It is recommended that puppies receive early socialisation; certainly before 18 months. Staffords are healthy and robust dogs with a life expectancy of 12–14 years. The KC, AKC, various other reputable organisations and breed clubs run DNA screening schemes and maintain the results in an effort to accurately identify and eliminate undesirable genetic diseases. Staffordshires, as the English bull and terrier crosses have been historically referred, first arrived in North America in the mid to late 1800s. AKC would not recognize anything they deemed to be pit bull types into their breed registry as they neither endorsed nor wanted to be associated with dog fighting. It was not until 1936, long after blood sports were banned and legislation was enacted, that AKC recognised and accepted the Staffordshire Terrier into its purebred registry, and in 1972 changed the name to American Staffordshire Terrier (AmStaff). AKC recognition of the English bred Staffordshire Bull Terrier (Stafford) would come two years later.