Here’s a video of our 7 year old bitch – just having a gag with us and lovin’ every minute. But this is only one aspect of her very clown-ish nature. It also shows the breeds quite varied interests in food?
Steve
Savage Staffordshire Bull Terriers – I think not
February 14th, 2010Nutro Dog Food – Mysterious Deaths and Illness – Nutro Not Yet Recalled!
June 24th, 2008Illness, Death and Nutro Dog Food
Reports are coming in about a suspected problem with Nutro Dog Food in the USA; Lisa Wade McCormick of ConsumerAffairs.com – June 23, 2008, reported:
At least six dogs have died in the past two months, according to an analysis of complaints to ConsumerAffairs.com
The article goes on to report several gut wrenching stories of owners who watched their pets die, the common link in all cases was Nutro dog food. Some pet owners and employees remarked on the apparent lack of concern about the deaths; and at least one employee has resigned because of dissatisfaction over the way the company was handling the matter!
The dogs’ owners all say their pets were in good health and they’re convinced that Nutro’s food is somehow connected to their animals’ deaths. Those concerns are echoed by pet owners whose dogs and cats have recently become sick after eating the company’s food.
Nutro, however, defends its products and says the food is 100 percent safe.
But scores of pet owners across the country — including longtime Nutro customers — no longer feel safe feeding this brand of food to their dogs and cats.
Staffordshire Bull Terrier – Man Charged Allegedly Sets Staffordshires on 1 Year Old!
June 22nd, 2008You would not believe the Australian headlines: Man Charged for Setting Dogs onto Toddler!
Firstly one would have to question the mental age of the so-called “man”? Then who on earth would encourage dogs to attack a child? Then how was that done? The questions will probably NEVER be answered here – unless we were to follow the case through the courts – but I feel for the child – and the 2 Staffordshire Bull Terriers who may have been led to frenzy somehow by this idiot – and are probably already dead as a result!
What a fool of a man – and how sad – the end result!
Sit Stay Fetch – FREE 6 Day Dog Training E-course
June 10th, 2008I have always been impressed with the quality and value given by the people at Sit Stay Fetch and have promoted their Ebook for some time. They now offer a FREE 6 day training course that will give you a look at their methods at no obligation. You can unsubscribe at any time – so why not give it a try?
Click Here for the Sit Stay Fetch Mini Course
Steve
Staffordshire Bull Terrier – Managing Aggression – Part 1
May 6th, 2008There is no doubt – a Staffordshire Bull Terrier is a powerful dog, with powerful jaws – one once specifically bred to fight other animals. So it goes without saying that – like many other powerful dogs, the potential for aggression exists.
With younger dogs it’s important to gently but firmly control aggression – from around 4 weeks, getting the dog to accept you as leader! If you do not do this, the dog may try to establish itself in a position where it sees you as the under-dog quite literally.
Now please – this training should be done as gently as is possible, I know that men in particular can be too harsh with dogs, as some of the articles I’ve posted on here on cruelty will suggest!
If you have a dog that growls at you as a pup – all that is needed is to hold the pup at your eye level and growl; until it stops growling at you! Often it may lick your nose as a sign that it has submitted!
Nothing stronger than this or some simple – Time Out in a cage or darkened room is necessary on puppies!
Once male dogs get older though – there may be another challenging period around 12 months of age or so – you might call this stage the “troublesome teenager” stage!
Here a male dog, may make another attempt to dominate you – and this may even take the form of some quite nasty sounding growling!
This can be a really difficult stage – and we’re told is the point at which many dogs are destroyed; as a result of the human fear of the dog becoming dangerous!
As I write this article – we are experiencing this phase in our first ever male Staffordshire. Up until now we have only kept females and put our bitches out to stud dogs!
Our 12 month red male has taken to some quite nasty sounding growling – whenever he’s asked to do something he does not like!
I must admit, when I first saw and heard it for myself; I was concerned that we may have to have him euthanised! But we are persisting with training him for the moment – and I will report on his progress! Needless to say, this is quite serious for us – and for him!
Through reading books on Canine Behaviour, we have established this as Dominance Aggression – a period where he’s trying to position himself as dominant over our 4 bitches – but also over us!
This is UNACCEPTABLE – and we will not permit him to continue with this behaviour!
Treatment for him at present, consists of treating him as if he does not exist for most of the time! And when we DO acknowledge him, e.g., at meal times – it is ALWAYS with some request from him to do something for us!
In other words when we feed him – we always make him DROP – before he eats and only allow him to eat – once he has done this!
Or when he omes to us for attention, he only gets the attention after he has done the Sit or something similar. The idea is to get the dog to accept your control of him – NOT the other way around!
Please be gentle – and have a heart – I am NOT asking you to be cruel!
You should already have trained him to Drop prior to this, so just get him to Drop and then say OK or whatever you normally do before he is released!
Excuse me if I’m cautious in how I explain myself, but one of our bitches came from an abusive home and I believe many owners are just too heavy handed in discipline!
Besides there are a lot of “Dropkicks” out there; who’s very small ego means that they think they need a tough dog to be complete, these types are often cruel to dogs also, believing that by fostering aggression in a dog, they’re somehow heroes!
SHEESH!
We have just started this phase of his anti-aggression training and already have begun to see some changes – but we are NOT finished yet! Stay tuned for news on his progress!
Steve
More Cruelty – Staffordshire Pup Beaten by Children With Sticks!
April 25th, 2008Sometimes I find myself hating the human race!
From the horrid stories I’ve already posted here of cruelty on a small scale, to the tales of dog eating Koreans who have the totally disgusting idea that an animal will be more tender to eat, if it’s beaten while alive!
But here’s an absolutely vile story again from the UK about a group of 4 and 5 year olds who beat a defenceless puppy almost to death! It was rescued by a passerby – but still looks like it may lose a leg!
Full story here – I warn that it is NOT pleasant reading!
Steve
Dog Food Video – So You Believe They REALLY Care About Your Dog?
February 13th, 2008Dog Food Video – Do You Believe They Really Care About Your Dog?
Firstly – let me introduce myself, I’m an Author who has written several Ebooks, on topics as varied as Cheese-making, Sausage-making, BBQ and more!
My name is Steve Gaskin and I’m also a Doglover! Now – let me state clearly and up front – I am very much, ANTI most commercial dog food!
I sincerely believe that MOST commercial dog food (there are exceptions) is pretty poor quality, and recent and past stories of dog food contamination, will support those claims!
I really do care about dogs – hence the name Dogloverstoolbox, lets see if I can’t get your dog even just a temporary reprieve from a life sentence of what really amounts to trash in a can or tasteless kibble made from waste products?
What if – you just gave your pooch a couple of days a week where you “let him off”?
And since you like convenience – I’ll make it just about as easy as opening a can?
Try this – purchase a couple of the big home brand cans of salmon, tuna or mackerel from the supermarket. If you have access to a catering supply store, you’ll be able to get bigger cans, REALLY cheap and might even find sardines in tomato sauce in large cans. Most dogs LOVE canned fish and there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s an excellent source of protein, vitamins and loaded with minerals – AND there are no preservatives, its simply cooked in the can!
Now also pick up a couple of (500g/1 pound) packets of rice, one white and one brown! Follow the microwave directions on the packets and cook enough rice for 2 days (generally 1/2 cup each white and brown for medium sized dogs) this will only be 1 serve/day for large dogs and might last 3 or 4 days in the fridge for the little guys.
Allow the rice to cool – then open the can of tuna, salmon or mackerel, drain off the brine or oil and mix with the rice, toss in some cooked chopped spinach too if you have it? Feed that to your dog a couple of days a week – he or she will love you for it!
Steve
Dog Food Video – STILL Believe They REALLY Care About Your Dog??
February 13th, 2008MAN – some people take some convincing!
I’ll spell it out LOUD and CLEAR – the companies that make Dog Food generally are interested in one thing and one thing ONLY – and it looks like this – $$$$$.
The contaminated dog food that resulted in the dog food recall last year in the USA – highlights that fact! Chinese (read that as REALLY CHEAP) wheat gluten had been contaminated with melamine, a type of plastic! This wheat gluten had been “doctored” with this ingredient to artificially boost the protein content! The contaminated dog food made with this ingredient KILLED a large number of dogs and made an even greater number still, very sick!
If the big corporations weren’t so focussed on PROFIT and used QUALITY ingredients instead, the dog food contamination would not have occurred! Dogs do not need gluten – in ANY SHAPE OR FORM! It was added to boost their protein levels cheaply!
Point is – if they used REAL MEAT as the most significant ingredient in their food – which is what dogs really NEED; they would not have sought after cheap Chinese wheat gluten!
SOLUTION – Feed your dog REAL Quality Food!
Steve
Buying a Pedigree Dog – Be Sure Of The TYPE of Pedigree?
January 7th, 2008OK – so you have decided that you want to buy a Pedigreed dog, to make sure that you get what you pay for? Well there are a couple of traps to be wary of; particularly if you think you might like to Show or even Breed at a later date?
When we were amateurs, we thought that if you bought a pedigreed dog, then you were guaranteed of getting a good dog, free of defects. Not so – some breeders will still knowingly sell a dog with a defect, and just not mention it. We found that out when we got our first ever Pedigree Staffordshire Bull Terrier – she had the Short Toe Defect mentioned on this site in video and via an article. So you still need to be alert and get the dog checked over by a Pro!
But there is another potential problem – lurking for the unwary!
The problem is that of restrictions placed on YOUR Dog, restrictions put there by the breeder, via the pedigree registration!
And this is much more common than most people know! To have ALL rights to what you can do with a pedigreed dog, your dog MUST be registered on the MAIN Register.
Registration on the Main Register enables you to:
a) Show your dog in ANY type of Show you choose, including Conformation Shows, Trials etc
b) Breed from your dog or bitch
c) Register pups that your bitch produces
c) Export any pups that your bitch should produce
The Main Registration certificate is generally blue – the blue colour denoting the lack of restrictions.
BUT there’s another type of registration, not often talked about – called Limited Registration. Dogs on the Limited Register – are, – well, what can I say…. limited!
This register was originally designed to restrict the use of pups/dogs that were perhaps not up to par – but still allowed them to be sold etc. I guess that’s better (from a Doglovers perspective) – otherwise some of these dogs may have ended being destroyed. But the Limited Register can also be abused – if a Breeder wants to control!
Limited Register pups and adult dogs:
a) Cannot be shown dog in Conformation Shows, but are allowed in Trials and Obedience Shows etc
b) Cannot be bred from
c) If you do breed anyway – pups simply CANNOT be Registered
c) Prevents the export of any pups that your bitch should produce
The Limited Register certificate is generally pink – with the pink colour denoting the restrictions on the dog. In the wrong hands the Limited Register can be used by people who want to control Show Ring results and keep winning awards with reduced competition! Be aware that this does occur – believe it or not some people build their self esteem on how well their dogs do in the Show Ring!
IMPORTANT NOTE – THE ONLY PERSON WHO CAN UN-DO A LIMITED REGISTRATION – IS THE BREEDER THEMSELVES!
So – REMEMBER TO ASK – DOES MY PEDIGREE INCLUDE REGISTRATION ON THE MAIN REGISTER? If the person is evasive or does not answer you forthrightly – it may be time to look for another breeder?
Steve
Staffordshire Bull Terrier – Cruel Thug Caught on Film Beating Dog!
December 23rd, 2007Another tale of horrible cruelty towards a Staffordshire, a 21 year old thug – Christopher Dunn from Stockport UK was seen grabbing the dog by the throat and banging it against a wall, he then ramwed a wheelie bin into the dog.
A day later, a neighbour again heard Dunn screaming at the dog and but this time turned her web-cam towards the yard, recording him grabbing the dog by the throat, punching it in the face and kneeing it in the chest!
Our Staffords are such gentle and trusting dogs, I find these stories abhorrent and I’m thankful to hear of the prosecutions and the shaming of these people, by the publicity!
For the full story and mug shot of the guy – visit this link.
