It is a shame that you feel you have to defend your dog every time you go out with her. My sister has a staffy, 4 children and can't remember how many grandchildren and the only danger they are in is being licked to death. It is peoples ignorance that causes the problems and unfortunately it seems once their mind is made up it is very difficult to convince them otherwise.

My advice is - just smile at them and carry on with your walk. If they have a problem, that's their look out.

Im really sorry to hear that Terri and i can understand why you would be unsure.I am also aware that there are lots of SBT's with issues and thats down to the bad owners.
Poppy is our first SBT so i would really appreciate ant tips on bringing her up any DO's or DONT's please?
We are starting puppy classes to teach us the basics but any help in around the home or out with her would be appreciated??
She is living with 2other dogs and we are doing lots of socailising which must be a good thing?

Your right thanks

The thing is with the staffie that got Ailsa was that it was a dog she had known since it was a pup and it was a well trained dog with a very responsible owner, Ailsa was walking past it and it bit her on the head killing her instantly, there was no warning absolutely nothing. Most of the staffie owners in the park know what happened and they do keep their dogs away from us if I have my two but if I'm on my own I often get mugged by them . We found out that the litter that the stafford came from had had a few ''bad pups'' a few had gone on to attack other dogs and one even attacked it's own mother resulting in her being badly injured. The owner of the one that got my girl offered to have it p.t.s. but I said no, it's now only walked on the lead if in a busy place and is also muzzled.

Terri

I assume you mean peoples attitudes will get worse,definatly.
I walked with my daughter and bitch down to the off license on the one sunday evening,our bitch was about 9 months old I think.
It wasn't long after Ellie had been killed,so there was alot of negative press,surrounding the dogs of certain breeds.Anyway there were two elderly people and one said look at that young girl with one of those pitt things,etc,So I did reply saying with all due respect,she is a puppy,she is a SBT not a pitt thing,you don't know me,my daughter or our dogs so please keep your opinions to yourself!
They apologised and off we went!

I also had a lady stop us when out with Tyler and ask if he was friendly,of course he is,she replied by saying Oh it's just other dogs he wants to kill then
So I explained,she was quite willing to listen and said about the press and what rubbish they write.
You can change some peoples opinions,I have had folks say after meeting mine that they are not the devil dogs the media and press make out.

Ive never been scared of them, ive only known nice ones,

Only time ive been nervous of one is after my pup got attacked by one. It made him scared and he was attacking them before they could him if you know what i mean. But with help of a gorgeous, dopey staff hes getting over it and only has a problem whenthe dopey boy sits on him lol

theres a stunning little 16week old at school she is mega cute and tiny, I have no worried of my children or dog saying hello with permission

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Owner to-
lots of rodents
2 monster dogs
1 slinky cat

Glad to hear you can change opinions. Keep it up.

just walk past them with your head held high it is their problem not yours.My two Bullterriers have been attacked numerous time over the years from different dogs (mostly terriers i will addthe worst being a patterdale)the dogs that have attacked them have been off the lead whilst mine were on the lead-Again it's bad owners not bad dogs.

When i was a child i was bitten by a labrador
One thing you should remember though the majority of the time people will see it as being your dogs fault if anything happens even if the other dog starts it

Juliex

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I'll fuss a staffie anytime, providing it's on a lead due to Harvs being attacked by one a couple of years ago (it was off the lead, on its own and without a collar). I still love the breed and am not put off by any 'bad' publicity

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Ellie x

Not only are staffies, rotties (and all the other maligned legal breeds), great in the right hands, but I will go one further and say so are pit bulls, and probably the other breeds that were banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act...Neighbour used to have a pit bull and it was the sweetest dog I've EVER met. The media maligning particular breeds is not only stupid and innaccurate, its entirely irreponsible because it causes people to think dogs are not dangerous so long as they are not a staffie, rottie, or mastiff, they are a safe dog to keep and approach. All the media attacks are the result of poor training, ignorant idiots choosing dominant breeds they cannot handle properly, or leaving children alone with dogs. The owners are to blame in pretty much every one, and I'm sick of staffies being maligned. I would never keep on myself because I'm not sure I could raise one correctly (unless it was a well-adjusted adult rescue), but they nonetheless remain a favourite breed of mine...all the ones I've met have been the softest dogs ever. They are beautiful, sweet, kind and loveable dogs, obviously if you mistreat or train them improperly you'll end up with a monster but as well all know, the same is true of spaniels and jack russells!