Piczo

Hi all

Thought i'd add a couple of pages to my site today... they are:

• Toxic Plants & Flowers
• Puppy Sales Agreement

I have added the page about the toxic flowers as there are many new owners (as well as many experienced owners) that are not aware of the dangers in their gardens / public parks... I just wanted to let you guys have a heads up. The list is not exhaustive and there are many Plants / Vegetation that are toxic to dogs that are not on the list. If you are unsure... look up the plants in your garden individually.

The second page is my "Puppy Sales Agreement"... Since starting our puppy waiting list i have had many people contact me wishing to be added to it. However, when i enter into dialogue with them and tell them i'm going to ask lots of questions etc... and that the pups will be endorsed too, they ask me to tell them where it says that on my site !!!! Those of you who have read the pages of my site will know that i have never made a secret of telling people that the pups will be endorsed, on my site. There have also been people asking from overseas if they can be added to my waiting list... At this time i do not wish to export any pups bred by "BristolBlue" so decided that i would add another endorsement... "Not for Export".

Therefore, i thought i'd add our Puppy sales Agreement to the site... so that people can read the terms before asking if they can be added to the waiting list. If people do not meet the requirements of the agreement & our personal questions, we will not sell one of our pups to them.

Please take time to read both pages, the information on them will prove invaluable to you.

Speak Soon

Hi everyone

This is my first post this year... only a third of the way through !!!

As you'll know, we here at BristolBlue have been working hard to find a stud to compliment Jazz over the past few months... well, finally i am able to confirm that we have arranged a mating for late this year.

The Stud Dog we will be using is "Subaron Cracker Jack", he is an absolute stunner. I have been after Blue's owners details for ages but was unable to get them from anywhere... until a chance meeting at the Western Open Show a couple of weeks ago.

Although Jazz went along to the show, she wasn't entered into any of the classes... I just wanted to get opinions from more experienced / trained eyes as to what best to put to her when she was ready to breed. the one name that kept coming back was... Subaron Cracker Jack.

I have added a new page to my site, entitled "Planned Mating - 2009"... please feel free to have a look at the stud we'll be using (i've added a couple of pics). I have also added a 5 Generation Pedigree that the pups will have... It contains 13 Champions (9 of whom are different individual dogs)... Take a look around, there are not many dogs pedigrees that have that many Individual Champions in them... you will generally find the same dogs name cropping up time after time in the pedigree.

Both Jazz & Blue have Valglo & Crashkon lines in their pedigrees... I'm sure you'll agree, these are great bloodlines.

Please take a look at the new page... let us know what you think of the planned litter... Feel free to leave us any comments (either here or on my home page)

Speak Soon

I'd like to start by saying "Merry Christmas & a prosperous New Year" to all my friends who take the time to read my Blog posts, i hope you've enjoyed reading my (pretty infrequent) posts over the course of 2008.

I just wanted to let everyone know that, with Christmas upon us there are going to be lots of new proud owners of our beloved breed... some experienced, most probably inexperienced... therefore i thought i'd better update the website with some additional training tips to ease everyone into developing their new puppy into a responsible, well mannered, happy little beast...

I've added 7 new pages to the site giving advice ranging from "Whining / Crying" to "Dog Aggression"... all provide valuable information that i've put together over the years. I just hope it helps you as much as it has helped me.

With the cost of owning a dog becoming more expensive I am doing my bit to help keep costs down by providing my experience / knowledge of proven training techniques for free to those owners who visit our site. I know it's not much... but i hope it helps.

2009 will be an exciting year for "BristolBlue"... Please keep coming back to visit us for updates, we really appreciate your visits to our site & the comments you leave us.

Once again, Merry Christmas to you all... hope Santa Paws brings your little bundles all the prezzies they so richly deserve. 

Just wanted to let everyone know that we had confirmation today from the Kennel Club that we have been granted "Accredited Breeder" status.

This means that every pup that we breed here at BristolBlue will be guaranteed the best start in life.

Every potential owner of a BristolBlue pup will be safe in the knowledge that the parents of their new puppy will have been tested for all known diseases affecting the breed and will be unaffected, thus ensuring that the pup is in the best health possible.

We are very proud to have joined the Accredited Breeder Scheme and be one of the very few members of the scheme who breed Blue Staffordshire Bull Terriers.

I will be adding a new page to the site soon giving full details of what is required of an Accredited Breeder in terms of service to any potential new puppy owner... I just hope we get lots of views on the page & people can then gain an example of what they should expect from their potential new pups breeder.

Well, after not being on this page very much in the past couple of months i thought i'd better give you an update...

The WSBTS got in touch and we are now members of the society... we attend our 1st show in October. Jazz has not taken to standing still long enough for the ring, she doesn't like it at all. We will be taking her along on the day though, mainly for socialisation but also... so we can get the opinions of people with greater knowledge than us on areas of Jazz's "Standard" with which we need to improve.

This is the start of a long road towards finding the right stud for Jazz... he must be able to improve our line !!! 

I have recently been corresponding with a well respected breeder who has given me the option of putting Jazz to their Stud. He is a Black Dog who carries the Blue Gene (he has produced Blues previously). He is a stunner and his line is full of very famous dogs & Kennels in the Stafford world. I am very optimistic that any such breeding will result in truely stunning offspring.

I have spent a fair amount of time during the past few months trying to gain the expert opinions of many a breeder regarding the breeding of Blues. As we "Blue" owners know... they aren't that well liked in the show ring (especially at Champ. Shows)... Oh how we hope that people will get over their colour prejustice !!!!

However, on a serious note: The biggest problem that i've learned of is... the continual breeding of "Blue to Blue", it seems that people think this is the best way... NOT !!! All these breeders are doing is diluting the colour further and that is wrong. Your Stafford should always have the darkest of it's particular colour & the darkest possible eyes... Light pigmentation is a fault.... I just hope that people would realise that.

On another note, just in case people didn't know... Blues are not at all rare !!! I already knew this before we decided to add Jazz to our family, others may not know it.

The sooner potential stafford buyers realise that a Blue is not worth £1000 the better. People who sell Blues at these prices are exploiting you (a decent breeder will sell a Blue for the same price as the other colours)!!!!

Never pay more than you would for any other colour... Remember, Blue is no better than Brindle & vice versa. 

We plan on becoming members of the KC's "Accredited Breeder Scheme" when Jazz nears breeding age... and she will be DNA tested & have all available tests done at the vets to ensure that any potential purchasers of her pups will have healthy, happy dogs.

Please, please, please only purchase a pup that has been fully health tested (along with the sire & dam).... insist on it !!! That cute little puppy could end up costing you thousands of pounds in vet fees if you don't. it is your right as the purchaser to ask for proof... if the breeder cannot provide it... walk away !!! There will be other litters about that have been tested.

We need to drive out the breeders who do nothing for the breed except exploit it for money....

The best place for potential puppy owners to source their new addition would be: 1) Their local Staffordshire Bull Terrier Society (who will tell you of decent breeders in your area who may have a litter due) or 2) Via the kennel club list of Accredited Breeders.

Neither of the above would put you onto breeders who will exploit their dogs colour for extra money !!!

Anyway, off my soapbox now... Speak soon

Hi everyone, just thought i'd give you an update on how Jazz is getting on in her Training Classes...

Jazz has now completed 2 weeks worth of Training Classes (Beginners Classes) and we initially thought that she'd take a while to get into it and she'd get distracted by the new sights & sounds. Well, even if i am a little bias... she did really well, much better than expected.

Lesson 1: This was the introductory lesson whereby all the dogs & owners got to meet each other, as well as learning some of the basics like: Sit, Down & Stand, as well as basic health checks... being able to put your fingers in your dogs mouth to check teeth etc... as well as body & feet. Jazz did very well at all of these disciplines and was used as an example to the other owners to show them what they should expect from their dogs. We were very impressed with her performance... she didn't really get distracted at all. Jazz came away with lots of Homework !!!!

Lesson 2: Well, this week as well as doing the basics learned last week Jazz had to complete disciplines such as Stay & Heel Walking. The trainer was again very pleased with Jazz's progress and used her to show the others how to walk to heel without getting distracted by other noises, people, dogs etc...

I didn't attend this weeks lesson as my wife and i agreed that Jazz (and the family) would benefit from having commands given by someone she doesn't see every day... Therefore, the Mother-in-Law has taken my place for all future lessons... Jazz'd better behave now !!!!!! We thought we had better do this as Jazz is already used to taking her commands from me, she see's me as Top Dog... Shame the Missus doesn't *lol*.

Next week it gets a bit tougher... Jazz has to perform Stay (from distance) & recall amongst other things... She is actually very good at the stay & half decent at recall... provided we have food treats / toys to use as bait.

Hopefully she'll do really well again next week... she is the "teachers pet" at the moment, long may it continue !!!!

Further updates in a week or two.

Finally got round to sending off our application for the Western Staffordshire Bull Terrier Society today. Hopefully the guys there will be more efficient than me and return our membership quickly, then we can start to get involved.

Jazz starts her training classes on 17th June and we've also got details of ringcraft classes near us in Bristol. Apparently it isn't a specific ringcraft class for Staffords but if she takes to it then we can look at moving her to a specific breed ringcraft class. Just hope she enjoys the classes.

Have started searching round for potential "mates" for Jazz, hope to get some more contacts when we join the W.S.B.T.S.

Have my eye on a few dogs that are around Jazz's age, hopefully can build decent relationships with the owners & you never know... one of them might be a good suitor for Jazz when she reaches breeding age.

Have added a few new pages to the website... specifically around Training. Hope you enjoy them.

Phone call from the Kennel Club this morning (18th April 2008) informing us that we have been granted our Kennel Name. We are now Officially "BristolBlue". Great news for us as we are going to undertake to establish a Blue Line into the South West... There aren't many Blue Staffords in this part of the country and it's our ambition to change that.

Regular updates will be posted here as we begin to gather pace. Next step for us is to join the Western Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club where we'll hopefully get to meet people who are genuinely interested in enhancing the breed & not just make money from Colour.