Why Life Really Is Better With a Staffy
There are dog people. There are Staffy people. Then there are those of us who have simply accepted that the sofa no longer belongs to us. 🐾
Personal space has disappeared, dog hair has become an accessory, and perfectly sensible adults regularly find themselves having full conversations with a small muscular creature who contributes nothing towards the household bills.
Welcome to life with a Staffordshire Bull Terrier. ❤️
If you have ever loved a Staffy, you will already know that describing them to somebody who hasn't can be surprisingly difficult. They're strong yet ridiculously soft, confident until something suspicious moves in the garden, and capable of sleeping in positions that appear to contradict basic anatomy.
They can have an entire sofa available to them and still conclude that the only sensible place to sit is directly on top of you.
We wouldn't have them any other way.
❤️ The Staffy Smile Is Basically a Superpower
You know the one: enormous grin, tongue out, eyes sparkling and the general appearance of a dog who has just discovered that every day is Christmas.
Simply mentioning a walk can produce levels of excitement normally reserved for lottery winners.
That happiness is infectious too. You can have a thoroughly rubbish day, come home feeling fed up with the entire human race, and there they are, absolutely delighted to see you.
This enthusiasm also applies when you've only been outside for approximately three minutes to put the bins out.
Human disappears for three minutes.
Human returns.
BEST. DAY. EVER.
They don't care whether you're glamorous, wearing your oldest pyjamas or sporting hair that suggests you've recently been dragged through a hedge.
You're their person. That's enough.
🐶 Personal Space? That's Adorable.
Staffies have their own interpretation of personal boundaries.
More specifically, yours don't exist.
Sitting on the sofa? Excellent. Your lap is available.
Working? Excellent. Clearly you require supervision.
Going to the toilet? Apparently this is a high-risk activity requiring a furry security escort.
Making the bed? Absolutely not. You are obviously initiating a game.
Given the choice between an empty three-seater sofa and approximately four centimetres of space beside you, a Staffy will carefully assess both options before squeezing into the four centimetres.
They may then release a dramatic sigh suggesting that you are inconveniencing them. 😂
🐾 Nobody Warns You About the Sound Effects
Owning a Staffy is not a quiet experience.
There's the snoring. The grumbling. The snuffling. The enormous theatrical sighs. Then there are those strange little conversations where no actual words are spoken, yet somehow you know perfectly well that you've just been told off.
A Staffy doesn't always need to bark to communicate disappointment. Sometimes one look is sufficient.
Dinner running five minutes late?
The look.
You ate something without offering to share it?
The look.
You dared to move while they were comfortably asleep on you?
THE LOOK.
Staffies have been unfairly accused of many things over the years, yet nobody discusses one of their greatest natural talents nearly enough: emotional blackmail.
One pair of enormous Staffy eyes can leave a grown adult apologising for eating their own biscuit.
❤️ A Lot of Love Behind All That Muscle
Staffies can look tough. They're compact, muscular dogs with those unmistakable broad heads, and sadly the breed has spent years being judged by appearance and reputation.
People who share their lives with Staffies often know a very different side: the affection, silliness, loyalty, enthusiasm and extraordinary ability to turn themselves into a furry hot-water bottle whenever a human sits down.
Every dog is an individual, of course. Breed alone cannot tell us everything about a dog's temperament, experiences or needs, and responsible ownership matters enormously.
Still, there is a reason so many people fall completely and hopelessly in love with Staffies.
Rather like a very muscular marshmallow with paws.
🐕 Then Along Came Arya...
Arya is the four-legged inspiration behind Arya's Prezzies and, naturally, considers herself senior management.
She's a black Staffordshire Bull Terrier, a rescue, owner of a considerable personality and possessor of the sort of face that makes saying “no” considerably harder than it should be.
If Arya looks familiar, there's a good reason for that. Before getting her paws on a shop of her own, she was already a familiar face over at our sister website, Kate's Treasures15, where she has appeared as our much-loved canine sidekick, occasional model and general supervisor of anything involving parcels.
Arya's Prezzies is her next adventure. It is a separate sister website with its own personality and a much more dog-focused mission, inspired by Arya and our love of finding fun, unusual gifts for dogs and the humans completely bonkers about them.
So, if you've arrived here after spotting Arya somewhere else online, don't worry, you've found the same Staffy. She has simply expanded her business empire. 😂
We wanted Arya's Prezzies to celebrate dogs and the people who adore them, but we didn't want everything to feel like the same generic pet gift shop repeated over and over again.
We wanted colour. Humour. Personality. Proper prezzies. Unexpected finds. Things that make you smile when you open the parcel.
Most importantly, we wanted the shop to have a little bit of Arya in it.
Figuratively speaking, obviously.
Although there is a reasonable possibility of Staffy hair. 😂
🏡 So, Is Life Really Better With a Staffy?
Let's examine the evidence.
🐾 You'll have considerably less room on the sofa.
🐾 Your clothes may never be entirely free of dog hair again.
🐾 You'll find toys in places where toys have absolutely no business being.
🐾 You'll start checking whether somewhere is dog-friendly before checking whether you actually want to go there.
🐾 You'll learn to spell certain exciting words instead of saying them aloud.
🐾 Your Staffy will eventually learn what you've spelled.
🐾 You'll take 47 photographs in pursuit of one in which the dog isn't moving.
In return, you'll have someone who thinks your arrival home deserves a celebration, even when you've only popped outside.
You'll have someone capable of making you laugh without even trying, someone completely uninterested in whether you've had a successful day, and someone whose ridiculous little face somehow becomes one of your favourite sights in the world.
So yes.
We think life really is better with a Staffy. ❤️
Admittedly, our research may be slightly biased.
Something Staffy This Way Comes...
We may have been having a little too much fun behind the scenes creating some new Staffy-inspired goodies. We're not revealing everything just yet, but let's just say that subtlety has not been invited to the meeting. 😂
🐾 Arya's Final Woof
“Life is better with a Staffy. Preferably one who occupies most of the sofa, expects snacks on demand and contributes absolutely nothing towards the household bills.”
Love, Arya 🐾