Staffordshire Bull Terrier

 The Staffordshire Bull Terrier is a medium sized, short coated, old breed of dog bred in the past for bull-baiting. In the early twentieth century they were accepted into the UK Kennel Club. It is often confused with the American Staffordshire Terrier or the American Pit Bull Terrier.

The Staffordshire Bull Terrier is known to be stocky, muscular and to have high athletic ability. They have a broad head, a relatively short foreface, half prick ears, dark round eyes and a wide mouth with a clean scissor-like bite.

The dog has a strong, well muscled neck and shoulders placed on squarely spaced forelimbs. They may be colored black, brindle, red, fawn, blue, white, or any mix of these colours with white. If there is white with any colour over an eye, is known as piebald. Skewbald is white with red patches. Liver-colored and black and tan dogs sometimes occur.

The coat is smooth and short haired. The dogs stand 35–40 cm at the withers and weighs 24 to 32 pounds (with male dogs heavier). The Staffordshire bull terrier can suffer from cataracts and breathing problems, but overall they are a very healthy breed.

This dog is renowned for its reliability as a family dog and is thought to be very protective of small children. They make excellent watch dogs and potential burglars will often be deterred when they see the dog.

The dog is from a fighting background and this can be seen in its agression towards other dogs. Even a good natured dog may fight if challenged by another dog, it is important to maintain adequate control when on walks in public places. One way of minimising disfunctional behaviour is regular contact with people and dogs as a puppy.

Before the nineteenth century early terriers were used for bull baiting and these dogs were bred for strength.  However, in 1835 thid bloodsport was eliminated and Britain began to introduce animal welfare laws, though dog-fighting still remained a popular spot. The dogs were handled by their owners during the fight so had to be trustworthy wil humans.