Done to death

Ok back, only a couple of days late but story of my life........I thought before going on about Tag I thought I should explain my view on the Standard, well yep its been done to death, this dog breed has been at the mercy of such a huge variety of mixed sometimes "lost the plot " idealistics and often more to their own suiting I hasten to add and these folk are so called show experts and breeders...
I confess to neither and my view of the Standard is as I see it written and why it should be so...
Its banged on about the Stafford being a head breed well I go with that part the way but other than chopping off the dogs head and taking that into the show ring I figure whats behind the collar has equal merit.
So starting with the head and I will start with my favourite the lips and muzzle .....Lips tight and clean......Well to me that means not excessive in any way so no hangy, droopy lips, no thick rubbery lips as its no good based on the history of the Staffordshire Bull terrier is it.....Now the standard doesn't actually refer to the muzzle but this is the foreface and the standard calls for a short foreface but how short is short and as muzzle length is a big issue because of breathing and more important the placing of the teeth so its my opinion a muzzle giving the impression of creating big creases of skin and pushing the eyes up so they are nearly closed when panting is not right, and worse if their are creases and mounds of flesh when the dogs mouth is shut its definitely a NO NO, I will lay bets on that that kind of muzzle belongs to those thick rubbery lips and is what is referred to as a to short muzzle....
My next favoutite is the eyes....Round of medium size, and set to look straight on, eye rims dark.
The eyes are personal to most I think, some have a gripe about eye colour but as I see it the colour of the eyes have no bearing on the function of the Stafford so a lighter eye colour I can live with, I prefer dark especially on black brindles and as long as they are not the brightest of orange any where in between I can live with....Little piggy eyes are a bit of a put off and we rarely see the almond shape eye now days but the one type of eye I hate with a passion IS big protruding, bulging, popping out eyes, oh my god can you imagine what the old Stafford breeders would think if they saw some of todays Staffords......These type of eyes belong on a Pug or French Bull dog not on a Stafford and lastly but not least eye rim colour. Well unfortunately we are seeing more and more Panda eyes or as once referred to as wearing goggles this basically is bad pigmentation and usually comes with the brindles more often their mouths will be pink as apposed to black gums and black roof of the mouth the gums will be pink and may have some darker patches but not black black if that makes sense.
Head and skull, short, deep through with a broard skull, very pronounced cheek muscles, distinct ....Ok open to interpretation big time.....For some bigger is better so this is what I say to those who like heads the size of a beach ball can your dog keep his gob closed on any given day out and about of course I wouldn't expect on a very hot day but any other day because my dogs can and they can run, jump, race and lie in the sun and never suffer from becoming over heated or run for shade like your big headed monster does, this condition is an insult to this wonderful dog breed and a further insult if it looks completely out of balance with the rest of the dog. At this point I debated if to change the words I have written but if I did or if I deleted them I would not be true to myself, I have survived up to now without trying to please people or win friends because I say all the right crap, the thing is we all have our own ideas and that is great I'm therefore not trying to push my ideas at anybody and what I say on here you can take it or leave it, you can laugh at it or have a pop at it I really don't care I love this breed and some of you will give this breed up for one reason or another I just know that a Stafford will always share our sofa.
Just thought I would fit that in before continuing
Broad skull therefore does not mean massive neither should it look like you hit it on the top of the head to widen it, nor should the stop go on for ever and look like the dog has a German helmet on. A head should be distinctive and have lots of appeal, the look should be a little intense and with clean lines that if you were to do a silhouette you would be able to see clearly it was a Stafford both front on and sideways...
A big covering there and remembering this is just our opinion and we set our dogs by it and we will continue to breed to it, We will never be swayed by the fashion and we don't mind if people hold us in their esteem or not and that all said the standard has a lot to cover and I will try to carry on with it ....
I'm posting some photo's of Tag and his play time.

Having talked about some of the head its only fair to mention the ears , teeth and under jaw. Ears are preferred rosed I personally find most ears acceptable the only ears that never suit are thick heavy ones .Teeth a full set are nice but some dogs have a tooth missing behind the canine , big teeth look most fitting and the bite should be scissor bite , on our web site we will post pic's depicting the correct bite and some that are in correct ....Now the under jaw is again a subject of debate as it leans to lack of under jaw means weak teeth setting or converged canines but equally a strong under jaw can mean an under shot mouth so I tend to think we must have just enough coming through the breed lines we follow as our own breeding hasnt turned up such things as yet.
All said and my talking of Tag being the business for us he is but for some he wont be and some may find that my comments are