Is Irish Staffordshire Bull Terrier actually a breed??

[Clair]

Funny you mention this, as I was asking the same Q on another forum the other day,
I was confused as there is a Irish staffordshire bull terrier society, but this is just a club for staffords in Ireland.
I spoke to one of the chairmans and they said that 'the irish stafford as they call them are not a breed, there is not a standard or atleast one that will ever really be excepted as they are just a badly breed stafford.
Its almost as bad as people saying they breed there dogs to the 'old standard',
what a load of tosh.
Also, the UKC that you can register 'irish staffords' on is just a made up register that was made up by some bloke that any cross breed or any breed for that matter can be registered on, so its not an evidence of pedigree like most people claim

[Adele4dan]

Originally Posted by cc22peatree

Funny you mention this, as I was asking the same Q on another forum the other day,
I was confused as there is a Irish staffordshire bull terrier society, but this is just a club for staffords in Ireland.
I spoke to one of the chairmans and they said that 'the irish stafford as they call them are not a breed, there is not a standard or atleast one that will ever really be excepted as they are just a badly breed stafford.
Its almost as bad as people saying they breed there dogs to the 'old standard',
what a load of tosh.
Also, the UKC that you can register 'irish staffords' on is just a made up register that was made up by some bloke that any cross breed or any breed for that matter can be registered on, so its not an evidence of pedigree like most people claim

Thanks thats some interesting info,
also the guy in the park today said some breeders mark up the price of Irish staffs, hes 'apparently' seen some pups for £1200 each!
(I say apparently as I dont know this guy at all !)

[Clair]

'i used to be a commitee memeber of the ISBTA , and can't understand why people use "irish staffords" as a name for pitbulls or staffords that are outside breed standards , there is no such breed called an irish stafford , just an alias.'

This is a copy of what the bloke I was on about said,sorry, he wasn't a chairman like I thought, he comes from Ireland

[Clair]

'The IKC is Ed Reids Intercontinental Kennel Club not to be confused with the Irish Kennel Club (think it's easier to use ICKC to differentiate). It's a registry I think he started up in the early 80s for pitbulls and other bull breeds.

There are dogs from Irish lines (Flynn, Dublin Red, Psycho and the so called "Stormer" line), some have alien blood and some dont.'

he then went on to say this.
Unfortunatly alot of people go on to sell pups as 'irish' claiming they are bred to 'old standards',
and if you don't no any better then how do you know the difference

[Stamford]

the Irish Stafford as i understand it.They are Staffords bred for performance from lines that were in Ireland that go back to show stock like the topcroft,wawocan ,rapparee etc lines,they have in many cases been infused with (english) bull terrier blood,(mainly in the 1970's and 80's).the reason this happened was that the dogs were used in the badger trials run by the Irish kennel club at the time and many people bred their staffords to any dog doing well in those trials and it is not unheard of to also see wheaten x staffords as the wheatens had a big reputation as trial dogs back then.
some people have introduced pit bull blood and indeed registered pit bulls as irish staffords (with irish stafford registeries,as has been said they are not kc registered) but their are many dogs that are still pure stafford or stafford/(english) bull terrier mixes

[Clair]

Originally Posted by Stamford

the Irish Stafford as i understand it.They are Staffords bred for performance from lines that were in Ireland that go back to show stock like the topcroft,wawocan ,rapparee etc lines,they have in many cases been infused with (english) bull terrier blood,(mainly in the 1970's and 80's).the reason this happened was that the dogs were used in the badger trials run by the Irish kennel club at the time and many people bred their staffords to any dog doing well in those trials and it is not unheard of to also see wheaten x staffords as the wheatens had a big reputation as trial dogs back then.
some people have introduced pit bull blood and indeed registered pit bulls as irish staffords (with irish stafford registeries,as has been said they are not kc registered) but their are many dogs that are still pure stafford or stafford/(english) bull terrier mixes

This is partly true stamford but the Irish staffordshire bull terrier assosiation wouldnt agree

[Stamford]

Thats fair enough Clair,Im no expert.Its just how i understand it to be from sources i have read which may or may not be correct.If its wrong then i apologise.

[Clair]

Originally Posted by Stamford

Thats fair enough Clair,Im no expert.Its just how i understand it to be from sources i have read which may or may not be correct.If its wrong then i apologise.

Dont worry, be happy

[Hayley SBT]

Staffords from IRISH lines, alot of byb have coined this term, sadly and have tarnished the name, Personally I believe that an Irish stafford is from Irish lines, same as any other stafford from certain lines, so if bred for pure Irish stafford lines then yes it is a pure bred, and they do adhere to a standard (decent breeders) just to the original standards, not the new staffords standards. ANY one person is allowed to bred to the original standards, it does not mean they are not breeding correctly or out of standards. It what you want in a stafford.