Young people make film to challenge Staffordshire Bull Terrier stereotypes
Young people have made a film to tackle negative perceptions of younger people in Hackney by comparing it to the prejudice that Staffordshire Bull Terriers can also face.
The charity Dogs Trust has been working with seven young people from the school at Hackney City Farm for several months, and the film is a result of discussions that highlighted how strongly they felt about negativity towards the breed.
Hackney Council takes in over 200 stray or abandoned dogs every year, the majority of which are Staffies. Nowadays they have a reputation as “status dogs”, but in the past they were known as “nanny dogs” because they are so good with children.
The group were really interested in how we could change the perception and negative stereotypes towards Staffordshire Bull Terriers. It quickly became clear that these feelings also resonated towards how they feel as young people too. Creating this video was a great opportunity for them; not only to try and change perceptions but to develop their skills in script writing, filming, interview techniques and most importantly, teamwork and communicating with each other.
‘Changing Perceptions’ was created by members of the school at Hackney City Farm and Progress Park PRU, with support from Dogs Trust and Mouth That Roars (MTR). MTR is funded by Young Hackney and trains young people in film production who wouldn’t ordinarily have access to media resources.
Sadly there is a significant number of people who do not look after dogs properly - it’s great that this project is helping to change perceptions. I hope that the young people involved in making the film spread the word amongst their peers and help produce the next generation of responsible dog owners.
