Faults:
"Faults to be penalized are Dudley nose, light or pink eyes,
tail to long or badly carried, undershot or overshot
mouths."
A Dudley nose is an unpigmented flesh colored nose. Light eyes
are eyes other than dark brown. Pink eyes would be like and albino
(not generally seen). Tail length reaching below the hocks would be
too long. Badly carried would be a tail carried too high about the
level of the back, curved over the back, curled, or carried tucked
under the belly. Undershot or overshot mouths - upper teeth not
meeting closely in front of the lower teeth.
Any deviation from the standard should be considered faulty. The
degree of fault would depend upon the degree of deviation. Although
not specifically mentioned as a fault by the standard, an improper
temperament is the most undesirable quality possible, and should
never be rewarded. The ideal specimen must always display courage
and confidence to a marked degree. Absolutely no consideration
should be give to an exhibit that lacks this quality. No
consideration should be give to an exhibit that appears aggressive,
threatening, or shy towards humans. These are completely incorrect
for the breed and are inexcusable.
In addition, a dog whose physical characteristics or lack of
soundness make him unsuitable according to the general description
should not be considered for placement. In general, proper
temperament is the most important quality, followed by proper
physical structure, and the soundness that must accompany it.
Such faults as light eyes, long tail, improper nose color, less
favored coat color are considered rather cosmetic in nature, and do
not interfere with the animal's suitability for work. Although
these qualities are the only ones listed under faults, they should
not carry as much weight as the proper temperament and structure of
the breed - essential qualities that are well describe in the
standard.
Origins of the American Staffordshire
Terrier
The ancient ancestors of the Am Staff are the mastiff type dogs
who appear in many breed histories. Although much of this
information is lost in antiquity, we know from early art of the
large, heavy-headed strong dogs who were used throughout history
for their strength and guarding abilities. This early group of dogs
has left genetic material for all the bulldog breeds and mastiff
type dogs of today.
In earlier days in England, mastiff types were bred down to
smaller size and some became bulldogs (actually bulldogs were named
because they were used to hold on to bulls or cattle/oxen).
Originally the dogs were butchers dogs or farmers dogs who helped
move the cattle around and held them still fore their owners. They
kept them still literally by holding on to them, usually by the
nose. It became a customary entertainment in England to watch as
the butcher's dog caught the bull and held in while it was killed
by the butcher. For some reason the common folk began to think that
meat that had been harried by the dog before dying was tastier than
the meat the had died peacefully. There was for a time an English
law enacted that the butcher MUST bait the bull with a dog before
butchering it ! The entertainment value was so great, that the
Queen reportedly even forbid other butchers from killing their
stock on the same day her royal butcher did, so that the commoners
would watch her dogs work.
Eventually this sport gave way to some other type of meat
tenderizer and the dogs were used on other "game". One of these
uses was rat killing. The English seem to have had lots of rats and
folks amused themselves by watching dogs put into "pits" (arenas)
with hundreds of rats. OF course betting was done on how many could
be dispatched how fast. This called for a smaller, faster dog so
some of the now extinct English terriers were crossed with the
bulldog. These were probably Black and Tan terriers (similar to
today' Manchester) and the old White terrier. Rates were too easy,
so these sporting souls were always thinking up new challenges for
their dogs. These early bulldogs and now bull-and-terriers were
used to fight bears, stage, badgers, and each other. Dogs were more
easily come by than bears, which were probably getting kind of
scarce in England, and dos were probably easier to keep for a
commoner than expensive cattle.
The bull-and-terriers evolved into three of our modern breeds:
the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, the Bull Terrier, and the American
Staffordshire Terrier.
The early bull-and-terrier came to America with immigrants from
England and Ireland. Here some grew bigger and taller in response
to their duties in a new and wilder country. Some stayed in cites
and were kept by the same type of "sporting" owner as in England
and Ireland. These were fought against each other around the pubs
of New York, Chicago, and Boston (and other cities of course). A
product of some of these dogs is the very American breed of Boston
Bulldog, or Boston terrier as it is now known. These used to be
35-40 lb dogs, and except for the shorter bulldog face and screw
tail were very similar to the early Am Staff (or Pit Bull, Bulldog,
American Bulldog, Bull and Terrier, Yankee Terrier, some of the
names these dogs were know under then).
The Larger bull-and-terrier was still a farm dog and stockman's
dog. He followed the wagons west with the settlers and helped work
stock and guarded the homestead. He was a general purpose homestead
dog, much as the dog describe in the book and movie, Old Yeller. He
ran with the hounds on hunting expeditions, exactly as depicted in
the old movie, The Yearling, and although not as fleet or strong of
nose as the hounds, he was still the "catch" dog who dispatched the
animal when it turned at bay.
By the late 1800's a fighting dog registry was started in
America to keep track of the prized pedigrees and publish the rules
for fighting organization in the country. The United Kennel Club
registered the dogs as American Pit Bull Terriers. Sometimes this
was written as American (pit) Bull, or American Bull Terrier.
Mostly they were known as bulldogs, or Pit Bulls.
Although it is this dog fighting background that is mostly
remembered, only a relatively small number of the dogs were fought.
Most of them went on being farmer's and general purpose
countrymen's dogs, and still worked stock, penning and guarding and
helping, just as they had done in their earliest days.
In the early 1930's a group of fanciers petitioned the American
Kennel Club to accept their dogs into the registry. These dogs
already registered with the United Kennel Club, but their owners
had no interest in dog fighting. They wanted to promote their breed
as family dogs and show dogs. They formed a national breed club and
wrote a standard for the breed. Much agonizing was done over the
proper name for the breed, and the American Kennel Club was not
inclined to register them with the same name as the United Kennel
Club did. Finally they were accepted with the name of Staffordshire
Terrier in 1936. This was just a year after the English
bull-and-terriers under the same name of the Staffordshire Bull
Terriers were recognized with the Kennel Club of England. The
standards of both the English and American breeds were written
similarly, and even contained some identical phrases. The authors
of both kept in touch with each other, working toward their common
goad of acceptance by their kennel clubs. At that time, the dogs
described were more similar in size and structure than the breeds
appear today.
In the early 1970's the name of the Staffordshire terrier was
changed to American Staffordshire terrier with the American Kennel
Club recognized the Staffordshire Bull Terrier breed.
Even as the late as the 1960's, the AKC stud books were opened
to permit United Kennel Club registered American Pit Bull Terrier
to compete in AKC shows as American Staffordshire Terriers. Some
exceptional dogs were brought into the AKC registry at the time,
some even winning the Staffordshire Terrier Club of America
National Speciality and an all-breed best in Show. Their influence
is still strong in some breeder's lines today.
The American Staffordshire Terrier has an amazing identity
problem. The same dog can still be registered the Untied Kennel
Club (which is no longer a fighting dogs registry, but an all breed
registry similar to the American Kennel Club), and/or with the
American Dog Breeder's Association, as an American Pit Bull Terrier
and if its parents were registered with the AKC, it can also be
registered by the AKC under the name of the American Staffordshire
Terrier.
Some of the breeders of both American Staffordshire Terriers and
American Pit Bull Terriers will tell you that they are not the same
breed and the "the other registry group" is ruining the breed.
However, the only real difference between these dogs is their
name and registry, and the individual breeder's selections and
goals. There was no other breed of dog added to the bloodlines to
create American Staffordshire Terriers.
This breed, under several of its names, along with the
Staffordshire Bull Terrier has been under attack by anti-dog groups
and has been wrongly maligned by the media. The generic name of
"pit bull" has now become a term to denote a dog used for fighting,
no matter what its genetic background, much like saying "bird dog"
or "guard dog". Most of the dogs now called that, we would all call
mixed breeds. However, there is still a Breed of dog called
American Pit Bull Terrier, and many of them trace their pedigrees
back to the 1800's. Many of them are still exactly where they have
always been, working at their jobs and being faithful
companions.
This article was written by the S.T.C.A breed study.

Pete The Pup from the
Television series 'Our Gang'
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