In The Netherlands the popularity of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier has decreased tremendously between 2001 and 2002. The table on the right shows the registration entries at the Dutch Kennel Club for the period 1989 to 2003.

Table 2 shows that in the Skin & Hair category 36 Staffordshire Bull Terriers were affected - this is 12,9%, or better said, 1 out of every 8 Staffords that took part in the investigation. The next important problem area is the Limbs category where 16 Staffords were affected (5,7%).

Breed specific health problems

Table 3 shows that for the Stafford allergy is the most common disease (16 SBTs or 5,7%). The second most common defect is cruciate ligament/hamstring lesions (11 dogs or 3,9%). The other diseases which had been thought to play a part in the Dutch SBT population, didn’t or only had a very small percentage. Of course this doesn’t mean that some of these diseases don’t matter because of the relatively simple way they can be passed on within a few generations and become serious problems.

TABLE 4
System	Dogs number (%)	Bitches number (%)	Total Number
Skin & Hair	21 (15%)	15 (10,8%)	36
Spinal Column	2 (1,4%)	0 (0%)	2
Limbs	10 (7,1%)	6 (4,3%)	16
Teeth (dentition)	5 (3,6%)	1 (0,7%)	6
Nervous System	2 (1,4%)	0 (0%)	2
Eyes & Visual Faculty	3 (2,1%)	2 (1,4%)	5
Ears & Hearing	2 (1,4%)	0 (0%)	2
Blood & Defence System	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0
Heart & Vascular System	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0
Lungs & Bronchial Tubes	6 (4,3%)	2 (1,4%)	8
Alimentary Canal	1 (0,7%)	2 (1,4%)	3
Kidneys & Urinary Passages	1 (0,7%)	0 (0%)	1
Milk Scrofulous	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0
Sexual Organs	4 (2,9%)	3 (2,2%)	7
Reproduction	0 (0%)	1 (0,7%)	1
Hormones	2 (1,4%)	2 (1,4%)	4
Liver	0 (0%)	1 (0,7%)	1
Behaviour	3 (2,1%)	1 (0,7%)	4
TOTALS	62	36	98

Behaviour

To get a good idea of the overall behaviour and temperament of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, the investigators made a list of descriptive characteristics. The owner was asked to choose the characteristics that best described his Stafford. This question was answered by 279 persons. It results gave a picture of how the average SBT owner experiences the behaviour of his dog.

Based on these results the average Stafford is seen as a friendly, gay and affectionate dog. These typical characteristics were chosen by 80% of the owners. For more than 60% it was stated that the Stafford was also “active”. Compared to other breeds the SBT scores highly on the positive features of temperament.

On the other hand, the Stafford does have some not so appreciated features - but it is interesting to note that for a dog who was originally bred to fight (but never used on humans, unlike certain other breeds, such as some guard dog breeds) characteristics such “fierce”, “grumpy” and “the will to bite” were only mentioned in a very few cases. Some dogs in the study group were described as scared (6,5%) or nervous (6,5%).

Behaviour in relationship to sex

In dogs it is assumed that there are differences in behaviour between males and females. To see how marked this is in SBTs, the characteristics chosen between dogs and bitches were compared as you can see in Table 5. Although it is hard to justify, there is an indication that bitches have a higher rating in the characteristic “fear”, but for all other characteristics the percentages are mostly equal.

In breeding it is important that we look at scared and nervous bitches, because these traits can be passed on to the next generations in two ways. This undesirable behaviour can have an hereditary cause and can be passed on to the puppies by either the mother or the father. Besides this, the mother teaches her own behaviour to her puppies. A nervous or scared mother, regardless of whether her own conduct comes from an hereditary source or is caused by environmental factors, will almost always teach her puppies the same behaviour. It is of utmost importance to withdraw these bitches from breeding. It is also better to not put nervous or scared dogs at stud.

TABLE 5
Characteristic/Feature	Dogs number (%)	Bitches number (%)	Total Number
Quiet	58 (41,4%)	62 (44,6%)	120
Active	82 (58,6%)	70 (50,4%)	152
Nervous	10 (7,1%)	8 (5,8%)	18
Fierce	3 (2,1%)	3 (2,1%)	6
Grumpy	2 (1,4%)	0 (0%)	2
Bite Tendency	1 (0,7%)	1 (0,7%)	2
Scared	5 (3,6%)	13 (9,4%)	18
Gay	113 (80,7%)	115 (82,7%)	228
Affectionate	117 (83,6%)	122 (87,1%)	239
Friendly	122 (87,1%)	122 (87,1%)	244
Lively	86 (64,1%)	87 (62,6%)	173
Different	5 (3,6%)	4 (2,.9%)	9

Obedience

Another question in the health investigation was how the owners find the obedience level of their dogs. To specify this they could choose from five offered characteristics, from “very good” to “very bad”. Almost every SBT owner in the group indicated that their dog was “good” to “very good”. Only a small percentage (8,0%) were stated to be “moderate” to “very bad”.

Much more important than percentages are numbers. It is desirable that the inbreeding coefficient is kept low to decrease, or at least maintain, the hereditary variety. What isn’t shown by the figures is the family relationship between the dogs used breeding. The deviation from born litters split over dogs and bitches only gives a small view to the level in which breeders tend to practise inbreeding. The popularity of often used stud dogs doesn’t stop with the mating. It seems acceptable that descendants from the most popular stud dogs take a larger part in the breeding on the following generations than the descendants from not so popular stud dogs. This causes the effect of excessive use of stud dogs in the following generations. A limited number of stud dogs contribute at first directly, and later on indirectly by their descendants, an unbalanced contribution to the genetic material in future generations.

The Stafford comes forward out of the “Health” chapter with the best results from the breeds investigated so far. This was reason enough for the investigators to look for an answer in comparison to the other investigated breeds. It showed that in the Stafford population a greater number of the available stud dogs are used (circa 15 %), and that more bitches (28%) where used for breeding compared to other breeds (3 to 8% for dogs, and 10 to 20% for bitches). The investigators think that the fact of the employment of more animals has contributed greatly to the preservation of the quality of health in the breed.

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