Welcome to Takoda Staffordshire Bull Terriers Website.

Takoda is a DogsNZ (formerly NZKC) Accredited Breeder Kennel located on a lifestyle property in Rotorua, NZ.

The word Takoda is of Native American, Sioux origin, and means 'friend to everyone' a simple word which completely opitimises the Staffordshire Bull Terrier Breed.

Our dogs are first and foremost, family pets and enjoy a life running the house block freely on a daily basis.

The purpose of this website is to help educate and encourage others in the care, training and participation in many activites with their Staffords and to promote respect, courtesy and sportsmanship amongst owners within the breed.

We are working hard to establish ourselves as serious contenders in the Staffordshire Bull Terrier breed, and are proud of our progress and results, and look forward to continuing making our mark in the show ring.

We hope that you will find the information you need upon this site and associated links to help you make an informed decision as to whether a Staffordshire Bull Terrier is the right breed for you. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions that have not been answered in this website. You can email to [email protected]

Unfortunately the Stafford (along with other breeds such as the American Bulldog, American Staffordshire Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier, the Bull Terrier and earlier the Rottweiler) has had its reputation blackened by the minority of owners who choose to use their dog as a weapon and to improve their own 'look' of toughness and strength. To get a stafford to behave in such a way often requires rough treatment and much of the agressive behavior seen toward humans by these dogs comes from mistrust, initially of their owner, due to harsh handling. This along with lack of appropriate time spent on early socialisation & training (which is important in ANY breed of dog) may cause this mistrust to transfer to any humans the dog comes in contact with throughout their lives.

As you will read and view via Youtube links through this website, the Stafford is a loyal and loving breed, wanting only to be with and please his human family. He thrives on attention and being highly intelligent, learns fast and often does well in competitive sports such as Agility, Obediance, Fly Ball, Rally and are also, with the associated training, wonderful companion or therapy dogs.

At Takoda our dogs are trained in the NZKC Canine Good Citzen Scheme, Agility, Obediance, some compete in Breed Showing. They are safe, fun family members who know how to behave in a variety of everyday situations and are a pleasure to take out in public.

Through the 'Reinemin Canine & Equine Services' buisness we offer training for both in home and going off the home property. Group public walks for all breeds help with general socialisation and confidence when taking your dog out and about.

Most importantly the Stafford will be your best mate, giving unconditional love no matter what mood you are in and will greet you with their big smiling face everytime you return from time away from them.

At the moment we can be grateful that we dont have BSL (Breed Specific Legislation) in NZ but this topic is currently under government review, so the more we can promote our precious breed for the temperament and personality they really are the safer their future will be. BSL does not work, many countries who adopted it in the past have revoked these laws. The only way to lessen the number of dog attacks and bites is to educate the public, both dog owners AND non dog owners!

The following video (utube link) shows MANY gorgeous Staffords with their families, this is how a Stafford prefers to spend its days, not fighting and biting...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jrDS0HOUbc&feature=channel&list=UL