Brutus and Bella
Stafford Cornerstones
The photo above is the same one that appears in the Pounds/Rant book except
that Steve Eltinge reversed it to put Bella (Bandits Belle-lettres) on
the left instead of on the right. This photo greatly favors Brutus
(Bandits Firestreak Red Rover) while doing less than justice to Bella.
Terry asked the weight and heights of Brutus and Bella. I thought
you'd never ask! Brutus was 15 1/2 inches and 36 pounds in
iron-hard condition and Bella was 13 1/2 inches and 22 pounds in
iron-hard condition, their permanent state.
John Gordon had exported Brutus to Bill Hackleman of San Francisco before
my return to the States in 1966, but Bill had some problems that
required him to give the dog up, so shortly after I arrived in
Pasadena, Bill called me and arranged the transfer of the two and half
year old to our household. By phone John Gordon informed me that Brutus would
be good enough to place in the Limit Class at an English Championship show under
a good judge, and Brutus was indeed that good, if not better. He was a solid
dog in every aspect of that word, physically, temperamentally, and
every other way.
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Bandits Firesteak Red Rover
(Brutus) just after he
was imported as an immature adult by
Bill Hackleman of San Francisco, 1965. Bill
let me have Brutus after a divorce and then
completely vanished despite my many attempts
to locate him.
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It is quite impossible to compare either or both to present-day Staffords
because externally they were always kept in iron-hard condition, a
rarity these days, (the difference between a corpulent Stafford and a
fit Stafford is so great that it has to be seen to be believed) and
internally, neither had or carried any kind of hereditary condition or disease
(HD or other), unlike so many of today's dogs -- so I believe it would be an exercise
in futility because comparison would be unfair to both them and to living Staffords.
When prospective buyers came to visit, the men always glommed onto Brutus
who was friendly but not clinging. Bella, on the other hand, would
appraise the wife to a T and would, depending on the wife's inner
state, spring to her side lightly as a feather on the couch and lie
there, touching the wife, motionless -- or would sit by the wife's feet resting
her head lightly on the wife's knee. Sometimes she would gently lick the
wife's hand, and sometimes she would simply gaze into her eyes. But
Bella always treated the wife exactly as she knew the wife wanted. You
had to see it to believe it. On occasion we had three or four
prospective buyers in one day, and Bella never failed to divine what kind
of behavior the wife wanted from her. And that was critical because in most
cases the wife makes the final decision about the purchase of a family
pet.
Now I can hear some of you thinking (shouting??) : "Thirteen and half
inches? Why, you couldn't give me a bitch that size!" No danger --
nobody in the world could have got her from me at any price --
literally.
"Thirteen and half inches? Why, you couldn't give me a bitch that
size!" If you consider the missing half-inch a fault, you could
fault her there-- but in no other way. However, the lack of faults
constitutes small solace, indeed, because what one wants in a Stafford is not
the absence of faults but the presence of the corresponding virtues, and these
Bella had in abundance and in excelsis. Think of something (other than
size) -- anything at all-- you'd like in a Stafford, and Bella not only
had it but had it in spades.
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Bella
She was a nonpareil.
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It was Bella, and none other, who gave me the necessary fire in the belly
to launch the organized Staffordshire Bull Terrier movement, first in
Finland and then in the US. If John Gordon had not sent precisely that
particular bitch to Finland for me, chances are that not one American
reading this message would ever have even heard of Staffordshire Bull
Terriers, much less owned one.
She was a nonpareil.
Steve Stone
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