The Breed Today

Most show fanciers these days simply won’t admit that the breed has changed quite a bit from the original types, and such an attitude isn’t hard to understand when one realizes the very people who are supposed to give them guidance encourage the breeding and perpetuation of the trendy, exaggerated type. Usually these are the…

Trilby

Trilby was the oldest Stafford I have ever had in the thirty six years that I have been lucky enough to own the breed. She was the last of my dogs to be directly descended from Staffords I bred and showed years ago but she was never destined for the show ring, although, on the…

Understanding Recessive Genes

The aim of any control measures must be simply to prevent any clinically affected animals being born and eventually to eliminate the defective ‘x’ from the breeding population. With the development of laboratory tests for the recessive genes that cause the two conditions (tests of L-2-HGA are already available) the first step must be not…

Miracles Can Happen

Misfortune is something that befalls others. At least in our own selfish way, we like to think so. However we know from experience that we do suffer misfortune, and sadly even tragedy, at times during our lives. For those in dogs one of the worst things is literally losing a dog! And I know now…

The Genetic Pedigree

The only really effective way to attack the problem of genetic disease is to actively select against the defective genes, rather than trying to select for the most normal dogs you can find. It’s a way a thinking about breeding that seems counter-intuitive, until you realize that if you know who the affected and …