Staffordshire Bull Terrier Colours

As you may know, tradition colour of Staffies - the tigrine colour of different nuances (red, fawn, mahogany, tiger and others) - is vanishing. I think some time later the red colours will be vanishing too.

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Extra Wide Dog Collar
White & Tigrine Coloured Dog

I visited an SBT breed show and saw only one red Staffy the in male and female categories (there were over 25 dogs in each class). Most awards were taken by dogs of tigrine colour, this becomes a regular practice at many shows. But the same dogs are deprived of its certificates too.

So my question is, why do dark tigrine Staffordshire bull terriers take the winning places at the showring, why not the traditional tigrine show colour, which seems to have vanished at all? And do the red dogs actually loose their popularity?

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Brand Dog Collar
Red Dog Look Gorgeous in Our Spiked Collar

I discussed this with different people and we decided as follows:
1. The owners of dark-red and black-tigrine dogs, who never bred red Staffies, can understand and appreciate only these colours and consider them more spectacular;
2. Find the red dogs' exterior not good enough;
3. And the tigrine dogs' exterior - excellent!

If the first two assumptions are true, I can only regret it and draw the sad conclusion, that the breed is experiencing serious trouble!

The red Staffies owners feel deceived for showing their dogs and paying a show fee and then loosing again and again, only because the experts didn't pay attention at their red pets.

Every dog deserves equal attention and it must be absolutely clear for all that the dogs must be evaluated independently of their colour, the judges cannot ignore a certain colour only because they prefer another.

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Dog Sport Harness
Red Tigrine Dog Wearing Our Sport Harness


I have no doubt that such judges actually exist, but I don't understand why they have so much influence.

I can't deny there are many very good dark and black tigrine Staffies at shows, but as we saw, sometimes the quality of red dogs was much better, still the dark dogs win.

I can't believe that there is some confusion according to the quality and can't ignore the fact that so many dark and black tigrine Staffies are bred. It is very difficult to find a mate for a red female, which proves my point. Also, there are people ready to wait for monthes only to get a red-colored pup.

We can endlessly discuss the reasons, but if the situation doesn't change, the breed will develop with huge colour problems.
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Agitation Dog Harness
Blue Staffy in Our Leather Dog Harness

If the breeders use only dark and black tigrine colour, they will dominate over the red colour and will vanish in 20 years. All SBT will be only dark. The black tigrine is indeed a very attractive colour and we have plenty of it meanwhile.


Red or black, dark or tigrine, find appropriate harnesses for your Staffordshire Bull Terrier in our on-line shop!