Trying to find a friend for my Staffy Louis

Hi, new to this forum, I have an 8 year old Staffy called Louis, he is very friendly and has no aggression. I work 4 hour shifts, and it means Lou gets left on his own, if I have to work more than that he goes to my mums house for the day and plays with her slightly older male staffy and female german shepherd. He gets on very well with both these dogs, and cuddles up with them on my mums settee.

I worry about the days I leave louis at home, even though it's only 4 hours, he has no concept of time, and so have decided to try to find him a friend.

Today we went to the dogs home with Lou, firstly the dogs home will only home a female staffy with a male, so our choices were a little limited. We introduced Lou to 2 lovely friendly staffys, but he was mainly indifferent to them, and occasionally he let out a small growl. Not sure if this was due to him being stressed, as there are lots of dogs barking loudly there, or whether he just isn't good with other dogs. There doesn't seem to be a way to introduce him to any dogs there away from the dogs home. Really wanted to rehome a staffy rather than buying from a breeder, as there always seems to be plenty of homeless staffys locally. Can anyone suggest anything we can try?
I live in Stoke, are there any other places could try? Are there better ways to go about this?

Any help would be gratefully received - Rob

He probably would have been better meeting a female on leads and neutral ground. I cant help with rescue centres as not familiar with the area. Well done for going for a rescue I do hope you will find the perfect match for him xx

As Inez said neutral ground is always better, as he gets on with your mums 2 then I am sure he will be fine, explain to the rescue that you want to walk them together if you didn't do that already. How is he with other dogs in your house? I only ask as Moo is extremely territorial, fine in other peoples houses but hates dogs here!

Cheers for the responses, never had another dog at home other than my mums once and they were fine. The dogs home don't seem to allow the dogs out of the tiny yard. Looks like we may have to consider another rescue centre that does.

Just realised that I posted this in puppy chat, while he is a puppy, he's an 8 year old puppy LOL. If an admin wants to move this thread, that would be fine - sorry, only been here hours and causing chaos already

If they won't let you take them out of the yard then it may be best to try somewhere else You may find another staff that he gets on really well with too!
I hope you find him a nice friend And good on you for rescuing!

I would probably say try some other rescue centres near you if you can, with meet ups on neutral ground. The more dogs you can meet the better to get a fuller picture of how he would get on with another dog at home.

Would you be able to foster a dog to see how things go ? I would say keep in separate areas of your home while they are left alone though.

Any update?

On Sunday we visited the local city dogs home, and we have found an 8 year old male Staffy that was found stray, he needs a good feed up, a bath and plenty of love, but once we have been visited by the warden for a home check, he should be coming to us.  He and louis seem to get along fine, and when we walked them, there was no signs of aggression, and plenty of sniffing each other.  All looks good.  We will of course be keeping them separated to begin with (we're borrowing a baby gate for a few days).  I've booked some time off work so we can supervise how they get on.

We're calling him Dave

Dave is stunning!!

aww dave is gorgeous,good luck with the rescue so hope it works out for you   

I'm sorry but Dave looks like... the biggest cuddle monster ever!

Please let us know what happens.

How did Dave stand out?

How exciting, hope it all goes well, Dave is gorgeous   

Dave is lovely please let us know how it all works out

He's been there a while, and I think at 8 years old the dogs home were having trouble rehoming him (he's the same age as Louis). He is also very chilled out, which our current staffy Louis is. Dave is the only dog that has been friendly to Lou so far. Destiny stepped in I think.

Awwww   

We will obviously get him chipped, and checked out by the vet, anything else we need to consider?


Thanks for all the kind words and interest.   

Dave is gorgeous   

Good on ya... Dave looks great.

They may look chilled out... but they are secretly working out how to get into the treat box   

Well Louis uses his big eyes to control me and make me give him treats.

Aw he is gorgeous! I hope they become bestest buds

Hola Amigos, we've had Dave since Thursday, only 2 real altercations between Lou and Dave, once over a bone (which we removed) and once over sitting next to me. Both dogs seem to be getting on very well. Dave has stopped weeing in the house completely and is settling in very well.

Glad its going well   

Glad its going well, Dave looks gorgeous

This is lovely. More updates?

Pics?

How wonderful that you rescued an oldie and I love his face.

You sound like the perfect dog owner    Good luck, it's hard with 2 sometimes but worth it xx

We took Dave and Lou for a massive walk round Knypersley reservoir on Thursday, they both loved it.  Got this great piccy of Dave licking his nose.

Fab shot   

Fantastic photo

Are they getting on?

Dave looks great.

I'm rooting for your emerging Staffy family.

They are getting on, but are far from best friends at the moment, they are happy to sit next to each other, but don't snuggle up to each other. There have been no arguments between them. Guess time will make best buddies of them

It's great to hear that Dave is settling in we'll Rob... Nice pic of him too