Hello from Canada, with a few questions

Good day everyone,

Wonderful page I have had many good reads, and gathered lots of good information . I still have a few questions, or looking for opinions maybe.

To start off my name is Dan I live in western Canada (Alberta) with my wife and son who is 5, we are expecting our 2nd child in late fall. We currently own 2 dogs a Newfoundland Male that is 8yrs (his hips are getting really bad and he is slowing down really bad) and a Female Golden Retriever that is 7yrs (Shes doing good a bit of arthritis is starting to show in her back hips). Prior to these two I have always had Scotties, Westies, Wheatens (All Terriers). The wife has always had crosses ranging from Huskies to German Shepards, often rescue dogs.

Anyhow we are looking to add another member to our family and after much reading of books and searching the internet we have come to think that a Staffie would be a great addition to our family.

My questions are Male or Female? and would a Staffie be a good addition to our two current dogs? This being said, if these dogs are as amazing as they seem to read like, once our current 2 pass on we would then add a 2nd Staffie to our family. (my wife has always had 2 to 4 dogs, I personally think 3 or 4 is too many but 1 or 2 is no problem, 3 is do-able)

Our current dogs used to be crate trained (as in slept in a crate every night) but now they sleep on main floor by the front door, with a Staffie we would crate train, but crate placement is a question... would you think to put the crate by them where they sleep? or in a totally different area of the house?

Odd question here, both our dogs only goto bathroom on walks. is it possible to train a staffie to do this? or should we just make a dog run on side of back yard for it? and after they are house trained, slowly move to just "going" on walks?

We have a big dog show coming up here this weekend where we hope to go and meet a few breeders and enquire about possible puppy adoption, but my question is does anyone here know of any good breeders in Canada (hopefully Western Canada) or ones to avoid? We have looked at a few online, but its always best to ask and see in person. (These dogs aren't too popular here in Canada so its seems few and far between)

Also anyone here have any experience with any puppy schools or obidience trainers in Calgary, Alberta? good or bad?

Well, I think that is about all that I can think of at the moment, I had made a list of questions. But most things I have found via scrolling and trolling through this webpage, If I think of any further I'll toss another post

Hope you all are enjoying the Olympics

Danny

Forgot to mention, that I am looking for a Staffie, not a AMstaff (which are found everywhere up here) I like the smaller size of the staffie

Hi &

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Hello and welcome from me and the kids

Hi and welcome to the forum from Rocky and me.

Hi and welcome to the forum

I'm glad you decided to go for a staff, they are such wonderful dogs.

In all honesty, you do get some staffs that are dog aggressive, but I've never had that problem - my two are loving to both dogs and people. I suppose it also depends on how you introduce the pup to the other dogs, and being a pup, it should adjust well to other pets. I'm not sure how to answer on male or female though - there are many instances where two males live happily together, but there are just as many where two males clash. Two females shouldn't be a problem though, with only the one male. You can rather add a male to the family at a later stage.

With regards to crate placement - try and put the crate with the other dogs, because obviously you would want them to get relaxed with each other, and when the time comes, the staff can sleep with them.

I'm sorry, but I cannot help you with breeders or training schools in Canada - I live in South Africa, but I'm sure someone on here would be able to help

Hiya and welcome from me and Moo, I've only had 1 dog at a time so can't really help there

My family are over from Canada, 'Peace River', I think thats Alberta!

Hi and welcome to the forum from Tyson & me.

Hi & welcome to the forum

Hi and welcome from us and Suki. With the age of your dogs I don't think the sex of the Staffy would matter much. Toilet training is really the same as any other breed as well as crate placement. You may want the crate closer to your sleep area at first but can gradually move it away to where you want it.

welcome

hia from me and sasha

Thanks very much for the info really appreciate it.

Looking forward to this weekend's dog show and meeting some staffies and breeders

Hello and welcome

Hi and welcome.

We keep Callie's crate in one of our bedrooms (ours or our daughter's at different times), but I'm sure with your other dogs would be fine. And Cal only gets to go to the bathroom on walks, so we don't have a dog run...having said that the walks are pretty frequent with a puppy!

Thats awesome you trained Callie right from pup to only go on walks, we will give that a try then thanks for the info

Hi and welcome:D