Every time a post against blue Staffords is made a lot of people see them and yes this is the intent….however…what people are not realizing is that all these posts, posters and comments can be very hurtful to people also – there are people on FB who did their very best to find a good breeder with well bred Staffords and they may have ended up getting a blue puppy – sometimes it was from a breeder who might like the color and sells them just the same as a breeder who likes reds and only breeds those….other times, like in our case, thats just the color which happened to be made available in a litter from two brindles and was a good match for the family buying the puppy . . . it doesn’t matter – all the buyers wanted was a healthy well bred Stafford from what they thought to be a responsible breeder…..in their eyes they are being made to feel wrong in their decision making, or ostracized for owning a blue or even worse made to feel like they were foolish and made poor choices. Actually, that’s not entirely true – as this family has common sense and realizes the fools are the ones running their mouths . . . but anyway back to my story . . . .
Yes yes I know I will be told – oh you are different – yours were not made blue on purpose . . . lets really look at that from the owner of a well bred blue puppies point of view – lets say they are at a show with their blue Stafford (and we experienced this as well) – eyes will turn, lips will whisper, shoulders will turn away….that dog isn’t entering the room with its pedigree around its neck and a giant poster sized image of a well known breeder flying above it now is it? In looking at this blue dog entering the room nobody can see the Champions in its pedigree? Nobody knows its parents were fully health tested? Nobody knows the breeder went above and beyond the call of duty in rearing the litter this puppy came from. As far as the crowd knows that person bought its blue from a back yard blue – to – blue breeder, a money hungry selfish person who breeds for color (For the record – we do not condone breeding for color alone – especially if calling it rare and trying to market them as different – but we also all know breeders who only choose to breed red x red, bb x bb, piebald x piebald, etc who do not market by color).
I mention all of this because its very personal for me. I get it. People for whatever reason feel they must speak out against what they perceive as the injustices of the world and save people from the horrors of buying something they want, paying more than the rest and perhaps a tiny portion of them could not be as they thought they may be……ENOUGH!
We are sick and tired of being made to feel second hand b/c of all these years and years of unrelenting FB posts against blues and people who buy them. Its gotten so that people owning blue Staffords are questioning their decision and second guessing the amount of responsibility of their breeder and felt that perhaps their blue dog wasnt as good as the next persons red one.
Its time to stop this witch hunt of anti blue mentality! The public outcries are not changing a thing and in fact are probably making the color more popular – everyone knows once something gets banned or shamed it immediately becomes more wanted.
If you stop this insanity then you also stop drawing attention to it.
Its a color allowable in our standard. Some people prefer it just like those who only prefer red – or only piebald, etc. If the only beef is what people charge/pay I truly cannot see how this is anyone elses concern. It is not for anyone to police what people charge for their dogs. It’s certainly not up to us what someone is willing to pay either.
I do very much agree that breeding only for color, as I keep saying, is wrong. No matter what color that is. Not because I don’t like blue but because of the reason a person would do that. They find a niche they know will make them money. The breed to their own dogs and just produce litter after litter without a thought to much else. The dogs suffer for it in the end. Eventually they lack breed type (which includes temperament!!!) and can have many color related health issues. BUT please be aware that dilute to dilute carries it’s own set of health issues (and temperament as well) that breeding black brindle to black brindle or red to red won’t likely have. There is a reason scientifically that it’s not preferred to continue to breed dilute to dilute to dilute and so on. . . .but I covered that in other blog posts.
If you do not wish to have blue Staffords – DNA coat color test. Its easy. I did this on over 30 Staffords over the years in order that I dont accidentally produce another one – which by the way I didnt care about – just got sick of being ostracized for it. In fact, not worrying about it would have meant I had far more choices in suitable studs for my girls…..
The charts and registration statistics floating around are based upon user input only and are not scientifically gathered – how do I know? According to the most recent chart floating around FB it states that only ONE black and tan was registered with the KC last year (2015)? I have seen at least a dozen on FB in recent months – some of them are Champions! Black and tan is a DQ in America and HIGHLY UNDESIRABLE elsewhere! And in my DNA coat color data I have collected it seems we have at least 50% carrier (or affected) tan pointed Staffords and only 25% carry (or are affected) dilute. So lets recap – HALF carry, or are a DQ pattern and 1/4 are, or carry a permissible color.
For close to 5 years (2015) I have sat back and read and watched and felt hurt by something that in the big picture of life is so very unimportant. A color. Over half dozen times I was turned down to use a dog at stud for Marina ONLY because she is blue. Never mind the fact she is COMPLETELY health tested and is possibly the winningest blue Stafford in the history of the breed ever anywhere in the world! Take away the color and still she is a top winning Stafford titled in many events. She has been critiqued by Stafford breeder judges around the world as the best blue they have ever seen. She Championed by beating more Staffords in fewer shows than many. Never mind all Jim and I have done for this breed. It really doesn’t matter at all. And I now can sit back and say THANK YOU* to all who said no. It made me look further and deeper at what was best for Marina and thankfully we found Rafa. Best decision ever! I would repeat this mating if I could.
Despite all we have done we will forevermore be known as ‘having produced blue Staffords’. Thats our label. We get PM’s, calls and emails all the time from folks who will tell us – oh we were referred to you b/c you breed blues. Um. No. We had one litter from two brindles and we got two blue puppies. And now due to the constant negativity from this we coat color test everything so it won’t happen again…..dammit. I have no problem with it happening again as I feel Marina is the best dog I have lived with in so many ways. I don’t care what color her fur is.
Marinas brothers owners own a beautiful Champion health tested Stafford. He is handsome. He is well bred. He is well made. And for you nosey people – no, they did not pay extra even though we had one puppy only to sell from the litter and spent many many thousands producing them. They should not be made to feel they bought a dog that isnt as good as anyone elses dog because of a paint job. Stop it.
FB is a horrible place sometimes. Its a place for bored people, narcissists, shit stirrers, braggarts and unkind people to type anything they wish without a care how someone reading their post may feel. If they could possibly pretend for five minutes that maybe it could be them being shamed or ostracized – perhaps then people might stop typing and start thinking.
Staffords are not in any grave danger. Alarmists are only doing what they do best. Making shit up to alarm people. We don’t care what color a Stafford is as long as it was produced with health, temperament and breed type in mind when produced. We health test all our dogs – probably more than many other breeders, we try to title our dogs in performance and conformation, we do therapy and Breed Ambassador visits, we attend Meet the Breeds, we are active in the breed, we do rescue, we utilize all sorts of puppy rearing enrichment activities and we thoroughly research new homes to the point of exhaustion. We are responsible breeders who happen to also have produced a couple blue dogs.
So what. Bitter? Yes, a little. Proud to be a VERY responsible Stafford breeder? ABSOLUTELY SO!