Apache English Staffordshire Terrier on dog walks. VIDEO

A curious thing happens when you start talking staffys. It really seems to divide the dog lover camps. Many owners of staffy’s will tell you their dogs are sweet as apple pie, would never hurt a fly etc. Other people, dog owners and non dog owners will tell you the opposite. As usual the truth lies somewhere in-between.

While all dogs need socialisation to behave within acceptable human and dog standards, powerful breeds such as English Staffordshire terriers particularly need regular supervised contact with other dogs, to remain social.

The dog you will see in this video is Apache. She is a very high energy dog that loves nothing more than to barrel along and chase or be chased by other dogs. However she is still coming to terms with her own strength, and like some staff’s can suffer from over excitement. This is a situation where her excitement builds to such a level that she takes ‘puppy mouthing’ to an extreme with the potential to cause a bite and damage to other dogs.

I won’t go into the history of how these dogs were developed or how many dogs are like this, but this is the reason she wears a bite muzzle on our walks. She is fine in the back of my car, and fine with the rest of the pack, and dogs that visit our pack in off lead parks. It’s just the one percent of the time, that the muzzle comes in handy as a form of insurance. Responsible dog walking is about prevention as much as it is about allowing great socialisation.