Hey, fellow pet lovers! 

Today’s post is going to let you all know what it is like to have a Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Last week I posted What it’s like to have a Border Terrier? and this week you are all going to learn about my gorgeous girl Nia.

Let’s jump straight in and learn what is so great about this amazing breed.

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My Girl Nia

This is my girl Nia, she will be four on November the 10th, just one day before Lily’s birthday. She is such a little sweetheart and I don’t think there could be a better-behaved pooch out there! You guys seemed to like my post on What it’s like to have a Border Terrier? so hopefully you enjoy learning about my other bundle of joy, Nia papaya.

We got Nia back in 2015 after losing our girl Freya, Nia was the first puppy we got as my partner got Freya from a rescue centre before we were together. The time I did spend with her was amazing though and she was such a beautiful girl!! When she did pass, we decided to get a puppy instead of another rescue and we were sure we wanted another Staffy.

We knew we wanted a girl but weren’t sure what colour, Freya was brindle and she was stunning, we were contemplating getting another brindle dog but ended up getting Nia, our little black and white lump. I remember how impatient my partner was, unlike Lily were we only had a few days to wait to go and pick her up, we had to wait three weeks for Nia and they dragged so much!!

We actually ended up getting Nia a few days earlier than we were meant to but it couldn’t have come quick enough. We went and collected her on the 4th of January and she was so cute!! I don’t actually have many puppy photos of Nia as we didn’t have a good camera when we got her but I am going to put what pictures we do have in the post, even though they are terrible quality.

In this post, I want to tell you what it is like to have a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and I plan on mentioning all the pros and cons of owning this gentle breed.

Let’s jump straight in and learn what it is like to own a Staffordshire Bull Terrier!

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A Short Mention of the Staffordshire Bull Terriers History

Like I did in my post about Lily I am going to keep this section short as I want to do another post that talks about the origins of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier in the near future. It is not 100% clear the ancestry of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier but it is believed that they share a mix of Bulldog and a verity of terrier breeds.

They were originally bred for fighting and had to be strong and agile to win against other dogs. Thankfully these amazing dogs no longer take part in dog fighting and can be a happy normal pet. Dog fighting was meant to have stopped when the Humane Act came into play in 1835, this act is also known as The Cruelty to Animals Act and before this, it was common practice for Old English Bulldogs to fight Bulls and Bears. It was said that this helped tenderize the meat, in all honesty, this is a horrific thought, Imagine how much these poor animals suffered!!

Thankfully once this act was introduced it was against the law to take part in these unjust activities and it is believed that this was the reason the Staffordshire Bull Terrier came into existence. People needed a small dog that was capable of fighting indoors as all fighting now had to be done in secret. The Staffordshire Bull Terrier was officially registered by the Kennel Club in 1935, 100 years after the Humane act was introduced.

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Why Staffordshire Bull Terriers Are So Great!

There are so many reasons as to why these dogs are so great and here are a few reasons why having a Staffy in your life is so amazing!

• The Staffordshire Bull Terrier is such a loving breed!!

This is something I said about my girl Lily but it is even more true about Nia, I don’t think I have come across a pooch that is as loving as she is! All she seems to want is affection 24/7, as long as she is getting cuddles and kisses she is in her element. I and my partner sometimes sleep in separate rooms as we have a comfy sofa bed in the sitting room and it is almost impossible for us all to sleep in the bed most nights.

However, when we do it is a fight to get any room as we have Pooss who loves to steal your pillow, then Nia who loves to sleep under the blanket and Lily who wants cuddles all night, there simply just isn’t enough room. A bonus of this though is the fact we get to have separate time with both Nia and Lily when we sleep separately, this is lovely as they can get super jealous of each other sometimes.

Nia is not as bad as Lily for wanting cuddles all night, she seems to just want to sleep under the blanket for most of the night then come up for snugs in the morning. My morning cuddles off my girls mean I start the day happy and it is something so little but it makes a massive difference to my day.

Staffies are one of, if not the most loving breed on the planet!

• Staffies are so cute!!

This can be said about any breed, to be honest, I find all animals so cute!!

When Nia was a puppy she was so adorable, just a little fat ball of love. If I do say so I think Staffy pups are one of the cutest puppies on the planet, they have such human-like faces and when they give you their little puppy dog eyes it is cuteness overload!

I haven’t been able to find many puppy photos of Nia as the phones we did have when she was a pup have all managed to get broken and we, unfortunately, have lost a lot of her baby photos. However, I did find these two off when I was in College, hence the messy bed filled with Business work. The top one is a photo we were sent when Nia was still with her mum and breeder.

• Staffies are super active dogs.

Both my girls are active breeds and I couldn’t imagine having a low energy breed, I and my partner love going on long walks with the girls or taking them to the park to chase after the ball. When Nia was a puppy and an only doggie for a whole year she was so lazy!! I am not kidding you she wouldn’t even run for the ball at the park when we didn’t have Lily.

Thankfully now she actually wants to run after the ball and also loves pulling the bike when the weather is right. She has come so far from being a lazy couch potato to a super active pooch.

• Staffies don’t cost too much to raw feed.

Another great thing about the Staffordshire Bull Terrier is that they don’t cost a lot to raw feed, I am aware of the varying prices to raw feed as we have the Pooss who costs pennies, then Lily who costs about £25 – £30 each month and Nia probably costs about £40 -£45.

My nephew who owns Romeo the Rottie spends so much each month on buying raw food that I am grateful to have such small pets.

• Staffies are great with other dogs and have a lovely temperament.

Most dogs are great with other dogs and the majority of Staffies I have met seem to be this way. Nia in comparison to Lily is always perfect with other dogs and when we had Freya she seemed to be exactly the same. If you’re looking for a friendly, social breed then the Staffordshire Bull Terrier is a great choice.

• Staffies are great off the lead.

If you have read my post What it’s like to have a Border Terrier? then you will know Lily is not the best at being off the lead, you can see in the picture above we have to but a training lead on her, Nia, on the other hand, is perfect.

She is only off the lead when we are at the park or away from any cars and roads but almost every time she comes back straight away when called for. This is something that seems to be quite common for the breed and I am glad I have one pooch who is capable of being off the lead and I don’t have to worry about.

• Staffies are so easy when it comes to grooming!

Something that I love about this breed is how little grooming you have to do unlike our girl Lily who we have to strip, two, three times a year. Nia just gets her nails sorted, the odd bath/shower and a good brush every now and then. It is so much easier to keep her looking tidy than Lily, at the minute she is moulting quite a lot due to the warm weather. We have been brushing her every time we go to the park or on a long walk as it means the flat doesn’t get covered in little black hairs.

If your thinking about getting a puppy or a rescue dog then a Staffy is an all around perfect dog, they have a lovely temperament, are easy to maintain, don’t cost a lot to raw feed and are super cute and loving.

What more could you ask for really?

Now we know what is so great about the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, let’s mention what could be considered not so great.

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The not so great things about having a Staffordshire Bull Terrier!

This section is going to be a lot shorter than my girl Lily’s was as Nia is literally like a little angel most times. However, there are so drawbacks to owning a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, which we will talk about below.

• Once you have Staffordshire Bull Terrier you no longer have any personal space!

One thing about Staffies is that no matter how inconvenient it is they want to be as close as possible to you. This means sitting on top of you, stealing all the space on the bed/sofa and just trying to stick their tongue in your mouth every time you yawn. I have never known a breed to be as needy as the Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

Keep this in mind when you’re considering getting a Staffy when I and my partner want to cuddle up on a night-time, most of the time this is not possible because the girls want to be the ones getting all the cuddles!

You can tell who their favourite is!

• The Staffordshire Bull Terrier is a greedy breed.

My girl Nia is a proper greedy guts, I know since writing the post on Can dogs eat raw meat? that our dogs are built to eat a lot of food and quickly get it to their stomach where digestion really begins but Nia has been a proper fatty from day one.

Lily is the complete opposite and will sometimes even leave her tea if she feels like she had enough, Nia however, could eat all day. This can become annoying as there have been many times where myself or my partner have had to stick our hands down her throat to try to retrieve something she has picked up off the floor. Thankfully we have always managed to get whatever she tried to eat out quickly and she doesn’t do this very often, her favourite thing to go for is chips.

Thankfully Lily has never, ever picked anything off the floor and with any breed you need to be super observant but with a Staffy you really do!!

• They can be smelly dogs.

Nia farts a lot more than Lily and I am not too sure why because some days they get the exact same meal. I have had Staffies in the past and one of my childhood dogs was a Staffy and he was a smelly pooch too!!

However, Nia being on a raw diet half the time they don’t smell too bad but some really do!! I would definitely say Staffordshire Bull Terriers are farty dogs and Nia sometimes has some really loud ones which can be quite humorous.

Just a heads up in case you are thinking about bringing a Staffy into your life. 

• People are prejudice towards the breed.

The last thing I want to mention about the Staffordshire Bull Terrier is how demonized this innocent breed has become. If you haven’t checked our post out on The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and Breed Specific Legislation within the UK I suggest giving it a read. There are four banned types of dogs in the UK and one of these types is the American Pit Bull Terrier.

Unfortunately, a lot of Staffies end up being accused of being a banned type due to their similarities towards this banned breed. When you read our post you will learn a lot more about this awful act and thankfully the RSPCA and the Blue Cross both have petitions with the hopes of getting rid of Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) so head over to their websites to sign them both, until then we just need to keep fighting for a BSL free future.

One thing I have noticed a lot since getting Nia and also having Freya is how judgmental and prejudice people can be against Staffies. The media have painted these lovely dogs in such a vicious image and because of this, the majority of the nation is scared. The funny thing about this is that when we bump into other dogs, the possibility of Nia kicking off is none existent, Lily, on the other hand, can go either way.

People need to remember no matter how a dog looks, it’s size or overall appearance does not give you a clear picture of its overall personality. I am not lying when I say Nia has never, ever kicked off with another dog and she is four this year. She has even had other dogs kick off with her and she will just run away from any conflict.

The truth is you couldn’t find a more relaxed and loving breed, if you have never had a Staffy and believe the lies that are put out there by the media then you should really question where your judgment is coming from, as they are harmless creatures.

Like I said in my post regarding The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and Breed Specific Legislation within the UK, ANY DOG CAN BITE!

So let’s not discriminate against one breed because of false lies that have been cleverly marketed. The Staffordshire Bull Terrier is an amazing, loving and loyal breed, who if you treat right they will do the exact same to you and everyone they meet.

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Thanks for checking in and reading this post, if you liked it then give it a share so others can give a read. I hope you all enjoyed learning about my gorgeous girl Nia, she is such an amazing pooch and I love all my girls so much!!

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