My Staffy bitch on hearing the news that the Staffordshire Bull Terrier had just been voted Britain's Favourite Dog 2019.
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Now I know this won't mean much to most of you, but if you knew battles we'd had with Breed Specific Legislation here in the mid 2000s after the Carolina Anderson attack, and all the other media reports of dog attacks attributed to the Stafford... We worked really hard to try and get the powers that be to understand why a mongrel cannot be attributed the name of a pedigree breed. Me and the wife got involved to the point of testifying to the BSL Select Committee in Wellington in 2004 at the Beehive, we presented with Bob Kerridge the CEO of the SPCA at the time, and had our dog Sir Ed with us (he's long gone). Sir Ed was a made up name we gave him at the time, because his actual name was Bollox.
I turned down an interview live on Holmes - knew that wasn't going to end well. If you have dealt with any of those media people (agenda peddling scum), then you'll know what I mean. But we did RNZ and local radio, and got a huge turnout from the Kennel Club members at a rally which made the TV... and slowly the tide turned and the threat to the Nanny Dog dissipated.
I'll have to fess up - when it comes to cats and vermin, these Staffords of ours are deadly. No hiding from that fact. Ours were never socialised with cats, we don't like cats here cos we're birders. Its just the way their instinct as terriers is programmed, same for our Jack Russells. But if you're a person, then you are an instant target for cuddles and tickles, like it or not. If you're not a dog person, don't visit. If you are infirm in anyway, expect to be nannyed, close up and personal. If you are very young and dependent, expect to have canine company, like it or not. Tennis ball? Make your peace, and give it up. If you want to have a play fight in the house or garden - or especially a real fight - expect Boss Dog to come and break it the fuck up! No interpersonal conflict permitted
whatsoever.
So yeah, excuse the emotional waffle. Just that the news that the Staffordshire Bull Terrier aced the top award in the UK was massive for the breed. Because owners of well bred pedigree SBTs know the world over that the media savaging they've had the last 20 years or so is a rort of the highest order.
Very hard in this PC day and age to actually describe the "irresponsible dog owner" in terms that don't get thrown back in your face as socio-economic-racial-stereotyping-prejudice. Got a brindle or tan mutt with a wide head standing twice the height of a SBT straining on a chain to try and kill you, out the back of a squalid dump in Puhinui? Must be a staffy... ooohh dangerous dogs.
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