Bluelines Amstaff | American Staffordshire Terrier | Varese Italy

Who's this Amstaff??
Is he the "dangerous dog" banned here and there by some politicians, or is he the sweet loyal dog used in pet-therapy? Is he really a "toned-down Pitbull" due to the show-oriented selection, or is he a dog of wonderful mental and physical abilities? Is he rowdy and ready to snap or he can friendly play with other dogs? The best answer is: it depends on the breeder at start, and on the owner later!
The Amstaff is a dog, just a dog: and as a dog is a social animal who obeys and follows the pack leader (the owner in this case), becoming what he asks him to be

If the Amstaff is in the hands of a moron who fires him up against everything that moves and that actually enojys seeing him killing a cat or roar to a person, he'll become surely a dangerous dog, just as a Beagle, a Chiuaua or a German Sheperd would in the same, wrong, hands. The real issue is that the "hood bullyes" are never attracted to a Beagle or a Chiuaua: being problematic and insecure angry persons themselves (short penis frustration?...maybe), these people try to find a dog to "rehab" their image.
That's why they see in the Amstaff, in his muscles, in his big head and strong fangs, some sort of respect icon....respect they obviously fail to gain by themselves.

Obviously it's not possible, nor fair, to judge a dog based on these kind of people. It'll be like judging a Ferrari in the hands of a kid that just got the driving license and wants to be cool.
That car has a high chance to crash into a wall...but it doesn't make it a crappy car or an unsafe one.
The same applies to the Amstaff: in the wrong hands it can really become dangerous for other animals and even for humans. But be careful: as the first one is an easy achievement, the second one is actually a pretty hard task. There has been a 200 years long selection to erase ANY trace of aggressive behaviour towards humans, and since the aforementioned morons have been around only in the last 6 years or so (since the "mean dog" became trendy), they did a fairly limited damage to the breed itself and to the selection.

This is proven by the fact that even though there are a lot of irresponsible and stupid owners, the episodes of violence regarding the Amstaff and human beings is very, very limited..
In summer 2003 the media raised a witch-hunt, making the Pitbull and the Amstaff look like the most dangerous killers ever. Everyday on the news and on the newspapers appeared articles about the "deadly dogs" that went on a killing spree eating someone everyday.
Out of all those reports, tough. There has been just one serious injury, the victim is a woman living in Padova who's been wounded by a couple of Pitbulls (raised and kept in the worst possible way) and recently a 6 years old boy in switzerland (and these dogs where kept in the same way as the aforementioned ones).
Every other "victim" had nothing but scratches and if worse a few stiches. If that was not enough, in many cases, investigators discovered that the dogs were either provoked or that they catched an hand while trying to grab a ball they were playing with, because someone tried to get it.
Unfortunately the summer of 2003 was lacking "tasty news" so they had to invent a new monter and to create a phenomenon spreadinf fear in their readers.
The result? Huge pressure of the public opinion in politicians, who in return started making new laws with no sense of reality. (just to make it clear, they were calling "dangerous" even breeds such as the Collie, the Shetland and so on.)
That being said,let's analyze the Amstaff for what it is.
A well raised one, well socialized and well kept becomes and incredible companion and an incredible dog: he's brave like a lion yet sweet like a puppy.
He's got the physical presentation of a gladiator, but he's able to be delicate when approaching a kid or a pet therapy patient.
It's an athletic dog with endless energy and high stamina, this makes him perfect for any kind of activity. From self defense to agility dog races and, with a good leader, even for obedience competitions.
Altouhg it is indeed true that the Pitbull has highest physical peaks than the Amstaff, it is also true that before you find the limit of your Amstaff you'll have to sweat a lot.

For the vast majority of dog-persons (people who love dogs but that are not expert trainers) a slightly "easier" dog is certanly less diffcult to manage than a "superdog", in this case the Amstaff is definitely better than a Pitbull.
The same applies for the agility competitions, the tracks are full of desperate Border Collie and Malinois owner cause their dogs won't follow what they say, while German sheperds, golden Retrievers and happy stray dogs are able to complete the courses.

Truth is there is no better "breed", there is only a more or less appropriate breed in relation to the owner. And usually it's rare to find an owner able to keep up with is dog.
Back on the good old red baby, is better to leave a Ferrari in the hands of a seasones and good driver.
Newbies should start with a normal city car and then move on more serious things after they have some experience on the field.
The Amstaff is not exactly a city car though, as it's able to outstand many other dogs in various competitions aswell as in social related activities.
It is indeed a though dog, not likely to accept orders if he doesn't understand the real goal.
IT's not a dog to command in a bossy way, it's best to cooperate with him and be his pack leader.
It's hard to do this for a newbie, you need to understand the dog's language...but if you take the time to learn it, you'll find one of the most amazing, sweet yet firm dogs you'll ever see.

The cooperation is needed because the Amstaff (as all the other Terriers) are dogs with a dominating behaviour.
Due to the human selection over the years, they lost all the wolfish ritual aspects of the conflicts, meaning that in front of another dog of the same sex he wil generally have 2 behaviour.
a) He'll try immediately to put himself into a superior gerarchic position.
b) If the other dog will challenge him, he'll go straight to the neck without any kind of coreographic shenanigans.

This doesn't mean that the Amstaff is a rowdy dog,
at the contrary, the more dominant and self confident dogs tend to simply ignore the other ones looking at them from a upper position.
But if they are challenged, they surely don't fall back.

A good advice for Amstaff owners is to socialize the dog as soon as possible and make him/her learn how to behave with other dogs.
Especcially with small size dogs, getting the Amstaff used to their challenge behaviour.
He/she will then quickly learn how to ignore them.
Another foundamental thing is getting the Amstaf used at the fact that YOU are the overall leader.
This cannot be accomplishment throu violence and orders, but with mutual respect, love and an inch of authority: it's not the easiest task ever, but it'll be well worth the effort.
This way your dog will always be under your control, making him able to follow your commands because he trusts you.
The Amstaff is able to be an all around dog.