Do you discourage or encourage fellow competitors? Do you tell them their goals are too lofty and their dreams too big? Are you trying to be helpful or trying to keep them from accomplishing something that you never had the ability or perseverance to do yourself? It is equally as harmful to steal joy by…
I guess the first symptoms weren’t that easy to recognize, loss of hair! Yes, we did notice we were constantly cleaning the kitchen floor because there seemed to be plenty of loose hair around but having six other dogs at the time you simply assume they are all moulting rather only one of them
I have a seven month old male that has gone through puppy socialization, obedience and listens and responds to all the basic commands when he is in class and in our house or backyard beautifully. I am having trouble with the basic walk at times. There are so many distractions that it is very difficult…
A traditional pedigree shows the parentage of a purebred dog back through three or more generations. If you take a traditional pedigree and begin filling in the rest of the close relatives (siblings, half-sibs, offspring, multiple matings, etc.), youve got the beginnings of a genetic pedigree ( lets call it a genped for short )….
Man for centuries has tried various methods to improve performance. Some of the methods have stood the test of time, others have not. Those who first conducted research on this topic believed that the period of early age was a most important time for stimulation because of its rapid growth and development. Today, we know…
My personal experience has been with two very different singleton pups. The first had a very “stable” easy going mother. As this pup grew up his basic genetic make up was confident and low key. I have a very large multi-dog household so the “family” provided him with lots of social interaction within my family…
…at this level, we owe it to this great breed to teach them social skills. Many people do not understand the Staffords temperament, that they are second to none with people and yet their interaction with other dogs can leave a lot to be desired, the way forward for our breed is as Good Citizens.
As with the stock shows, the intent was to showcase fine breeding stock. But over the years the emphasis has changed from providing a showcase to a major criterion for determination of breeding quality. The old adage breed the best to the best has subtly changed in meaning toward breeding the best-looking to the best-looking….
Staffords are not normally associated with Obedience or any of the other dog/owner related disciplines but there are many Staffords competing in these sports, successfully throughout the world. Whilst excepting that not every Stafford should or would be suitable to compete competitively, early socialisation is very important to teach an acceptable interaction with other dogs…
The first time I watched handlers walking a Rally course, talking and giving hand signals, pretending their absent dogs were performing the exercises, I thought Boy, this is dumb. On that day, my Staffie Ace and I were entered in the obedience Open A Class. As it turned out, he never earned his CDX, (Companion…