the term 'athletic' relating to staffords: is it an apt description of a fit dog?

the term athletic relating to staffords i have a bit of a problem with this word when applied to full fit staffords properly conditioned staffords the way they should be ...I dont believe the word athletic does them justice i will try to explain why ...when somebody says athletic i think more along the lines of racing greyhounds and racehorses when you look at them they are leaned out with muscles flowing into each other nice clean lines and pleasing to the eye and look good and fit and have a sparkle in their eye and look as if they are capable of performing any function you could ask of a horse or greyhound...but they are jumpy and high strung animals and prone to injuries and when they perform the funtions they are bred for running round a racetrack... in the case of a greyhound a race lasts 30 to 40 seconds and a racehorse a couple of minutes ...compare these to their conterparts lurchers and horses used in foxhunting these animals are also at peak fitness but they look different you can see they are fit but its a coaser more robust looking fitness because they have to perform their funtions over fields and rough terrain and have the stamina to perform it sporadicly for hours and not get injured but there is also a steady alert calmness about them.....its this sort of look you get with a stafford when he is at the peak of fitness a stafford that is capable of carrying out his original funtion he is able to dish it out as well as take punishment and he also has a glint in his eye not a sparkle .....as i said i dont think the word athletic does this sort of stafford justice but i cant think of another word to bring this image to mind ....now i hope i have explained what i mean without it sounding like crap and no i am not advocating dog fighting just the problem i have with the word athletic relating to staffords

i know what you meen ,like a boxer (not the dog) is athletic but is more fighting fit than a 10,000 metre runner who would be leaner and fit for running only.

In my own breed the term used is 'in hard condition' does that suit better? Trouble is used for Staffies and the like it may well be misconstrued.

i have a question for staffy people... should a proper staffy have a 'waist', or should they be 'thick' or solid all down their bodies. Poppy was very very thin when i got her, and she is now on three big meals a day, but still has this thin waist at the back end, and from looking at her at the side, she has a hollow back (like an old horse). i wonder if she could be a cross... or maybe not grown right because she was starved as a youngester

yes jess a fit stafford should have a waist its called light in the loin as to the hollow back she might just not have a level topline

i thought maybe she was an irish, from the pics i have seen, they seem more slender than the norm ones i have seen round here (but then they are prob crossed with weird dundee staffs, and not actual the 'standard'