www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-36330540

Surprise surprise a staffie.. While any dog can snap or bite, you never hear of labradoodles running amok/savaging people - or basset hounds or cocker spaniels....
It is nearly always pit bull types.

Are these incidents down to the breed or the owner or a bit of both?
Personally I think it's the latter. So often (present company excepting!) it seems to be the most unsuitable people who are attracted to these breeds - which however need careful management. A former neighbour was a prime example. His staff was never even walked. It got a few yards into the garden that's all and it was an accident waiting to happen. But the unfortunate dog would have paid the price if it had lost it.

Actually I have heard of a lab killing a baby some years back.
Staffie dogs are normally really friendly and good with kids.
IMO its to do with how the dog is treated, so imo its the owners fault.

And staffies are nothing like a PitBull.

And any dog can be dangerous.

They are not the same but share some characteristics. (google is your friend). And yes we can all dig deep and find an incident where someone's chihuhuaha or whatever killed or maimed. So predictable that someone would come out and say this. Next up will be someone who will post to say their staffie is a softie. Sigh..
No one can deny that the majority of serious incidents involve this type of dog. Why?

Because 'this type of dog' is currently the dog of choice of the type of person who thinks it makes them look cool/tough/sexy to have an untrained powerful dog. In the 1960s it was GSD's who filled the same role and were responsible for most publicised dog attacks. Then came Dobermanns and Rotties. Now those people get staffies.

Nurture can turn any dog rogue, but nature plays a part as well, it's up to owners who know their dog's personality to take responsibility. So often you hear that the dog had been antisocial and shown signs of aggression.

A Google search tells me that Jack Russell terriers attack the most people. Staffie did not feature in the top 10.

Cats probably attack even more people than Jack Russell's.
Toddlers, probably physically lash out at people far more then adult men do.
The potential for serious injury is what needs to be taken into account when comparing different scenarios and breeds.
Powerful dog breeds have the tools to cause serious harm, it's much less so with other breeds.

I've never owned a staffie but the majority of those I meet haven't been aggressive at all.
But they are very numerous now, with some of the owners being so unsuitable and incompetent that these attacks will keep happening.
I don't know what the answer is to solve this problem, maybe some sort of test and licence to own particular breeds.

It's very often the type of people who own the bull breed dogs that cause the problems. In a lot of cases the poor dogs are badly treated by owners who can't be bothered to look after them properly or ones who try to make them aggressive. It's very sad.

Cocker spaniels are known to be snappy in many cases and even golden retrievers have a strain that can be nasty and as has been said terriers top the list of dogs that bite. The RSPCA have stated that the dogs most likely to bite children are labs and cocker spaniels but because they have soft mouths they tend to not do as much harm as other breeds.

I knew the minute I read the headline that it would be a Staffy - the dog of choice for people I always avoid.

When a Jack Russell bites you, you give it a kick in the balls and send it scurrying away. Then you put a plaster on the bite.

When a Staffy bites you, you need to hit it repeatedly with a hammer to make it release and then you need extensive surgery to repair the damage.

IDK if this survey is worthless or not but .....

Top ten aggressive breeds it says are

Dachshunds
Chihuahua
Jack Russell
Australian Cattle Dog
Cocker Spaniel
Beagle
Border Collie
Pit Bull Terrier
Great Dane
English Springer Spaniel

The top ten least aggressive dogs:
Labrador Retriever
Rhodesian Ridgeback
Poodle
Greyhound
Whippet
Brittany Spaniel
Siberian Husky
Golden Retriever
Havanese
Portuguese water dog

http://www.dogbiteclaims.co.uk/dangerous-breeds.html

Thank goodness for that. you are probably one of those people who screech when I walk my dog screaming at me to put it on a lead and make him come running to me with his ears down and tail between his legs.

As someone who does not own a TV or read newspapers, I did not even realise just how much people believe the crap about staffys.
I was round someone house with him the other day and the dog there kept snarling and snapping at him .. not one reaction from my devil dog.

I go for walks and little dogs will go for him barking, snarling and snapping and yet as I know from friends if mine told the other dog off, he would be blamed for the attack.

Nothing wrong with Staffies OR pitbulls. They are both great dogs.

In the 60s and 70s you had people getting attacked by GSDs and Dobermanns, in the 80s it was Rotweilers, and since the 90s it's been Staffies and Pitbulls. Now people are getting attacked by Husky-types.

The reason for all of this is that they are the dog of fashion, for people who want a 'mean' dog. Those sort of people are invariably pretty stupid, and don't even take proper care of themselves or their children. So they can't be expected to manage a dog properly.

Any of the dog breeds I have mentioned above are absolutely perfectly fine, if they are managed correctly.

In the overwhelming majority of cases, when a dog is vicious toward humans, it is because it has been managed incorrectly by its owner.

I don't know if I'll ever recover from this terrible snub.

Nor me

Media puppets. they tell you who to like or dislike.. its like some do not have a original thought.

I used to have a American pit bull. She the best dog in the world ever! beautiful dog who loved everyone.

Now I am settled in my home I thought I would get a dog for walking, and holidays. just company for me and the cats. Staffy was my choice as so close in temperament to the pit bull. What a number the media have done to these lovely dogs. People will cross the road when they see my lovely boy. Crazy!
There are many dog attacks but only one breed get reported at the moment. I have no doubt the media will get this beautiful breed banned and then move onto another one.


Pet Jack Russell that killed eight-day-old boy 'had escaped through stair gate to attack child'

Harry Harper died after being rushed to hospital from grandparents' home
Post mortem examination confirms he died from 'a significant head injury'
Dog was destroyed and police say it was a tragic accident
Baby's family said that they were 'devastated' by the child's death

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ack-child.html

Sunderland dog attack: Police begin investigation at home where baby boy was fatally bitten by a terrier dog The terrier, which the family are believed to have had for a year and is called Tricky, has been taken to kennels but is likely to be destroyed, Northumbria Police said.

Family friend Paul Newton, 41, said: “They are a lovely young couple. I’m just so sorry this has happened. I’ve seen all the pictures of when Reggie was born and when Maria just got out of hospital and brought him home.

“They’ve got a Jack Russell type dog and it was always in the garden.”



There are a few more but think sane people get the drift that any dog can kill.

Where I live there are many JR and a lot really are snappy. the lady next door has one, and its imposable for me , my dog or cats to go into the garden without it snarling at us and bashing into the fence to get at us,
I know he has already attacked many dogs and hurt one fairly badly. But I know if he went for my dog and my dog defended himself , its my dog that people will be blaming.

What a load of bollocks that is.

You should have see my dog's face after he was attacked by a jack russell. It tore the side of his face clean open. Even its owner couldn't get it off.

JRs were bred for getting badgers and foxes out of dens. They didn't do that by asking them nicely to come out.

to the hammer.....
Tbh - and this isn't reflecting on anyone here - staffies do seem to be the dog of choice for the great unwashed. That was certainly the case where I used to live - you never saw a hoodie with a cockapoo or a labrador, it was nearly always a staffie ... Why is that? It's no wonder they have a bad press.

You're behind the times- it's malamutes and huskies now.

I have a staffie x. Got him as a puppy from a rescue. He is the best friend of just about anyone he meets. In five years he has never shown even the tiniest glimpse of aggression. The biggest issue is that if people fuss over him too much, he gets so excited he might be liable to knock them over and drown them with his saliva.

There are certain breeds that are sometimes more likely to need a bit more training and proper management, but this breed-specific demonisation is completely wrong.

My boy is one of the long legged Staffy and very big and solid .. He is great and calm until someone says hello then all hell breaks out .
He is still very young though. Its very sad as he just loves everyone but because of the media people try to avoid us.

Having had a chihuahua bite me I can honestly say it's easy to stop and recover from, not do easy with a staffy even the owner couldn't get it off my elderly dog without extreme kicking etc. That's the problem IMO they are far stronger than dachies and chis etc, until people accept that we will always have people pointing out after every staffie attack that they are not as vicious as other smaller breeds.

That is an untrained and out of control dog. It should let go on command. However, it's very easy to get the dog off. All you have to do is lift it's back legs off the floor, and it will almost always release it's bite.

It's partly due to the fact that Staffies are the dominantly popular bread with a certain class of people. I spend a lot of time on very deprived, poor and run down council estates. Now I don't want to cast assertions on everyone who lives in such places, many are decent working class folk. But Staffies are by far the most popular, and I am very suspicious of some of the breeding, training and treatment standards of these animals, given that many of the owners I deal with can barely look after themselves and their children adequately, and often have absolutely no regard for their fellow citizens or the law. For these kind of irresponsible people the Staffie is the bread of choice it seems. And because they live in densely populated areas, I'm guessing they bread between themselves a lot which further increases the problem.

So I think simple statisics account for the number of incidents reported for Staffies.

Btw, I don't have any statistics to back up my claim, it just anecdotal from my personal experience. And it certainly does not apply to all Staffie owners, I know many decent responsible ones. Just their popularity.

Cleator Moor man killed in dog attack at home
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-36356634

Very sad. Seems to be a spate recently. This ones seems to be a Staffie/pitbull cross.