American Staffordshire Terrier
| American Staffordshire Terrier | ||
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| FCI Standard No. 286 | ||
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| Origin : | ||
| Alternative names: |
Amstaff |
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| Withers height: |
Male 46–48 cm, |
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| Weight: |
Weight should be in correct proportion to size. |
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| List of domestic dogs | ||
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The American Staffordshire Terrier is an FCI ( Number 286, Group 3, Section 3 ) recognized breed of dog from the United States .
Origin and history
Under the name American Staffordshire Terrier, this breed has been internationally recognized since January 1, 1972. Previously there was no uniform naming. The dogs were known as Pit Bull Terriers , American Bull Terriers , Yankee Terriers, or Stafford Terriers . This led to a lot of confusion about what should be excluded with the current name.
The progenitor of the "Am Staffs", as they are also known colloquially, is the "Bull and Terrier", which was used in Great Britain for dog fighting and came to the United States around 1860 with British immigrants. In England animal fights had been completely forbidden since 1835 , so the area of the legal prohibition of dog fighting was also left. Dog fighting was particularly popular in the northeastern United States from around 1880 onwards.
In 1898 the United Kennel Club (UKC) was founded in Michigan . The association had the task of looking after and promoting the "Pit Bull Terrier", as it was generally known at the time. This included the enactment of binding competition rules for dog fights, to which the members of the UKC were bound. Even then, there were magazines that reported almost exclusively about dog fights. These were called, for example, "The Dog Facier" or "Blood Lines".
In the further course of breeders began to move away from the alignment of breed on dog fighting and the American Staffordshire Terrier for exhibitions to make interesting. 1936 was the breed standard of the American Staffordshire Terrier from the American Kennel Club (AKC) officially recognized. Then there was a dispute about the correct breed name, as the name Yankee Terrier was also quite widespread for this dog breed at that time. The word pit , the name for a dog fighting ground, was dropped - according to Todd Fenstermacher possibly out of political correctness (dog fights were officially prohibited) - but the part of the name Staffordshire was retained as a reminder of the past days of animal fights in England.
So the breed was split into American Pit Bull Terriers and American Staffordshire Terriers, because the AKC did not tolerate dog fighting and the American Pit Bull Terriers remained with the UKC.
Appearance
The following characteristics are generally desired, but other shapes can occur: The head is large, wedge-shaped and very strong. The nose is black, the eyes dark and round, embedded deep in the skull and set far apart, the eyelids pigmented. The ears are set high and are worn either as rose ears or half erect erect ears (tilted ears). The weight is not fixed, a shoulder height of approx. 46 to 48 cm for the males and 43 to 46 cm for the bitches is the preferred size. The fur of these dogs is short and shiny. Any color, monochrome, multi-colored or spotted, is permitted. The following color variants are undesirable:
- black-tan: is a characteristic of the Doberman, Rottweiler and Manchester Terrier breeds
- liver colored
- lack of pigmentation on the nose (more of a characteristic of the American Pit Bull Terrier )
- more than 80% white (if the coat is more than 80% white, the risk of genetically predisposed deafness is high.)
The American Staffordshire Terrier differs from the English Staffordshire Bull Terrier in that it is about eight centimeters more shoulder height and the correspondingly higher weight.
Racial Issues
The import of American Staffordshire Terriers to Germany is prohibited by the Dog Movement and Import Restriction Act. The breed is one, with the exception of Lower Saxony , Thuringia (since February 2018) and Schleswig-Holstein , where there is no race list are, in all countries of Germany to the list of dogs which are referred to colloquially as "attack dogs". In almost all German federal states, keeping is subject to strict requirements.
In Austria , the American Staffordshire Terrier is on the breed list in all three list-leading federal states ( Vienna , Lower Austria , Vorarlberg ). Depending on the federal state, a dog driver's license (Vienna), certificate of competence (Lower Austria) or a special permit from the mayor (Vorarlberg) is required.
In Switzerland there is a breed list in 13 of a total of 26 cantons . The American Staffordshire Terrier is listed in all of these lists and its keeping is indicated as requiring a permit. Keeping, breeding and importation are prohibited in the cantons of Geneva , Valais and Zurich . The American Staffordshire Terrier is also on the breed list of the dog law in Denmark .
In Denmark the American Staffordshire Terrier is a banned dog breed, which, because of its perceived dangerousness in this country, can only be taken on vacation under special conditions. In the event of biting attacks, the animals are euthanized without exception.
As with all breeds that are generally counted as "fighting dogs", there is also a controversy about the breed-related danger to humans of the American Staffordshire Terrier. Critics assume excessive attack and fighting behavior. In a comparative study of listed dogs with Golden Retrievers , 1.43% of the Golden Retrievers exceeded level 2 on the applied aggressiveness scale of 1-7, this corresponds to one individual of the 70 dogs examined; in the American Staffordshire Terriers it was 18%. The number of Golden Retrievers examined, however, was too small to determine statistically significant differences in aggressive behavior.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ UKC homepage
- ↑ Todd Fenstermacher: American Pit Bull Terrier Today. Kynos-Verlag, Mürlenbach 1997, ISBN 3-929545-64-0 , p. 14.
- ↑ American Pit Bull Terrier in Hans Räber : Encyclopedia of Dog Breeds. Volume 1, 1st edition, Kosmos, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-440-06555-3 .
- ↑ First law to amend the Thuringian law to protect the population from animal dangers from February 12, 2018 In: Law and Ordinance Gazette for the Free State of Thuringia. 1/2018
- ↑ Information page of the Federal Chancellery of the Republic of Austria: keeping fighting dogs. (accessed October 28, 2015).
- ^ Denmark in Germany: The Danish dog legislation. Retrieved March 1, 2020 .
- ^ Denmark in Germany: The Danish dog legislation. Retrieved March 1, 2020 .
- ↑ Expert opinion on the interpretation of Section 11b of the Animal Welfare Act (prohibition of torture breeding, BMELV, 2000)
- ↑ Stefanie Ott, Esther Schalke, Amelie von Gaertner, Hansjoachim Hackbarth: Is there a difference? Comparison of golden retrievers and dogs affected by breed-specific legislation regarding aggressive behavior . In: Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research . tape 3 , no. 3 , 2008, p. 134–140 , doi : 10.1016 / j.jveb.2007.09.009 .