Staffordshire Bull Terrier - Health Care

Posted by admin | July 16, 2010 .

Staffies make great pets, with bundles of energy, zest for life and outgoing nature.
They need training properly when young, for training tips click here.
By buying your Staffie from a reputable source, everything will have been done, through breeding and early checks, to avoid any breed-specific genetic disorders, especially eye-related diseases.

The Staffordshire Bull Terrier is an exceptionally hardy dog and generally less likely than many breeds to suffer from health concerns. Its short coat means that as well as being easy to groom, any lesions can be seen easily and the sheen of the coat is a clear general indicator of your dog’s health.

General care for terriers has already appeared here in a previous post “Terrier Care”.

Some parts of the general advice are more relevant than others with Staffies:

Worms and fleas as a pup: Keep a close eye on this. There shouldn’t be problems but Staff pups are prone to roll around on grass, thereby picking them up from unclean areas, or run through and under bushes that can house mites and occasionally fleas left by other animals.
Teeth: Cleaning teeth is important. It will not welcomed by the Staffordshire, so its a good idea to get them used to it as early as possible.
Nails: Another part of the routine that Staffs will resist, so with our dog I have found that, coupled with plenty of street-walking, a small nail file on rough edges to help prevent splitting is so much easier than clippers.
Exercise: A must for Staffs, and from about six months of age, they benefit from plenty of it. A half-hour stroll around a few streets per day will simply not be anything like enough, so something more rigorous is advisable.

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