

In another situation, last March we showed Marina at Crufts in Birmingham, England. This was a highlight in our lives as breeders – Marina qualified four times and deserved to be seen on that green carpet. You would think my ‘friends’ and fellow Stafford owners would be excited for us and say nice supportive words  – and most did/were – yet one person whom I have known a very long time not only had nothing nice to say but instead made ugly comments about my shoes. ?

What other people say about you says more about them actually.

If you are excited about an achievement or a new puppy or title or anything you want to share the happiness about – share that with the world. Then sit back and watch how others respond to your happiness. Are people excited for you? Do they seem genuine when they congratulate you? Or do they instead say ‘when my dog did that …..”. People who are not your VIPs will always turn your success around to relate a story about themselves. They usually will also not have the time to type out words of true encouragement or say meaningful comments – usually its a ‘thumbs up’ emoji or a shortened ‘congrats’ or something about themselves – because they feel they need to remind the world that they are important, they are the focus of every conversation, their achievements mustn’t be forgotten. They may make ugly comments about your dog or your efforts or accuse you of cheating. These are not your VIPs.

In my growth and struggles with being a better person I have learned to let people go. I don’t say unkind things about them personally, and I wouldn’t say unkind things about their dogs (although in my past confidence  lacking behaviors those were my go to actions embarrassingly enough)  but I simply move on. As far as I’m concerned, the fastest way to live our best lives and have more of what we want is to remove more of what we don’t want. This is addition by subtraction, and if you choose to give yourself this gift, it has the power to positively change your life. Can you afford to put off giving yourself that gift any longer? Your best life may depend on your answer. People who choose to hurt others are the broken souls of the world who are deeply hurting themselves whether or not they recognize this. Their hate has nothing to do with how they feel about you, it’s a reflection about how they feel about themselves.

If we are to remain ‘in dogs’ then some changes had to be made. From now on, the front row is for real fans only, and the VIP section is only for the special people who have earned the right to be there. Let’s face it, not everyone in our lives can be “very important.” If everyone in our lives is “very important,” that’s the same thing as saying that no one is. Only the real fans deserve the privilege of being the “Very Important People” in our lives. Who are these very important people?

• They are the first ones to help us up when we fall down.

• They encourage our hopes and dreams instead of stomping on them.

• They stick around when everyone else is bailing out on us.

• They build us up instead of tear us down.

• They treat us with dignity and respect at all times.

• They offer a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on when we need it.

• They love us unconditionally.

The bar is set pretty damn high for VIPs– that’s why these people are “very important.” Try to surround yourself with your VIP’s. Gravitate towards those who help you feel the sunshine, not those who live in a constant storm.

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The Shops at TSK

We have been hard at work over the past year building an online shopping ‘mall’ to help support the growing need for funding for Stafford rescue. Sadly we are now helping families re-home their pets mainly due to lack of support from their breeders. Some breeders are also selling puppies to anyone with the cash without any screening to see if the breed is the right match for them. In the last year I personally have helped place 8 Staffords in this situation. Its not the fault of the dogs and in part (although they should have done more research and training) its mostly not the fault of the owners. Breeders need to be a LOT more careful where they sell Stafford puppies.

In an effort to replace funds spent this shop is ‘softly open’ for business. Here you will find an ever changing array of merchandise with various original Stafford artwork, club logos, show fund raisers and more and always a portion of your dollars spent go to the TSK rescue fund. If a design is for a club or a show then the majority (80%) goes to that club. From the remaining 20% we take out our expenses and the remainder goes to rescue. On all other designs the majority (all except operating costs) goes to the TSK rescue fund.

ENJOY!

https://www.thestaffordknot.com/shop/

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Best Family

I made the following suggestion to the SBTCA National Specialty Committee that I am currently serving on  –

There should be an extra nontraditional class at the national specialty called the “best family” or similar where you have to enter a minimum of three generations, preferably four.

The purpose would be to show the direction the breeder has taken over the generations. It would be a non-regular class so that only perhaps one of the three or four entries would be required to be entered in a regular class in order to participate. At least 2 of a three generation entry or 3 of a 4 generation entry must be bred by the person entering.

Maybe not offer every year but maybe every few years to give people time to be able to meet the conditions of participation. If breeders are working together this isn’t so daunting.

I can see where this would be very helpful to get a bigger picture on how we are doing as a whole in this country as far as making good breeding choices. Are we really improving? Sometimes I think not. Sometimes it seems we are struggling and not working together. 

The judging would encompass mostly type but also structure and how the dogs meet the standard. The focus would be on consistency and improvement.

 It also could just be presented as a showcase not a competition – a prelude to a seminar. Can you imagine seeing 4 generations in a ring from 5 breeders? Especially if they were working together?

I have always thought that breeders in this country needed to work together more. If we share similar goals then why AREN’T we working together? How can a breeder such as myself who can’t keep a lot of dogs or who spends so much money on each litter move forward very easily? Without a larger number of resources its not possible. Perhaps that is why in this country we do not see a lot of improvement and also why finding the right stud seems so daunting.

Thoughts?

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No good deed goes unpunished

I volunteer my free time to help Staffords. I do this freely and of my own will. I spend hours each day on some sort of project related to Staffords. I am either promoting The Stafford Knot, helping raise money for the parent club, assisting with rescue, running online auctions where I give away my own items, making craft projects to raise money or in some way spending my own valuable time giving back to the breed. I have done this for almost 15 years. Nobody makes me volunteer. I actually have wanted to stop for many years. I fill voids. I feel that if I stop, someone else will pick up where I leave off and fill these voids. They will have their own way of giving back which won’t be exactly like mine, but they will do these jobs. For the most part, these are thankless jobs. Nobody notices when you do them, but if you stop – they notice. I want to discuss rescue today.

Over the years there have been many many Stafford breeders doing rescue. Ginny Antia, Susie Keel, Tony George, Kristina Estlund are but a few who spent years helping to find homes for Staffords in need. It’s a LOT of very exhausting work. You end up in some emotional situations usually. I find it to be more difficult than just about any dog related volunteer job. You seem to be both everyones savior and enemy all at once. MY main goal when helping with a rescue or a re-home is the dog. I care about the people, some. But mainly I am helping the dog. I want the Stafford to end up in a home as good as, or better than my own. Screening, interviewing, analyzing, evaluating, training, vetting, marketing each dog requires a different set of skills and different other volunteers in order to make things run smoothly. They rarely run smoothly.

What we want to offer is a safe, open, honest line of communication so that all bases get covered. What we end up doing is refereeing the judgement and scrutiny of those NOT volunteering their own time and resources. We end up having to spend hours defending ourselves, arguing over details, listening to emotional owners, breeders, rescue people and FB rescue police. None of that is a productive way to spend my time. I refuse to contribute to non productive use of my time. I focus on the dog. I focus on screening potential new homes.

Believe me when I say I have far better ways to spend my time than looking for homes for homeless dogs. I would love to be able to say – that’s it. You are on your own. I am no longer available. I get no benefit by doing rescue except one. When I get emails from new owners with photos of happy dogs in loving homes I get great joy. Thats why I continue.

Sometimes we run into a situation where an owner asks for assistance due to not finding resolution from their breeder. I make myself available to assist them the same way I would for anyone else. The first question I ask is “Have you contacted your breeder to request help”. I ask this every single time. If the dog is in a shelter we try to figure out the breeder. If the dog is on CL we try to find out the breeder. As long as the breeder is aware the dog is in need, then its up to the breeder to help. I never prevent this. However, sometimes there is friction between owners and breeders for whatever reason. This is not my business. I have nothing to do with their relationship. Again, my focus is the dog. If a breeder and an owner cannot communicate thats between them. If I am asked to help find a home for a dog, I evaluate then market the dog. I might make myself available as a shoulder for the emotional breeder, owner, shelter worker, new owner – whomever needs support or guidance. If money needs to be raised, I do that. If transportation needs arranging, I do that. If medical attention needs are required I have that taken care of. If the dog needs training, I help arrange that. If a foster home is required, I help arrange that. I focus on the dog. Period.

You are welcome.

If anyone reading this would like to take over at any point please do. I am more than ready to hand you the keys.

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Who would ever know?

In the days prior to Facebook we had Bullbreeds Online. Before that Yahoo groups. Prior to that there was Compuserve chat rooms. Even before that, before the internet, people actually called on the telephone to speak to one another. The phones usually were attached to walls or at least a base unit was. Those who did rescue could have ‘telephone tree’ calls to arrange assistance to the dogs, the breeders, the owners. People actually SPOKE, in real works, out loud or sometimes even in person. HORRORS! You mean people actually looked one another in the eye and had conversations? Yes, my young readers. This is how it was ‘in the old days’ before FB.

When you have to look a person in the eye to speak it makes it more difficult to tell lies. Don’t get me wrong – there are those who are especially talented in this area who can still do this. Well seasoned at bending the truth, some people can make the world sound like just about anything they desire. Sometimes people lie for the sport of lying and sometimes they are ashamed of their actions and guilt makes them lie. Sometimes they feel no shame, and lie because its what they feel is expected of them. Lies simply flow easily out of their mouths any time they speak.

In dogs, here is the problem with being dishonest. There is always somebody paying attention who knows you are not truthful. Today’s blog entry is about breeders who routinely tell lies and think they get away with it. I want to begin by telling you that I have never in my life been associated with so many wonderful people who are passionate about a hobby they spend 24/7 living/breathing/enjoying. In contrast to that, I also have never met so many cold hearted fake egotistical sociopaths either. How can these opposing groups continue in harmony doing the same hobby? Well, my theory is that many of the passionate happy positive people aren’t aware of the other type – mainly because why would you seek that out? Sometimes it is best/easier to ignore those miserable, cold hearted, selfish, controlling, shit stirrers. Sometimes that’s all you can do. Today I am blogging because I am sick to death of those types and I feel strongly they are why breeders and dog show folk have such a negative reputation with the rest of the population and also why the few doing purebreed rescue get so burned out and disgusted. The loudest people get the attention. The angry loud few are what people remember most. And on top of that, when a person who normally is NOT like that gets fed up and becomes angry, loud and attention seeking – that’s what they will be remembered for as well. Thats a shame. What should be remembered – what SHOULD be spoken about are the others – those who ruin it for everyone. It’s those people who make us ALL look bad. I can totally understand why so many people, especially in rescue, HATE breeders. I get that!

Here is what I know as someone who has been devoted to the Staffordshire Bull Terrier in both rescue, re-home, fundraising, volunteer work, breeding, mentoring and educating – people tell me things. I listen. Now I will speak.

  • I know of a breeder who left a dog she bred knowingly in a kill shelter.
  • I know of a breeder who has had dogs they bred returned to them and chose to  euthanized rather than take the time to train/socialize/rehome the dogs.
  • I know of a breeder who euthanized a dog that was returned and then lied and told people it was placed in a wonderful home.
  • I know of this same breeder who has done this routinely.
  • I know of breeders who import so many dogs then sell them on like one might buy shoes.
  • I know of breeders who are pyramid sales type breeders – you buy a puppy and sign a contract stating the Stafford must be shown (maybe even by them, maybe for a handling fee), bred from and puppies given back to the breeder and that then you must carry on in the same manner…and on and on and on.
  • I know of breeders who would just as well breed on the 1st heat just as easily as taking 7 litters from a bitch.
  • I know of breeders whose dogs live in kennel runs on abandoned properties not where anyone lives and the dogs are visited once daily for a scoop of kibble and some water.
  • I know breeders who routinely keep non refundable deposits no matter why the puppy didn’t go to that home – even when its the breeder who turns the buyers down.
  • I know a breeder who makes their buyers use their stud dogs and charge the stud fees anyway.
  • I know a breeder who charged the breeder of their stud dog a stud fee even after being given free Staffords from the same breeder in the past.
  • I know breeders who lie about health testing.
  • I know breeders who lie about puppy enrichment protocols they claim to use but don’t.
  • I know breeders who care more about ribbons, specialty wins or how many champions they have bred than they care about the lives those dogs lead.
  • I know breeders who think they are the center of the universe and that all others are below them and must respect anything they say no matter how absurd their words are.
  • Sadly, I also know breeders who are hoarders and get in over their heads and cannot find a way out but are not able to ask for help.
  • I know breeders who lack so much confidence that they need a pat on the back for anything they say or do in order to feel okay and accepted.
  • I know breeders who collect semen like some collect coupons.
  • I know breeders who collect dogs like some collect coupons.
  • I know breeders who pay their bills by selling puppies but wouldn’t ever admit that they need the money and the puppies are how they earn it.
  • I know breeders whose actual self worth is based upon dog show wins.
  • I know breeders whose puppies are born and raised in stalls or basements, mostly unattended.
  • I know some breeders who may read this list and not see themselves on it.

I know a lot of things and I also know that for the most part, nobody really cares. Knowing all these things makes me sad if I think about them. In today’s world of having all your ‘friends’ made by a click of a button on FB, telling lies seems to be much easier. After all, who would ever know?

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Waiting for a puppy?

So here you are waiting for a puppy from the breeder you have developed a relationship with after a lengthy search. You both have agreed that your expectations and theirs are a good match. You have passed the breeders detailed interviews, home checks, reference checks and enjoyed many lengthy conversations over the last few months or years possibly. Now what?

Now is the time for you, and your family, to continue the education you began when you first researched the breed you were seeking. Does your breeder offer mentoring and education materials? If so take advantage of these! I cannot stress enough that NOW is the time to immerse yourselves in any and all education materials offered to you.

Now is also the time to be proactive – reach out to your breeder and talk about questions, concerns you may have. Now is the time for all adults to speak to the breeder. Now is the time to discuss your childrens puppy experience. If they have none or only a little – educate your children now! Do NOT wait to bring a puppy home to teach your kids the correct and safe way to interact with puppies and adult dogs. Now is also not the time for bravado and machismo to take over. Your kids do not know everything you think they know. Explain to them the importance of being safe, gentle and kind to dogs. No screaming, sudden wild movements, no loud noises, no jerking, poking, pulling. Sit down to hold puppies. Be gentle with puppies. Teach your kids to be patient. A little good parenting now will pay off later. Your breeder is more concerned about the puppies experiences than your kids, trust me on that.

For our new owners, we have this incredibly detailed website chock full of articles, blog posts, book lists, puppy raising protocols, nutritional and natural rearing  information, essential oils,  health, exercise  and training advice and more! Read about Breed Specific Legislation and Breed Bans. They exist and are very real. We give everyone a copy of the suggested exercise schedule written by Puppy Culture. We also upload 100’s of files pertaining to the breed, the litter, health testing documents, history and advice for our buyers to print, download and read on a FB group they have the link to. We have The Stafford Knot , rescue fund raiser pages and SBT Mentor websites and FB pages. These are excellent places to learn more about the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. We post a book list we suggest new owners to read from. We make suggestions on safe breed appropriate toys and warnings about those that can be ingested causing obstructions or broken teeth. We are here to answer any and all questions for the life of your dog so please – take advantage of this!

We suggest they join other groups on FB as well. Examples of these groups include a debates page where you can follow along with many topics pertaining to the breed from fellow owners in America. There is a page for Stafford Rescue and Re-homing which all SBT owners need to participate in. We need help with transport, breed ID and foster care. There are fun pages such as Stafford Ink where you can show off your SBT related tattoos.

Do it! Now. Now, before you take home a puppy.

We ask that all buyers purchase and watch Puppy Culture – you can live stream so its super convenient to watch anytime you have free time. You will want to follow along each week with your puppies PC experiences and by watching the videos it will make more sense to you and make it easy to continue when you bring home your new puppy. We ask buyers to go online and read past issues of The Stafford Knot online magazine to see photos and read about the history of this breed. The more you know now, the easier it will be later. I cannot repeat this advice strongly or often enough.

Never. Stop. Learning.

http://www.thestaffordknot.com

http://www.sbtmentor.com

https://issuu.com/thestaffordknot

 

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Consider the source

When we began to get involved in pure bred dogs we realized that everyone had an opinion and they weren’t shy about speaking out about it. Suddenly you couldn’t go anyplace with your pure bred dog without some ‘expert’ chatting you up about their thoughts on your dog.

Some people had to tell you the ‘correct way to train’, some simply told you about your breed as if they invented it, some had warnings about your breed, and some had unkind words about your breeder. The most interesting spoken opinions to me were other owners of my breed simply blurting out their conformation opinions of my dog.

There are several types falling into this category. The most blatant walk up to you and begin their critique, criticisms right off the bat…usually without even a proper introduction or a smile. Maybe you are in a class and they assume since they have your breed and do not know who you are that you must need their opinion. They are usually highly critical of every detail. Usually these types have on the end of their own lead what to them is the perfect example of the breed. Other type silently evaluate your dog from a distance and once you turn your back their diarrhea mouths are off and running fast and furiously trashing the dog, you and your dogs breeder. Some are combinations of these and some are even so obnoxious and forward they grab your dog and pry open its mouth to inspect the bite without so much as a request to check. Yes, this did happen to me.

One thing they all have in common is ego. These people are oblivious that their actions are neither requested nor warranted. They are rude. You haven’t paid for their opinions. You aren’t entered into a conformation show under them to judge your dog and offer their opinions. These people don’t even care if the dog in question was sold as a show dog or if it was sold as a sports dog – to them they feel strongly that you must hear their opinion and value it.

These people are somehow finding self worth in everything they can offer the purebreed dog world in their ‘usually incorrect’ opinions and rarely are they experts at much. Rarely are they involved in much beyond breeding or bragging. They seem to have much to say about nothing.

Any of this sounding familiar to you? If you own a purebred dog I’m guessing it has happened to you too.

When it has happened to me, and when I hear about it happening to my puppy buyers I usually respond with consider the source. Let it go. Reply with a polite ‘thank you for offering your unrequested opinion on my dog’ and move on.

 

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Custodians of the breed

There is a disturbing trend happening in the dog world. It’s not the first time this happened but it seems to be the first time it has so directly involved this breed. Trends are never a healthy thing in purebred dogs. This has taken its toll on me personally.

Some unethical and selfish people are breeding Staffords for specific purposes other than the intended purposes of this wonderful versatile breed – such as below standard smaller size, super extreme high drive & excessive tenacity, specific color and pattern or other non standard traits which will bring in more puppy sales for them. This is my blog so I am perfectly comfortable calling things as I see them. I especially feel okay since I also see the other side of this in my work with Stafford rescue.

We now have people breeding something called the ‘Miniature Staffordshire Bull Terrier’ to which my response is get yourself another breed. Dwarfism isn’t a healthy trait and joint, structure, health issues will occur when you begin selecting your breeding partners for smaller and smaller sizes. You don’t believe me? Ever go to a ‘Bully Fest”? Google American Bully and have yourself a look. Like what you see? Do you want to see Staffords heading down this road too? What do you think the life span is of these animals? Think there is any pain involved? Think they can reproduce naturally? What about spinal injury occurrences? I am perfectly fine naming and shaming if you call me and ask me for names of ‘breeders’ doing this. I personally know people who own some extra tiny below standard Staffords. They will tell you all about the heartbreak of injuries and health concerns. You cant make this stuff up.

So called ‘sport breeders’ are producing Staffords with such extreme drive and energy that nobody can live with these dogs on a daily basis. There is no off switch. They want dogs to compete and win at sports. Thats it. Nothing to do with a breed standard or health testing – just fast, small, drivey. Have you ever wondered what happens to all the puppies from these ‘sport bred’ litters who dont make the cut? The ones who either don’t excel at the intended sport or those sold to families instead of being put to work daily? Let me tell you. They end up being re-homed either to rescue (Hi thats me) or sold from home to home to home on Craigslist, etc. or being dumped at the pound to die. Now lets discuss the ones they do keep to do their chosen sport – they are worked from week one. They teach them to tug, run, grab, go go go go go – always on. They are worked before growth plates have closed – they are worked hard and often beyond injury and fatigue. These are not pets. These are means to a goal for owners. These ‘breeders’ and owners are only after one thing. Personal attention – “look at me – my dog is number one – look what my dog can do – doesn’t that make me terrific?!” Then after they begin to not win guess what happens then. They are either ‘retired’ meaning sold or given away, dumped with rescue (hi again) left alone in crates and kennel runs or used for breeding purposes only. This issue isn’t isolated to sport folks either – lots of conformation people are exactly the same but thats another blog post for another day…..

Then we have those who are not involved in the mainstream breed ‘family’ at all and they buy Staffords specifically to breed because they supplement their income with these dogs. Some are honest about it advertising on Next Day Pets and the like. Others lie to themselves and say they are breeders of champions therefore its all legit. These ‘breeders’, if not also breeding for the above traits, only breed for the popular colors or patterns in order to make their puppies more desired by the masses of the ignorant public. You may see blue to blue (no health testing at all just chosen for dilute), you may see black and tan or tri color bred purposely (a disqualification in the breed), you may see a combination of those as blue and tan and in fact you also may see merle which doesn’t even exist in this breed therefore you know for a fact they are not purebred.

Some don’t breed for these traits at all but they call themselves ‘show breeders’ but when you look at their dogs you may wonder what breed it is. I do not consider these people breeders – to me that just making puppies. Like in a factory or on a farm. Their dogs represent cash not family. Their dogs may be studded out at very young ages with no testing done, they may always have a litter available, they may take non refundable deposits, they may have paypal buttons on their websites, they may also say ‘health tested’ but somehow cant come up with proof. They may brag about the show or sport wins before they ask you about what kind of home will this puppy grow up in or before they get to know you because in reality – they don’t care. They wont remain in touch with you beyond the sale unless your contract states you have to breed your Stafford and give them puppies back. See a theme here?

And another thing – bear with me please – I came into this breed with a pet quality Stafford I purchased as a pet but allowed the breeder to make me show her. Thankfully I had the sense not to breed from her and she was soon spayed. My second Stafford was slightly better quality. I had learned a little more about the breed standard at this point. I had great success with this dog even though I knew he had many faults. I often wondered what the judges were thinking when they praised his more extreme qualities rather than his overall balance and fitness. I wrote about this in a very early blog here. Then I continued with a 3rd Stafford who in herself wasn’t a fantastic bitch in some ways but in other ways was quality. I began to understand the importance of fully health testing my dogs and publishing results, good or bad. I began to test my Staffords in performance and conformation. I bred my bitch understanding I would be lucky to get 1 show quality pup in a full litter – unlike so many others around me who sent full litters out with handlers to champion them all and in turn breed mediocre or faulty Staffords. I continued along on a slow path choosing what I wanted and where I wanted to go and understood more and more as I went along where my mistakes were made and where my good decisions fell closer to the path I sought. I made good connections within the dog community and I contributed back as I took from it. We returned from our first time at the PSBTC shows glowing with excitement from all we had learned. Lightbulbs had turned on. Wow was there so much to learn about this breed! We had been fooled into thinking what we saw and what we read were unrelated! Once we saw good examples of the breed we immediately understood so many things. We were met with a fellow exhibitor saying (as he rolled his eyes) “ut oh Lynnie and Jim have gone to the dark side”. This man is an AKC judge now.

All along, my frustrations grew – not only with the topics in this very long blog (time for you to take some B-12 if you want to keep up). I grew frustrated with watching handlers showing mediocre Staffords and winning anyway, therefore justifying the wins with – this is how I make a paycheck, or don’t have sour grapes…now sometimes a handler was showing fantastic examples in my mind and even they couldn’t be found in the ring – now that was even more frustrating to me. I was secretly pulling for those dogs to excel to justify what I was learning.  How could a judge not see these dogs as being so close to our standard? Why is it that only other Stafford breeder judges found them?

Now of course I understand that I am not the police of the breed and I have zero control over what these folks do….it’s really none of my business – society will sort itself out eventually – but my concern mainly is to educate my readers so they understand that people who breed for these traits do not have these wonderful dogs in mind – only either selfish goals, ego or money. How does that affect me you may wonder? Why this lengthy blog post? Still reading? Two reasons – first – the cast offs come to rescue and now they become my problem. I clean up the mess these people are creating. (loads of conformation breeders are a part of this problem also, its not isolated to the above described people) It now becomes my expense and burden to find great homes for these dogs. These dogs are not perfect. They come with all kinds of structural, health or behavioral problems that now others must deal with. I’m burned out with exhaustion over this to be quite honest.

Let me vent a minute longer if you are still reading. I receive rescue requests daily. Most people will first tell me they just want to adopt a Stafford in need. However, a little more conversation and I get this – in reality they just do not wish to pay for a well bred health tested puppy b/c either they aren’t ideal themselves and have been turned down repeatedly by good breeders, they are too cheap to pay for a quality purebred Stafford or they are never going to be satisfied with any rescue or re-home I find for them. Seriously. Some people are so picky about wanting the absolute perfect pet. Hey people – why the hell do you think this dog is in need of a new home anyway?! It has issues and we need homes to help them work through them, or a health issue and we need a home willing to care for a special needs dog, or its old or it is dog aggressive or its never been trained to do anything at all! This isn’t Macy’s ffs.

Now I know not everyone wanting a rescue or re-home is like this. I know. Stop rolling your eyes at me. But you really wouldn’t believe the daily messages I get. I have to remain polite and helpful and do my best to match dogs with homes or politely turn them away. I have rehomed many many Staffords into fantastic loving well meaning homes over the years. Honestly I have. I also remain in touch with most of them the same way I do with my puppy buyers.

We are the custodians of the breed. It is our responsibility to make sure the breed, as it is described in our breed standards, are preserved as such for generations beyond our lives to enjoy as they were meant to be. The Stafford was one of the healthiest of the terriers living well beyond the years of most dogs of its size and structure. There was a study on this conducted in the late 90’s by University of Texas. The Stafford temperament was one of a stable and reliable dog. You get a Stafford and you know what to expect. Some tenacity, some prey drive, loads of enthusiasm and willingness to please – but – also an off duty quietness. Important.

Secondly it is extremely disturbing to see some of these ‘sport breeders’ doing anything they can to steal the joy from those before them who come to the start line with in standard, health tested, well planned, trained and healthy Staffords and bring a steroid injected, dehydrated, sport bred, crazy, unstable animal and say – now we beat you and we win and you lose. Nope. Sorry. We all lose. You lose. I lose. The breed loses. You can talk all you want about how your dogs are beating my dogs at a sport – it washes off my back and makes you look like a very sad, lonely person who cares more about the brags than the dogs on your leashes (and shock collars). Just look at your dogs faces. Do they have that sparkle in their eye that my dogs have? No. They look defeated because after they run, after they jump, after they walk in a left hand circle over and over and over again – they are shoved back into a crate in the van while you go off to do your thing. They don’t get that love my dogs get. I can see it in their eyes. And when they do not win – oh boy – that makes me so sad. I see you jerk them by the collar, I hear you curse at them.

And with this – I say – you cannot steal my joy. You are really trying to. You have a times been soooo close to doing so. You cannot affect the joy my dogs feel from me. My dogs are not my life because they have excelled at sports and in the conformation ring – they are my joy because I live with these fantastic wonderful animals every single day – spending my time with them no matter what. They are my companions. They are my family. I am proud of the achievements we have accomplished together. I look at them and get goosebumps. They don’t have to be doing a damned thing. But even without any of these top awards – and trust me if you follow me at all you know there have been numerous firsts and top spots in the breed made by my dogs – (see, there I bragged a bit) these dogs are my love, my life, my reason to smile.

I do not wish to stick around long enough to watch what is happening to this breed by those who are not passionate about them like I am. You may see us sometimes at events if we feel like attending or seeing old friends or having a day of fun, attending the occasional specialty show, breeding a litter now and then . . . . but we are pretty much finished with the non stop weekend dog events. We spent almost 15 years living 24/7 for the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. We have probably done more for this breed than most of the people in the breed in so many ways. (its not a brag if its the truth is it?) We have raised and donated 1000’s and 1000’s of dollars and worked many 1000’s of hours for clubs, rescue, BLS, committees, shows, graphics/photography, online stores, auctions, sponsorship, advertisements –  we have created many outlets for education about this breed through the non profit work of The Stafford  Knot, sales from Thankdog – All Breeds Equal and this website. I feel pretty good about all we have contributed.

A year from now most people may not even know who we are and thats ok too. We will be here at home with our Staffords and know that we did a great job. We helped do our part to preserve this unbelievable breed. We didn’t cheat. We didn’t boast (much). We didn’t allow our dogs to represent our self worth. We enjoyed our dogs and will continue to do so. Its now time to relax, enjoy life. And with that…….we retire. We go out on top in our eyes.

 

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Our 2018 Crufts Experience

Breeders have many goals when they begin their journey with their chosen breed. For us our goal is to always promote what we felt was the perfect Staffordshire Bull Terrier for US – we don’t place personal value on the success or failures in a show ring but rather we appreciate each experience for what it is. For some breeders or owners who show their dogs a ribbon and a brag is all it means to them. They center their own personal self worth on the opinions of others. That’s never been the case for us. Showing and performing with our Staffords is something we do for the enjoyment and experience alone.

We wanted to be able to show our own home bred dogs at several big venues – attending parent club National Specialty shows, Eukanuba National Dog show, Westminster KC, UK CH shows and Crufts! We can now say we have done all of that! Bucket list dreams can be check off!

We recently returned from showing Marina at Crufts in Birmingham England where she was entered in the Open bitch class. There were 33 bitches in her class. Many of them were UK Champions and almost all were well worthy of being considered top in the breed. It is our opinion that even the worst Staffords in the rings on that green carpet were far closer to our breed standard than most of the top Staffords in the USA. Looking around at the 100’s of Staffords qualified and entered that day it was difficult to fault the majority of them, especially in fitness and temperament.

Proudly, Marina held her own. She looked like she belonged…and she did belong. Marina has qualified at all but one qualifying show she was entered in here at home. This is possibly a record as the most Crufts qualified American bred Stafford. If nothing else this shows consistency. In fact, we have bred four Staffords who have qualified for Crufts at least once. We don’t regard this achievement as a personal measure of self worth, but rather as a measure of success in meeting the goals we set for ourselves when we decided to breed Staffords. In this respect we have done all that we set out to accomplish. If we stop today, we feel we have been a success.

Marina enjoyed the time on the green carpet immensely, “boofing” and carrying on, wagging and posing for all ringside. She was a crowd favorite for sure. Our bitch judge on the day was Paul Stanway and he was an excellent judge. We felt we got our moneys worth for sure. He did write down her number which is a good sign, but we did not place. That’s totally fine with us considering the high standards he was faced with selecting from. The bitches who did place were well worthy! Below are some photos from the day….one which we will never forget.

Photo by Linda McCulloch
Photo by Olga Kruglova
Photo by Olga Kruglova

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Ethical Breeder

I borrowed this from the English Setter club Code of Ethcis and I feels strongly it should apply to EVERY breeder and breed club:

“I am the caretaker not only of the individual dog but of the reputation and welfare of the breed as a whole.”

“It is incumbent upon me to set the example of each dog being individually cherished but only the physically and temperamentally sound being bred.”

“I accept the premise that if I breed a litter those dogs are my responsibility throughout their lifetime.”

 

To read the full article where I read this please go to:

An argument for ethical dog breeders