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The Staffordshire Bull Terrier is a breed of dog, originally bred for bull-baiting, lion fighting, and dog fighting in Birmingham, England by James Hinks in the mid-1800s.

The Staffordshire Bull Terrier was originally known as the Bull Terrier and was later (incorrectly) changed to the Staffordshire Bull Terrier to distinguish between more readily available and not necessarily as pure breeds of the Bull Terrier.

The Staffordshire Bull Terrier is an English breed of dog and should not be confused with the much larger American Staffordshire Terrier. For this reason, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier is sometimes referred to as the English Staffordshire Bull Terrier, to prevent confusion.
Appearance

• Staffies can come in any solid color except liver, and white with any color spots (known as pied). Brindled coats and brindled spots are also allowed. Black and tan Staffies are sometimes seen but this is considered an unacceptable color for the showring.
• The dogs stand 14 to 16 inches at the withers and weigh 24 to 38 pounds with bitches on the lighter side and male dogs on the heavier side.
• Staffordshire Bull Terriers are genuinely friendly dogs that have an outgoing, cheerful personality.
• The Staffordshire Bull Terrier is a stocky, muscular dog with a broad head, thick neck, deep chest, powerful jaws, relatively short snout, and short floppy ears. The cheek muscles are usually large and increase the impression of strength in the jaws. The coat is uniformly short and may be coloured black, brindle, white or tan (a reddish tan). The belly is covered by sparse hair only.
Temperament

The Stafford (Staffie or Staffy) is renowned for loyalty to their owners and stability of temperament, qualities which can make them a good family pet. When properly bred and socialised, they are fond of people, playful, energetic, and not naturally aggressive. They are normally excellent with children and their small size adds to their appeal as a family pet; however, they have extremely high energy, which makes them more than a handful for inexperienced owners.

They are also highly intelligent and playful. For these reasons, they are called nanny dogs in England. Its origins as a fighting breed can make the Stafford prone to dominance fights with other dogs. For this reason, Staffords (especially unneutered males) should not be brought into close contact with other same sex dogs, especially if the other dog has aggressive tendencies. It is wise to avoid such confrontations, bearing in mind the strength and fearlessness of the Stafford. However, Staffords will play or co-habit happily with other dogs that are not aggressive, provided that they are brought up together or closely watched during the first weeks of co-habitation.
above: Joe Mallen pictured with “Stowcote Pride” and one of his Gamefowl
History

In the mid-1800s, Terriers of all kinds were bred to fight animals for entertainment, such as bulls and lions even. They were sometimes beaten to the point where when placed with other dogs would attack. This caused a sport known as Pit fighting to erupt. This piece of their history has given Staffies a bad reputation.
One such breed that eventuated from this era of fighting dogs was known as the Bull Terrier. The dog was originally bred to an improved form by a James Hinks of Birmingham.

In 1888 the Bull Terrier standard was published by the Bull Terrier Club in England. The Bull Terrier eventually became popular as a family animal and gentleman’s dog and even had its own breeders club in Birmingham. This, unfortunately, did not last long as most of the members never returned from the trenches of the First World War.

In the words of James Hinks II, My father owned dogs of the bravest of the old breeds and had experimented in their breeding. He had also crossed in the white English Terrier and the Dalmatian. In this way he produced a pure-white dog which he called the Bull Terrier.

The idea was to develop a stylish gentleman’s dog breed for its good looks. The down face snout was introduced later by a stud; this feature was later reverted in some lines of the breed.
Kennel Club Recognition

The breed attained UK Kennel Club recognition on 25 May 1935. Much of the groundwork to attain this status can be attributed to Joseph Dunn and Joe Mallan. Dunn and Mallan invited friends to a stafford fanciers meeting at the Cross Guns Hotel, Cradley Heath, South Staffordshire (a hotel owned and managed by Mallan). About fifty breeders met at the hotel and formed the Original Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club. The name was shortly changed to Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club due to the Bull Terrier Club objecting the use of the word ‘original’.

Written by: Kevin Hart

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 25th, 2009 at 23:56 and is filed under Breeds. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.