The Great American Fighter Dog, The American Staffordshire Terrier
The American Staffordshire Terrier or simply Amstaff, is an Americanized version of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier of the UK. The Amstaff is a combination of molosser and terrier breeds and its UK ancestors were bull and bear fighting champions during the 1800s England. In the US, its closest relative is another bull- and- bear- baiting breeds descendant, the American Pit Bull Terrier.
When bull-baiting was banned in the UK, breeders transported the fighter breeds to the US. English and Irish immigrants continued the breeding in the US in order to continue the fighting games but this time through dog to dog pit fights. When this past time died down, the breeding still continued only this time for companionship purposes.
In the US, the Amstaff became an all around dog, serving the pioneers in new homesteads, ranches and farms. The breed then was used for farm work, as guard dogs, house pets and hunters of bears, wild pigs and other larger games. Today, the Amstaff are not much used for these tasks but instead, their owners train and prepare them to join dog sports competitions.
The Amstaffs are good workers, have high energy and endurance, biddable and easy to train. They can pick up new tricks and orders impressively and thus are very suited for competitions. They excel in the field of agility and obedience competitions and tracking and conformation games.
At home, Amstaffs make incredible companion dogs as they are obedient and sensitive to the orders of their masters. They can pick up all forms of behaviors and tends to emulate them. This is good and bad in a sense that if the master show good actions, the Amstaff will tend to be good but if a negative behavior is displayed, the Amstaff will tend to act unfavorably, too.
Their posture shows off an air of great strength, agility and poise that sometimes they tend to look intimidating. Indeed, this breed is what it manifests outwardly because inwardly they are indeed fearless, intelligent, and tenacious, however, they also possess a great amount of devotedness, friendliness and loyalty to their masters. This breed is sensitive and reacts automatically to any kinds of sounds and because of this, they tend to become excellent watch and guard dogs.
The Amstaff’s body is short and stocky and it possesses a powerful, strong head. The coat is short, tightly wraps its body, glossy and rough to the touch. Its colors may appear in any solid, patched or parti shade except all white, black, tan and liver which are not well- encouraged.
Many still think that the APBT and the Amstaff are the same but they are two different breeds. They differ in body built and somehow they’re bloodlines have been separated many years ago. However, in the US, an APBT can be registered as Amstaff at the same time and vice versa.
