Our late staffie was great with other dogs (and cats). But we tried hard from the start to socialise him and made a huge, conscious effort.

The only time I ever saw his instincts override his training was when he saw a rat ocne on a walk - and instantly killed it.

He became more aggressive withh other dogs briefly, when we got a bull terrier bitch - presumably protecting her, or saying "She's mine - paws off!". But we worked on that too, and it subsided until he was back as he had always been.

The staffie before that was very dog aggressive (a bitch - I don;t know if they're harder work than dogs?) and so we were determined it wasn;t going to happen again with No 2.

I've had bull terriers all my life except the 2 staffies - and they have varied. I think you have to work very hard and in a concentrated way from the moment the dog is able to go out on a walk, to deal with the potential for this.

That said, over decades of dog walking the most DA dogs I encounter time and time again are (a) Jack Russells and (b) black labs. I can't count the number of times these have gone for our dogs, who have provoked nothing. By contrast, my own dogs have never been 'gone for' by another bullie or staffie.

It's hard to discuss without generalising but that has been my experience.

tbh when I got my dog I have now I was quite shocked just how many dogs seem to be dog aggressive. Is it just me or what? It didnt seem to be so many. Then again, our last dog didnt get on with dogs much and so perhaps we just werent coming into as close contact? (I was the same as you, made a huge effort in socialising etc) But even at that, seems to be a lot of 'grumpy' off lead dogs now too. Mostly I was tbh, shocked at the amount of labs that had unpredictable temprements, the amount of owners 'having trouble' with them, the aggressive tendancies....perhaps down to the big boom in lab breeders/sales that seemed to happen?

oh yes, and Ive only met one JRT that never starts on a dog etc. and another couple that will play but have seen them a wee bit 'nippy' looking before but they seem ok....thats not very many JRT's out of the amount you see though....

In general, there actually just seems to be so many dog aggressive dogs accross the board now....is it that dogs are less social now or the people, or that people 'baby' them too much when first out? Who knows... as for staffies, Iv met plenty DA ones!! but then I have met sociable ones too (that also live with cats but then some dogs will accept their 'own' and not others when out..)

i have got 3 dogs the eldest a jack x, a jack x border collie and a staff, i have socialised rosie the staff with other dogs from a pup she always submits, but she hates my neighbours dog but he showed aggression to her so she retaliated no injuries but i keep them away from each other, i walk all my dogs on my days off with my neighbour who has 2 staffs and they all get on ok, even though i have socialised her if another dog shows her aggression then her hackels go up, also i went to the vets with her and she sniffed a staff at the reception desk it didnt grow or warn her it just sank its teeth into her and she was screaming and the owner just stood there until i screamed to get her dog off, she ended up with a hole in the top of her nose and 2 other bite marks, so being an owner of a staff i do think it is in there nature, oh and my jack x is the boss full stop lol

Having own a few Staffords I would say the DA is not a forgone conclusion.

I have had a male who was dog aggressive, he was socialised like all the rest but he was unlucky in that got duffed more than a couple of times by other dogs so now he gets the first bite in.

He does not bark or growl he just stays still and when the other dog comes for him he just bites which ever bit comes first. He would never be off lead while out and I always shout a warning. I don't think he is any different to a lot of dogs of different breeds on here.

Oh gee theres no help for me with the breeds I've had

I've had a staffy she was the sofest dog you would ever meet, I rescued her from what some people would call a "chav" People use to cross the road to the other side to get past me, mums would pull their kids out of the way to get past

and now I've got a rottie and was back to square one I got all the ignorant looks, people pull their dogs away, people cross the street to pass me, I got shouted at by chavs telling me I've a great dog I was even told I shouldn't own one coz a woman is unable to control "it" now I've changed all them ignorant opinions, they now come over happy to stroke him and to tell me the news/papers have it all wrong and how lovely and good he is One woman brings her little ****su's over to see him all the time coz its the only dog they trust

If I'd of brought mine up aggressive then they would be but I didn't so they are softies

After all it is the owners and not the breed

We have two SBT x JRTs,litter brothers.One is good as gold with other dogs but he's bitten me a few times when he got over excited.
The other has never bitten me,he's a much more submissive sort with people but he's gone for dogs,bitches,puppies and cats.

He'll be fine with all of the above for a few days then apparently out of the blue he'll fly at his playmate of a few minutes earlier.

He's always been like that,even as a pup (4 months old when we got them)
He's rising 2yrs now and has become so bad,attacks increasing in both frequency and ferocity, he's had to be sent to live out in the kennel.
He doesn't like it and neither do we.We bring him in (he has to be muzzled) as much as we can but he has to be watched constantly.He can't do anyone any damage with the muzzle on but he doesn't know that and he'll still start a fight.We don't want him getting chewed up either.
We'd rehome him but who would take him?
We can't face putting him down either,he's typical staff temperament,loving with a capital L.

To me you are describing JRT not Staffords.

Sorry JRT but certainly not typical SBT

Quite possibly,the behaviour may well be more from their sire's side,he's a nasty piece of work.Never met their mammy(SBT)She was long sold when I agreed to take these two.The one that's bitten me hasn't done so since I learned to watch him when he's feeling his oats,a verbal reminder stops him in his tracks.

My Labrador lunges and barks at any dog that walks past - but it's not aggression, he's just desperate to play and intensely frustrated that he can't.

All dogs need to be socialised - not just Staffies. I'm sorry you've had negative experiences, that's a shame. I've only had nice experiences with Staffies, and there are several that we see regularly either out walking or at the park.

Only last week a guy in the park had two gorgeous American Staffies, both walking nicely on harnesses. He said it was fine for Dex to greet them. Even though all three dogs were on leashes, they behaved nicely - so I can only think the Staffies' nice behaviour had a good effect on Dexter, since usually he'd have gone beserk!

I've had various dogs being a bit aggressive to Dexter at the park - often they've been small dogs, but also one Rhodesian Ridgeback kicked off also.

I have 5 SBT’s. None of mine are dog aggressive nor lunge, bark or go crazy when they see other dogs, they can play on or off lead with no repercussions and i happily mix them with other dogs i know are friendly. They are also cat friendly as we have 6 cats at home!

However all of that aside i do put my dogs on lead when i see other dogs coming towards me that i don’t know as i don’t trust other dog owners !! I have found that many dog owners in the places i walk have little to no control over their dogs (breed not specific – it’s across the board) and they think it is perfectly acceptable for their dogs to lunch, snarl, growl and bark nonstop when they see my dogs. I find it unacceptable and get frustrated when the owner does not do anything to stop the behaviour.

To conclude though i don’t think dog aggression is breed specific, i feel it is purely down to a great many factors with the owners having 80% control through proper training ,diet, exercise and stimulation and the other 20% being genetic and out of our control as an owner.