Thanks to Mark and Catherine for sharing Poppy's story, I am sure you cannot fail to be moved by it. I am so grateful to them for taking Poppy on and helping her reach her full potential, it could so easily have been a different ending.
One thing stands out to me, responsible ownership.
People often say it is the owner not the dog (true) but they also say Staffords are ok if they are brought up the right way and socialised. I am not so sure this is true,people also talk about attending training classes, again good and right they should but I do not think you can train aggression out of them.
Like it or not Staffords were bred to fight each other, this is their heritage. Just as Labradors and Spaniels were bred to retrieve, border collies round up sheep the Staffords tendency towards dog aggression is innate.
Often those most loving to their family and brilliant with children are the most aggressive with other dogs.
Of course not all are and if you are the fortunate owner of one of these that is great,but please don't fool yourself that it is anything you have done or disown the rest of the breed.
Responsible ownership. This is what Mark and Cat demonstrated and Poppy's former home did not.
This is why it is so hard to home Staffords and why you cannot be too careful in vetting new homes.
Thankfully most of our dogs are not as challenging as Poppy, but having invested the effort, Mark and Catherine do not just have a well behaved dog, they have an outstanding dog!
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