why do staffordshire bull terriers get blamed for their actions when surly its th owners fault?

Answer 1

Bad PR and public ignorance of the breed and proper training of dogs and children around dogs.

Answer 2

The Kennel Club agrees that ultimately, the behaviour of a dog is the responsibility of the dog’s owner rather than the dog’s breed. It has long been using the slogan ‘deed not breed’ to encourage responsible dog ownership and lobby against breed specific legislation.



Staffordshire Bull Terrier’s are an extremely popular breed. One reason for this is because they are good with children and are even known as the ‘nanny dog’. However, no dog should be left alone with a small child, and dog owners should teach children how to behave around dogs. To assist with this the Kennel Club runs a Safe and Sound Scheme.

Answer 3

staffords are blamed because they are popular however my opinion is that the majority of the cases we read about will not be kc registered staffordshire bull terriers,i own 3 staffs and have 4 children and not one of my dogs has ever shown a tooth to any person although 1 can be tempremental with other dogs.the main problem is people are afraid of the look of the dogs any one in any doubt about the temprement of staffords in general should visit a show and meet some proper staffies nicknamed the nanny dog due to there affinity with children which i can back up 100%

Answer 4

staffy's/pitbulls etc are just as loving, reliable and safe dogs as any other breed,. it has absolutely NOTHING to do with genetics (as one person said) and has everything to do with the way they are brought up. any dog can attack. the only reason they are looked at as a vicious dog is because IF they were to attack, the imense power that the dog has means it can kill. whereas if say a whippet attacked you, it could do some damage but not kill a human. people are too ignorant to understand that just because a dog is strong and powerful doesnt mean its gonna run the streets murdering people.

i was quite peed of with my friend the other day when she said 'i dont like those pitbulls, a guy walks by the bus stop with 2 of them every morning and i stay as far away from them as i can, there nasty'
they were actually english bull terriers and as soft as s***
pure ignorance

Answer 5

It is not always the owners fault. Back Yard Breeders with no knowledge of genetics's have breed undesirable genetics's into the breed. They don't understand how to work with genetics's to better the breed, they just breed a male to a female and hope that all will be fine.

Competent breeders work hard to breed out faults and predispositions for illnesses, conformation, temperament, gait and other issues that would cause the breed problems.
Pup are culled at birth that do not meet the standards of the breed. No pet quality pups. Only pure breed.

If the breeding were left to competent breeders that breed out the faults that cause this breed to have the reputation the breed would loose it's rep. It would take several generations to turn things around. If we could just stop the BYDer's we could purify the breed.

Answer 6

First one of the posters said they were breed to be aggressive, that is not entirely true, any human aggressive fighting dogs were put down immediately back in the breeds infancy and many other breeds have fighting in their history and are not the current headline makers... Also many breeds have similar build and structure to bull staffs/pitts/amstaffs so if a person is attacked by a short haired dog with strong facial features it is a pit (in their eyes). Unfortunately the media sells many more papers by having a "Pitt attacks man" as opposed to a "Pitt has better temperament then lab in nation wide temperament test".

Answer 7

Same questions as to why do kids get blamed for killing each other when its the parents that we should blame for not teaching their kids and being there for them.

I think more states should instead of banning owning a staff. bull terrier or an amstaff. they should ban who owns them. Maybe have a registry or list of those that own them, and anyone who wants one has to go thru a questionare almost like adopting a child. Alot of the rescue groups where u adopt a dog, is like adopting a child.

Answer 8

The dogs get blamed as it's easy for them to put a dog down than send the owner to an all ready full prison, but myself I really think people who own any dog should get the blame for how it behaves as we are the ones training them

Answer 9

All pit bull type dogs get blamed for not only the actions (or lack thereof) of their irresponsible owners but also for the actions of breeds not even related to them. One of the main problems with the "pit bull" statistics is misidentification.

Answer 10

It's easier to blame the dog than a person as it would have to be proved the person trained their dog to be aggressive.

Most chav's do and regard a psycho dog as a status symbol but it's almost impossible to prove.

It's so sad because properly trained staffies are great-a friend has 1 and it's ace.

I vote we stop putting the dogs down-retrain them instead.We should however start putting down chavs.

Answer 11

It is lazy owners who don't take the time and effort to train their dogs properly regardless of breed.I own two Stafford's and time and time again they have been subjected to violent acts from so called safe dogs without retaliation from my dogs.Any dog like any human can be violent ,people need to open up there minds more instead of been brainwashed by the media !!!