The recent tragic death of Jade Anderson in Manchester
has again led to predictable demands for further legislation to ban
ownership of certain breeds, or even the ownership of more than a certain
number of dogs.
Such tragic events often lead to these demands, but
I am pleased to say that governments rarely act in a knee-jerk way these
days, particularly since the ill-thought-out Dangerous Dogs Act. The
Staffordshire Bull Terrier and derivatives of it, have become the dog of
choice for inner-city criminals who require a status dog and this is the
fault of human beings and not the breed itself, although there is no
suggestion that the owner of the dogs in this tragic case has done anything
wrong. Indeed, no charges have been brought.
In my work with problem
dogs, I have met many Staffies, Rottweilers, Gsd’s etc. and never been
bitten by any of them in my line of work. I have however been occasionally
bitten by other breeds such as Collies and even a St Bernard.
The
Staffie is generally a wonderful family dog which has always been regarded
as being particularly trustworthy with children. Yes, the males in
particular can sometimes have issues with other dogs, but the overwhelming
majority of this breed present no threat whatsoever to humans.
However, some humans do present a threat to the breed due to their use of
them as status dogs and these are the people who need to be dealt with, not
the vast majority of the law-abiding Staffie owning public.
PETER
MOUNSEY, ASHCLYST DOG TRAINING & DOG BEHAVIOUR DEVON, APRIL 2013.