Students of the breed, first.
Wavemaker Staffords grew from a fascination with one distinctive British terrier into more than two decades of living with, studying, showing, training, breeding, judging, educating and advocating for the Staffordshire Bull Terrier.
We have never believed that breeding alone makes someone an expert. The breed is too complex for that. Much of what we know has come from putting hands on dogs, watching them move, living with them into old age, studying pedigrees and health, traveling to major Stafford events, listening to people with longer memories than ours, and being willing to change our minds when better information earns that change.
That willingness matters to us. A preservation breeder should have convictions, but conviction should never become an excuse to stop learning.
Our Staffords have competed successfully in conformation and a wide range of performance sports, but the point has always been the same: to understand the whole dog. A Stafford should not need to choose between breed type and soundness, strength and agility, fire and stability, or beauty and function. Balance is the work.
Over the years our involvement has expanded far beyond our own breeding program. It has included parent-club service, judges education and mentoring, breed publications, illustrated educational materials, rescue fundraising and support, canine legislation, public education, photography, design and preservation work through The Stafford Knot, Inc.
Today, much of our energy is directed toward preserving not only Stafford genetics, but Stafford history — the dogs, people, photographs, artifacts, books and stories that explain how this breed became what it is. The future makes more sense when we understand what came before it.
Wavemaker is intentionally small. We do not breed to keep an inventory of puppies, and we do not measure success by how many dogs carry our name. We value long relationships with the people who share their lives with Wavemaker Staffords, and we remain available for the lifetime of the dogs we produce.
There is always more to learn. That is part of what keeps the Stafford endlessly interesting.