This is Sambo's story she is owned by
Herman Bres they both live in Holland.
Why i wanted a SBT: after playing
football many years i wanted to stay active, some friends of mine have a SBT,
they felt i also wanted that dog, after much information, help and advise march 1994
i bought female Kelly, red with a white breast and almost 7 months old, immediately i
started a puppy- and obedience course, Kelly was very kind to children and people, to
other dogs she often grumbled, but never fought, rather Kelly was only with people or
children. After Kelly, my first female SBT and died in august 2001, i
would wait a time to take a SBT. Bud friends of mine were sure that i was
willing, after some months, a SBT again.
The first week of september 2001 i was
called by a friend and told me he had bought a pup (male), the breeder had yet 4
pups, i was very interested, in spite of the memory to Kelly, bud i bought Sambo, she was
born 12-07-2001. Sambo was daughter of male Ringerike Viking Victory and female
Djengis, two very kind SBT's. She
is streamlined with a white breast and on her feet small white spots, her weight is 20
kilo. Another friend of mine, a doginstructor, advised me to take Sambo along
to our club, we exercise obedience and agility, for Sambo the pup was a meeting with the
dogs of the club very important for socialising, so the next 5 months every mondaynight i
took her along to our club only for socialising, slowly i started some easy exercises.
There are many opportunities and
possibilities to make a fine dog, when i walk i always do some exercises, when
weather is nice we take Sambo to the beach and she swims with us, when i am cycling i put
her in a plastic crate at the back of my bike, often we go into the woods with some
friends were the dogs can play and run, but also doing some exercises. Every
mondaynight i visit our dogclub, from 19.00 till 20.30 we train obedience and agility
with various breeds. But also round about our house Sambo often meets
children and many people, she loves them very much and likes to play with them, when
we visit family or friends, most of them ask us to take Sambo along, she is very kind to
other dogs, with most of them she wants to play and run.
Sambo is a clever dog, every
monday she is very restless because she knows it is trainingnight, without we have said,
she knows many names of friends and family, she knows the sound of the car- and
busengine who is coming. Sambo is a very sociable dog who is member of our family,
like the Kinks sing: "Misses Pleasant".
This is clever stafford "Ally" whose Kennel Club name is
Kristonian Darkest Star she is 3years old and has completed her Kennel Club Good Citizen
Bronze, Silver and Gold awards.
'Ally' and owner Carla Fry have both
qualified for Crufts 2004 in the YKC (Young Kennel Club) obedience finals!!!
She has got 5 YKC obedience diplomas!!!!!!
This is what qualified 'Ally' for Crufts! She attends a dog training club every Wednesday
and soon owner Carla hopes to start do agility and ring craft!
Ally & Carla will be at Crufts on Thursday, 4th Mach 2004 -
Good Luck Girls!!
Phoebe is owned, loved & cherished by Ginny Howarth, from Somerset, UK, the
following is Ginny's story and certainly an inspiration to us all to get training!!
Phoebe (Phoebe Footwarmer), she was born at the end of June
2000. I started training her because she was the puppy from hell, never still for
more than about 30 seconds. I didnt really make any progress untill she was about 12
months old as she couldnt concentrate on anything for more than a millisecond, but
eventually at about 14 months she passed her bronze Good Citizens. That seemed to be the
turning point as by the the time she was two she had passed both silver and Gold (the only
one in her class to do so).
The lady who ran my classes encouraged me to have ago at obedience, and
last summer Phoebe won a second and then a first at a couple of local exemption shows.
Last September I joined an obedience Club and Phoebe and I practised through the winter,
(mostly indoors as she doesnt do cold or wet). I train Phoebe using clicker and treats,
and never use any negatives, she loves training, and always works with a waggy tail.
Phoebe has many friends in our locality, she loves both people and other
dogs, and always makes people smile. She lives with our two male Border Terriers and they
all adore one another. Phoebe sleeps on the bed, in the middle, where else! She has
brought immense joy to our lives, and I don't care if she never gets placed at another
show ever again, she will always be special.
Phoebe's story is featured in 'The Stafford' editon Summer 2003
UPDATE * UPDATE * UPDATE
This season in beginners Phoebe has won 3 x6th places, 3x3rd places, 2x2nd places and 3
x1st places, the last two firsts being this week, the 22nd of August,and the previous week
15th of August.We have been working Novice but mainly training in the ring.
We have had a brilliant time, and the best thing has been the amount of people who are
pleased at our success, and interested in our progress. Phoebe is fast becoming a
celebritity on the obedience circuit. I was once asked by a judge on entering the ring
"is this the famous Phoebe Footwarmer".
Phoebe always works with her tail wagging and a big smile on her face, and as long as this
continues we will carry on working.
I know that it is going to be difficult from here on in, but I am hoping that Phoebe
will rise to the challenge in he own inimitable way. My long term goal is to try out
for the Western team competing at Crufts, and who knows, anything is possible if you have
a Stafford.
Chad
is owned and loved to bits by Jason & Stacey Grain. Chad is 2 years old and is a
registered PAT (Pets As Therapy) Dog. He makes his regulary visits in his little
yellow PAT coat to resedential homes. Chad passed his assessment test in Scotland
and then Stacey set about finding somewhere to visit. Stacey & Jason tell me
that initially there were mixed feelings from the resedential homes about a Staffordshire
Bull Terrier but once Chad got his feet in the door, there was no stopping him and now
Stacey finds it differcult to actually get out of the homes....
Chad of course enjoys his visits doing what all Staffords love best being loved,
patted, cuddled and fed biscuits. Chad has made such an impression on the old people
and staff that they even save dinner for him - what more could a Stafford want in
life?
Holly is an 18 month old Staffie owned, loved and cherished
by June Wass. The following is in June's own words;
Her name is Holly and she is so friendly and well
behaved. Everyone that knows her loves her and I am always very keen to promote the
breed as they often receive an undeserved, unfair press. Holly has just become a
'PAT (Pets As Therapy) Dog, she is going to visit a local day hospital once a week to
cheer up the patients, I'm sure she will enjoy this too. The local press came to see
her at the hospital this week and she is going to be featured in a local newspaper, so I
am also very proud of her. I am an animal artist and have just built and published a
web site promoting my artwork and of course I have devoted a whole page to the
Stafford.
Junes' great website address iswww.artjunewass.karoo.net
We rescued our staffy Snatch from a Welsh dog
pound a day before his time was up and although having been a stray with unknown history
at the age of ca. 6 years, we have never regretted it for a moment. Snatch was one scared
little dog who would run and hide even from tiny little puppies, but with TLC and buidling
his confidence he is now a 10-ish year old happy staffy that loves everyone and
everything, including other male staffy's. The highlight so far must have been when he
received out of 120 staffy's the award for 'Best Natured Dog' at a recent sponsored walk
in aid of staffy rescue.
Picture one was taken in April on the walk and
picture 2 after the walk in the pub featuring Snatch what he does best - sleeping.
Here is a picture of my ella. We rescued her
from a shelter last Feburary (2003). She was 10 months old. Right away we knew that she
was clever. She figured out the rules of the house in about a week. My fiance was out of
work for four months due to an accident and she was the perfect therapy for him. He spent
those months training her and she in turn just loved him.
She is a snuggler. Every night she tries to get under the covers and in between us. She
is a princess but has no fear of anything. She loves training and being challenged. We
take her swimming every day and she brings in huge logs from the middle of the pond. She
is only 45lbs and the log is about 8 feet long!! She is wonderful and has brought
great joy to our lives.
Amanda Gamari
(Please do not take
anything from this website without consent)
This is Sambo's story she is owned by
Herman Bres they both live in Holland.
The first week of september 2001 i was
called by a friend and told me he had bought a pup (male), the breeder had yet 4
pups, i was very interested, in spite of the memory to Kelly, bud i bought Sambo, she was
born 12-07-2001. Sambo was daughter of male Ringerike Viking Victory and female
Djengis, two very kind SBT's. She
is streamlined with a white breast and on her feet small white spots, her weight is 20
kilo. Another friend of mine, a doginstructor, advised me to take Sambo along
to our club, we exercise obedience and agility, for Sambo the pup was a meeting with the
dogs of the club very important for socialising, so the next 5 months every mondaynight i
took her along to our club only for socialising, slowly i started some easy exercises.
There are many opportunities and
possibilities to make a fine dog, when i walk i always do some exercises, when
weather is nice we take Sambo to the beach and she swims with us, when i am cycling i put
her in a plastic crate at the back of my bike, often we go into the woods with some
friends were the dogs can play and run, but also doing some exercises. Every
mondaynight i visit our dogclub, from 19.00 till 20.30 we train obedience and agility
with various breeds. But also round about our house Sambo often meets
children and many people, she loves them very much and likes to play with them, when
we visit family or friends, most of them ask us to take Sambo along, she is very kind to
other dogs, with most of them she wants to play and run.
This is clever stafford "Ally" whose Kennel Club name is
Kristonian Darkest Star she is 3years old and has completed her Kennel Club Good Citizen
Bronze, Silver and Gold awards. 
Phoebe (Phoebe Footwarmer), she was born at the end of June
2000. I started training her because she was the puppy from hell, never still for
more than about 30 seconds. I didnt really make any progress untill she was about 12
months old as she couldnt concentrate on anything for more than a millisecond, but
eventually at about 14 months she passed her bronze Good Citizens. That seemed to be the
turning point as by the the time she was two she had passed both silver and Gold (the only
one in her class to do so). 
Chad
is owned and loved to bits by Jason & Stacey Grain. Chad is 2 years old and is a
registered PAT (Pets As Therapy) Dog. He makes his regulary visits in his little
yellow PAT coat to resedential homes. Chad passed his assessment test in Scotland
and then Stacey set about finding somewhere to visit. Stacey & Jason tell me
that initially there were mixed feelings from the resedential homes about a Staffordshire
Bull Terrier but once Chad got his feet in the door, there was no stopping him and now
Stacey finds it differcult to actually get out of the homes....
Chad of course enjoys his visits doing what all Staffords love best being loved,
patted, cuddled and fed biscuits. Chad has made such an impression on the old people
and staff that they even save dinner for him - what more could a Stafford want in
life?
We rescued our staffy Snatch from a Welsh dog
pound a day before his time was up and although having been a stray with unknown history
at the age of ca. 6 years, we have never regretted it for a moment. Snatch was one scared
little dog who would run and hide even from tiny little puppies, but with TLC and buidling
his confidence he is now a 10-ish year old happy staffy that loves everyone and
everything, including other male staffy's. The highlight so far must have been when he
received out of 120 staffy's the award for 'Best Natured Dog' at a recent sponsored walk
in aid of staffy rescue.
Picture one was taken in April on the walk and
picture 2 after the walk in the pub featuring Snatch what he does best - sleeping.
Here is a picture of my ella. We rescued her
from a shelter last Feburary (2003). She was 10 months old. Right away we knew that she
was clever. She figured out the rules of the house in about a week. My fiance was out of
work for four months due to an accident and she was the perfect therapy for him. He spent
those months training her and she in turn just loved him.
August 24, 2004