6 month old Staffy puppy

Hi all. Firstly what a fantastic and helpful website.

I need some advise as I want to make the right choice. Me and my girlfriend plan on getting a blue staffy. Our current situation is shes a teaching assistant that works 9 - 3 and I work at sea on the rigs on a 2 week on 4 week off rotation. So for Four weeks out of 6 I will be with the pup constantly and it will have my full attention (I run every day so I hope to train it in the future to run with me). For the time I am at sea I plan on getting a dog walker in and helping out for 2 hours each day monday to friday. My girlfriend will walk the dog before and after work.

I have accepted that during my working life I cant have a 12 week old puppy unfortunatly but at least I have something to look forward to later in life. However with the lifestyle above and how I will do it, (I am aware of the costs of a dog walker and thats no problem), is this suitable for a 6 month year old pup? I know you can train a dog at any age but I still dont want to miss out on my dogs younger days and sort of moulding him into a part of me.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions

Hello and welcome to the forum from me and the kids

It's not an ideal situation because you know you will be away for periods and your girlfriend will be out 6 hours a day but I see you already have looked into this with the dog walker scenario and on the plus side you only have 2 out of 6 weeks to be concerned about . They do crave human attention .

If your girlfriend is a teaching assistant then my advice would be to get a pup when the holidays start so you can hammer in the training and bonding ( ideally the big ones but then this means you have to wait until summer next year )

You also state here that the pup is 6 months old so I guess we are talking about a rehoming so not possible to wait that long . Can you tell us a bit more about the circumstances of the rehoming

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Welcome to the forum from Rocky and I

Hi and welcome from darcy and me

Hi there, welcome to the forum.

Are you thinking about getting the pup from a rescue centre? If not, be very careful that you know about any potential health problems/temperament/background.

The situation as you describe it is certainly doable. As long as (of course) your gf is prepared to put in most of the work when you're away! 

If you get a dog walker in, make sure that they have good references & go out with them & the pup beforehand so that you can see how they hit it off.

Hi and welcome to the ofrum from Rocky and me.

I cannot really add more than what Dave and Caryll have already gone through above. In your situation I personally would not go for a 6 month old puppy but an older dog of about 18months - 2 years old. This way you will still enjoy his/her younger days but already have a lot of the hard work - house training, basic training been done, hopefully.

Hiya from me and Moo

Hiya from me and Vinnie  

Hi from me and nico

Hi and welcome from me and daisy :-)

Hi and welcome from the girls and me

hia from me and sasha  

Hello from Axel and me.

Wow, Thanks for all your replies! sorry for my late reply to some of your help.

Dave - No i havent got a puppy yet. The question is would the circumstances I have be better if I have a 6 week old puppy to a 12 week old puppy.

Kathy, Caryll. I think your maybe right 18months maybe the youngest I should go. The issue being at the age, and please excuse my ignorance. Is it not hard to find a puppy at 18 months. If its at a dog breeder would it not have just been left to its own devices with its pack? Is it better to get a dog at that age from a rescue center? I just have a picture in my head of a puppy at 18months being out of control as I would not have been able to influence it from a younger age?

Thanks again for your help

Si

Hi and welcome to the forum from me and the zoo xx

Hi and welcome from Chiquito, Sheba and I

Chiquito was 12 weeks old when I got him from the breeder, I took a substantial amount of time off work to settle him in when he first came home. He went to puppy pre-school, basic and intermediate obedience and required lots and lots of input and time.

Sheba is an 18 month old rescue who I adopted just over a week ago. As much as I would love to I couldn't take two months off this time, so I've taken the week off and organised doggy day visitors to come in twice a day (I am a teacher and work five days). She starts obedience in a few weeks and she requires lots and lots of input and time.

Both of them have wonderful temperaments, both of them have behaviours that require work, both need time and attention.

On a personal note, I am in some ways thankful that I had a pup first. Staffs have some very unique behaviours that can be quite confronting to a new owner - I feel I would have been concerned/convinced that Sheba was aggressive/naughty had I had her first, not because she is but just because I knew no better!! HOWEVER I do not disagree that an older dog may well be better for your circumstance, rather I am suggesting that you spend plenty of time reading about how staffs behave (and how to train for those behaviours) before you get your dog .. it will help with your concerns with the older, and still be of help if you get a pup.

Sorry that I can't give you a difinitive answer as to which way to go (I really think that ultimately you will make the best decision you can with the information you get here) .. I do hope that at least some of this novel helps you though

Hi from Ozzy and me, i cant really help as i got Ozzy at 4 years old form a rescue, from day one he was brilliant and i am glad i got a dog a bit older as i work fiull time but go home at lunchtime to look after him or OH's dad comes round if i am travelling on buisness or if OH is away, he works for an airline so he's away for a few days then home for a few days so Ozz is never by himself for long, we also keep him entyertained witha frozen Kong during this time and he loves radio 2

Hello and welcome, well done for looking at the best thing to do for you pup and you and your wife! Many people rush into things, so well done for considering everything. I have two rescues, and I actually work in a Staffordshire Bull Terrier Rescue, so my views on getting a bred puppy or a rescue are very biased! :Das to your comment about having an out of control dog, many dogs that come into rescue have already been trained, and can be trained to how you'd want them to be! getting a slightly older dog instead of a younger puppy, they'll still be attached to you but will find it a lot easier be left alone for longer periods of time and man possibly be slightly calmer too! Rescue dogs can definitely be moulded into your ideal dog, my one dog Charlie was a nightmare but now he knows his boundaries and acts how I've trained him too! I would personally always go for rescue. Where I work we've also had a litter of large staffie cross puppies so again, you could also rescue a puppy instead of buying

We have a range of dogs at Happy Staffie, from older to younger, from blue to black, dog friendly to not so dog friendly. If you were ideally looking for a well behaved, easily trainable dog then some of the dogs in our for you perfectly their profiles haven't been updated for a while so some information isn't correct.

Crystal (black brindle + dog friendly)
Maggie-May (blue brindle + athletic and dog friendly)
Diesel (black and white, could be trained to be dog friendly and has been walked with dogs (not met face on) and highly trainable)
Buddy (incredibly well behaved, black brindle boy - possibly dog friendly (hasn't been assessed yet) but he's not on the website yet.)

http://happystaffierescue.org.uk/ourdogs.html

hi from me and the boys

Hi from us

Some gorgeous lookings dogs on that link cody. The staff cross pointer pups are sooo cute!

Hi and welcome from me and my two

Codlingkid and everyone else. Thank you so much for your advise. I think due to me being at sea for 2 weeks out of 6 even if we got a puppy during the school holidays when my girlfriend is off too, it still wouldnt be enough time to train it and stop it from getting bored and eating my house when the school holidays finish and she goes back to work. I think with your advise I will go for a rescue staffy and take it to lots of training classes and help it out.

its great these sort of forums exist and using the internet as well I really think helps people stop doing the wrong thing a think through their decisions. Ill look forward to sharing with you guys how we get on! : )

Simon