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Mankind has enjoyed the fiathfulness of the dog by the side for conturies. Few dogs desire to please their human masters as mush as the staffordshire bull terrier. Dogs in general have accommodated man and his every whim for generations anything to please the master. Todays Staffordshire Bull Terrier, in mind and body, echoes that sentiment with night and determination.

A SPECIALIST IN BODY AND MIND
before the days of dog shows and the purebred mating of shampions, human recognised the merit in dogs that specialise in performing a specific job or task. We bred dogs that could hunt, herd, haul, guard, run, track and perform counless other tasks gearded towards making humans lives more comfortable, enjoyable, and manageable. Each dog's anatomy reflected the task tha men set before him. The hunting dog had an insulated coat, a super sensitive nose, a short coupled body, a deep chest and straight, strong legs. The coursing dog had longer legs, a tucked-up abdomen (for speed), a deep chest (for lung capacity), keen eyesight, and a narrow, long muzzle (to slice the wind). The guard dogs were true heavyweights: massive and solidly boned with punishing jaws and nerves of steel.

The physical characteristics that set apart the staffordshire bull terrier are its impressive musculature, its strongly undershot strong jaws and large teeth, very pronounced cheek muscles, loose shoulders, roach black, low-slung body and long legs that bend in the forequarters. These are the characteristics of a fighting or baiting dog that enable it to perform the tasks that breed indeed all the bull and terrier dogs, were created to tackle. The decree'Go Low, pin and hold!' was in sooth a battle cry! This imposing physique was needed for the dogs to fight one another, as well as dodge and grab an ornery bull with their powerfull gripping jaws and hold on to it without being tossed aside!

Baiting a bull, an animal twenty or more times the size of a dog, placed some obvious demands on the dog, its anatomy and temperament. The desired temperament of a bull and terrier dog for baiting was not a vicious, risk-taking daredevil. Instead, the baiting dog required an even-keeled, leve-headed, obediend temperament, peppered with patience, indomitable courage and tenacity. The bulldog excelled in the pinning and holding of the bull, but lacked the flecibility required in thedog pit. thus, the smaller bull andterrier dogs were designed to take on this challenge and each other.

Image the heart of the dogthat willingly undertake such a task for the sake of pleasing his master! Baiting and fighting dogs were not the only kinds of dogs that risked their lives for theirhuman counterparts. Indeed, harding and droving dogs,biggame hunting dogs, and even the smaller terrier risked their livesfor the sake of accomplishing their task. Nonetheless, the bloodyendeavour of slaying bull overshadows almost any other taskset before dog.

The original fighting types were large, mastiff dogs with heavy, low-slung bodies and powerfully devloped heads. Some accounts also descibe the deep, frightening voice of the mastiffs. Inappearance, the mastiffs were appalling and frightfull. Mastiff sogd yielded not only fighting dogsbut also flock guards, scenthoundsand other powerfull hunters. Consider the size and fearlessness of such modern-day mastiff as Great Pyrenees, Kuvasz, Dogo Argention and Spanish Mastiff. Consider the size and features of the bloodhound, Great Dane,Newfoundland and Polish Hound. All these dogs derive from crosses to these powerfull mastiffs of yesteryear.

ORIGINAL PURPOSES OF THE GREAT MASTIFFS
Historians have recorded many impressive duties amongst the purposes of these original mastiffs. Dogs used for war armoured,spiked, and collared became valuble weapons for humanstrying to defend themselves fromtheir enemies. These dogs were not only brave but aggressive andresourcefull. As early as 2100B.C. dogs were emplyed for warring purposed. Many famous kings and tribes used dogs to claim their victories. The dogs were trainedin combat and were uniformedwith impenetrable metal shieldsand spiked collars to protect them from thir foes who carried spearsand other primitive weapons.

Spanning the millennia, Hammurabi, Kambyses, Varius and henrt VII were among the monarchs that valued dogs in their militia. These dogs were necessarily vicious and trusted no one exept their one master. Appropriately these war dogs were lebelled Canis bellicosus.

The great mastiff also assisted man by hunting large, ferocius game. These dog commonly hunted in packs, maintained by the royals, and were used to pursuebison and aurochs inthe wild forests. Dogs were also used to track the stag, considered a noble game,as well as the wild boar, the most dangerous of wild game, revered forits ruthless, nasty dispostion. Themastiffs worked in conjunction withlighter, swifter dogs that tired theboar before the mighty mastiffs werereleases to slay it, many men, dogsand hores were killed by the wild boars fighting for their lives. Thereare accounts of boar dogs being kept in kenneles 6000 dog strong. Today, mastiffs are rarely used for these purposes, but there are still boar hunts in the U.S., Germany and the Czech Republic.

Bear hunting, even morepopular today than boar hunting,was also a noble pursuit of the dogs of antiquity. The dogs wererequired to track the bear, cornerit and keep it occupied until thehunter arrived with their firearms. The bear is highly intelligent creature that couldweight much as 350 kgs andcould easily outmatch a dog. Mastiffs in India produce the most colouful tale of hunting, including the pursuit of buffalo, leopards, panthers and elephants! Regardless of the actual truth of many of these accounts, the stories underscore the fearless tenacity of these mastiff dogs that the ancestors of our Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

THE BULL AND TERRIER CROSS
The term 'bull and terrier' refers to a common cross between bulldog types and the samller terriers, Bulldogs during the mid-nineteenth century did not resemble the jolly English Bulldog that we know and love today. These dogs more resembled the taller, longerheads dogs that we recognise as American Staffordshire terrier or pit bulls. Experts purport that the black and tan terrier the progenitor of the Manchester Terrier of today, or perhaps the White English Terrier, A breed extinct in its original form but the forfather of the modern Bull Terrier. These original bull and terrier crossedwere desirable to create thesmaller, agile fearless canineneeded for the 'sport' of the dog fightin. The larger mastiffs,while brave and heroic in battleand big-game hunting, were less successful in pit. Unless a dog was suitably small, swift andflexible enough, it could notmanoeuvre its way about charging bull or another canine opponent. This is an age-oldlesson that tend to evade many bulldog fanciers, especially bigger is better. Even in the U.S. today there are strains of American Pit Bull Terrier that are so large and awkward thatthey exceed 120 pounds. The question of the size in the Staffordshire Bull Terrier would continue to be an issue for many years.

The Staffordshire Bull Terrier's forefathers were companionsof the working class in the 'Black Country' in Stafford. In this part of England, bull and terriers were bred with great intensity andowners continued to match theirdogs in the piy long after dogfights were outlawed. Hardcore Staffords believed that the dogpit was the only true test to theirdogs worth and percived thesematches as 'working tests' todetermine which dogs were worthy to being bred. This mentality corresponds note for note with the show ring to determine which dogs should be bred. making up chamion in show world is assuredly a challenge, and only those dogs that prove themselves in the show ring to deserve to bebred. Likewise, though obviouslymore lethal a game, the staffords used the dog pitdetermine who the'champions' were, so that only gamest dogs of allwould produce the next generation of fighting dogs.

The term 'game' applies to the most desirable attribute of a null and terrier. Gameness indicates that the dog will fight fearlessly to the death and never think of quitting. It is the tenacity for which bredders strived in their null and terriers. Likewise, game-bred pit bull today are still tested in the pit despite theillegality and risks involved. Dog fighters employ the terminology 'scratch' to indicate how many times in a fight a dog cower or tires to ext the pit.

THE STAFFORDSHIRE TERRIER
Not untill the 1930s did fanciers attempt to esablish the Staffordshire Terrier as a separate breed and begin to imagine their dogs competing outside the dog pit. While dogfighting was outlawed before this time, fights were still routinely heldin a more or less clandestine fashion. It was around this time that the dog- fighting activities were actually abolished through police intervention, and by 1930 the law began tobe fully enforced. For the sake of establishing the breed and entering dog shows, the original standard, based on thesuperb show winner Jim The Dandy, owned by Jack Barnard,was drafted by the very committed breeder Joe Dunn. It was adopted in 1935 at the first meeting of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier club. It was subsequently recognised by The Kennel Club later that year, and the breed was alled to enter dog show. The original Clubwas established by more than 40 breeders and Jack Barnard was thefirst president. The dogs were first shwn at the hertfordshire Agriculture Society in june of 1935, just one month after the club's establishment. The follwing year , Cross Guns Johnson, owned by Joe Dunn, won the class at Crufts Dog Show, the first time the Staffordshire had entered. Gentleman Jim was the first champion with The Kennel Club, who won his first Challenge Certificate at the Birmingham National Show. He made up his championship in double time in just two show! the first championship show for Staffodshire, Staffordshire Bull Terrier Society, attracted 300 dogs in junes 1946.

The Pioneers of the breed, who lived in the Black Country, were not pleased with the entrance of the Stafffordshire into the show world. The feared that the temperament of the breed would be endangered and that the true heart of the breed would be lost. Many of these pioneers continued to fight their game staffordshire to keep the 'heart' in their blood. Another controversy emerged concerning the desired size of the dog. In the original standard the size was similar to more popular Bull Terrier, 15 to 18 inches. Breeders were producing the Staffordshires that were to heavy and not mobile, so by 1948 the height diminished to 14 to 16 inches. This change was not welcome by many breeder and dogs today still push the height requirement of the standard. In modern times, breeders have concerned themselves with achieving the perfect head on their Staffordshire Bull Terrier. It is Fair to say that heads of the breed have received too much emphasis and hindquarters and shoulders have suffered, resulting in the movement that is far from ideal in most dogs.

THE UNITED STATES
Many British industrial and mine workers opted to immigrate to the United States in the 1860s and 1870s. These hardworking Britons brought their Staffordshire Bull Terrier with them and resumed breeding them in the States, often with other terrier types. These dogs became known as Yankee Terriers, american Bull Terrier and American (Pit) Bull Terriers (as if placing parentheses around the 'pits' would soften the blow). These dogs were admired by the American public and revered for their devotion to family and children. Although not the size of the most guard dogs, these dogs compared in courage and determingation.

These dogs were also used in dog fights, as were many similar dogs that arrived with irish immigrants. The United Kennel Club (UKC) was established as a registry for these pit bull dogs, which were refused acceptance by the larger American Kennel Club (AKC). The prestigious, and somewhat pigheaded, AKC did not grant the American Pit Bull Terrier recognition, though it would later recognise the same dog by the name of the Stafordshire Terrier in 1936. The first Staffordshire Terrier registed with AKC wasWheeler's Black Dinah. Many fanciers took adantage of the situation and dual-registered their dogs staffordshire terriers with the AKC and as American (Pit) Bull Terrier with the UKC.(To futher Confuse matter, the American Dog Breeders Assocation, a national association for dogmen of the pit variety, registered the breeds as the Staffordshire Terrier in the late 1930s.)

The parent club, the Staffordshie Terrier Club of American, was formed on May 23, 1936 to protect 'The Grand Old breed' formerly known as the American (Pit) Bull Terrier or Yankee Terrier. The standard was drame up straight away and Staffordshire Terrier entered the show rings. The first American show were held in conjunction with the International Kennel Club of Chicago in the late 1930s and as many as 50 dogs were exhibitied. The first AKC champion of record Maher's Captain D who garnered thetitle in 1937. Arguably the most famous Staffordshire Terrier of thisearly period was Champion X-Pert Brindle Biff, owned and bred byClifford A. Ormsby.

As the gap of type variation expanded to a grand canyon within the breed, breeders decided to split the Staffordshire Terrier into two breeds. In 1972 the American Staffordshire Terrier was recognised, and two year leter the Staffordshire Bull Terrier reappeared on the scene. Employing the same name used by Joe Dunn in England in the 1930s, the Stafforshire Bull Terrier is the shorter legged, thicker dog, weighting 24 to 28 pounds (11 to 17 kgs) and standing 14 to 16 inches (35.5 to 40.4 cms). The Ameircan Staffordshire Terrier stands on the taller legs and the 17 to 19 inches in height (42.5 to 48cams. Of course, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier in American still resembled the conformation of the original BRitish dogs. Since the type of dog that became known as the American Staffordshire Terrier had no following in England, there was no similar controversy or dissension among fanciers. Although recognised as two distinct breeds (three, if you're inclined to include the UKC's American Pit Bull Terrier), these dogs are genetically similar, though the lines hacen't been crossed in many generation