Playpal for Tilly

Out of the blue ?? well actually months of eating away at the OH by showing loads of pics from here > we have decided to actively seek a playpal for Tilly. I wanted to take a rescue and an old boy to be noble and carry him through his later years , however as my OH is a childminder she insists on a pup so we have some background or at least a clean sheet for training and behaviour. Got to admit after seeing a few pics today of some beautiful pups the wanna puppy feeling is quite strong.
So for background. Jo is a childminder and all the parents know and love Tilly who is now 22months and neutered. The kids love her and we won't be taking any new kids (apart from a baby brother for one of the current kids in 6 months) I work away sometimes, (mostly for 1 or 2 nights a week but sometimes for a week and sometimes not at all)and when I'm not here the immediate walks are done by my 12 year old daughter before and after school and my OH as and when in between weather permitting. Tilly is not demanding , and has the run of the garden all day, loves to be with other dogs , but favours the big dogs not the rugrats. What do you think will suit us best, an older rescue or a pup from a breeder, your comments and thoughts are gratefully appreciated.

I would veer more towards an older dog from rescue, as a pup would be such a lot of hard work if you're looking after kids as well.

You'd obviously have to be very careful about temperament, but rescues generally do a good job with testing them.

Good luck!

P.S. Would your daughter be able to handle two strong staffs?

Caryll wrote:I would veer more towards an older dog from rescue, as a pup would be such a lot of hard work if you're looking after kids as well.

You'd obviously have to be very careful about temperament, but rescues generally do a good job with testing them.

Good luck!

I see some lovely old boys on the rescue sites and my heart really sinks when I think they may not leave the rescue , but the temeperament is the issue, for the kids and for Tilly. TBH if I was at home every day I wouldn't think twice about it as there is still some time for monitoring and training . One of our other thoughts is that Tilly seems to have some mopey moments since being neutered where it seems that she's missing what we have deprived her of and that's the OH motivation in a pup for her to mother, does this make sense ??

davemck3834 wrote: One of our other thoughts is that Tilly seems to have some mopey moments since being neutered where it seems that she's missing what we have deprived her of and that's the OH motivation in a pup for her to mother, does this make sense ??

Bitches don't miss being entire! They don't even think of it, honestly. If she's mopey, it's probably just her age. Many spayed bitches don't mother pups anyway - they'll play & enjoy the company, but the hormones aren't there that would make her motherly.

thats that theory out of the window then

wow how exciting!
We wanted to get another dog because Jethro was getting on abit and we had thought about it for a while. He is everything to us, and having no kids, we love him abit too much for our own good! Then one night I saw Winston and his siblings advertised on an add that had just been posted on Gumtree.There were photos of all the pups..we went around the next morning as they weren't that far from where we live..and the rest as they say is history! We wanted a male because I have always had male dogs and so has Tony. Sometimes these things just happen!

How old are the kids your misses looks after ?? As you have to take into consideration would their parents like them coming home looking like a pin cushion as the pups decided they are good squeaky toys

We have age range from 3 yrs to 7 Denise , the 3 yr old and the 7 (brother and sister) has been brought up with a Staffy so I have no concerns there. The kids are NEVER left alone with Tilly , she is left in the garden or blocked by a safety gate if my OH is just busy doing something, although generally they all play together and the kids are actively encouraged to interact with Tilly. When she's had enough she just takes herself off to bed for some quiet time

So exciting getting a playmate for her
When I decided to get a wee pal for Millie I really wanted to rescue. It turned out I couldn't rescue (no garden) so I got a pup and like you, I thought Millie might act motherly towards her. She has helped to teach Bella not to bite hard when playing and taught her some doggy manners but it took her quite a while to even sit in the same room as Bella. No motherly instinct there at all. They get on great now though and I love watching them play and chase each other around the park. At times its a bit like having two young kids especially when they both want the one toy Whatever you decide to do, pup or rescue, I'm sure Tilly is going to love having a playpal

Caryll wrote:P.S. Would your daughter be able to handle two strong staffs?

She's not tiny herself Caryll (never saw your question before) but if push comes to shove then she will walk them individually, she knows this means when I am not at home she has to get out of bed earlier . When we have looked after our friend's Staff on occasions she has walked them both together though and been fine

Have you thought of going for a different breed ? Maybe an older labrador would be a good choice given their usual character of being quite calm.

Just found the website www.champdogs.co.uk has anybody used it , is it ok

Had a reply this evening from the Sharoc Kennells in Tenby after seeing an ad through champdogs, is this website ok to use ??

Does anybody know of this breeder, there are 2 males left @ £650 each including first injections and microchip

http://www.champdogs.co.uk/litter/24769

I've mailed them back to see if there are any photos of the boys as it is a bit of a distance just to go and have a look

very cute pups,good how they got all 6 pups to sit still!
ive looked at that site before,let us know how you get on

how exciting! id love another dog but not allowed more than 2 pets (bella and scarlett) hope oyu find what your looking for x

Not sure until we see some pics as I'm not driving down there on a whim. But I am in a bit of a quandary a sI was looking at the pups from Denise's last litter and the people that know seem to think they are beauties but I would have to wait another year until she has another litter

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t18316-pups

Sorry I don't know anything about the website or the breeder. Those are some gorgeous wee pups

Pups are alot of work but I like to know the history as well. Rescue centers are good at matching peoples situation to the right dog so I thik it's a personal choice.

jstaff wrote:Pups are alot of work but I like to know the history as well. Rescue centers are good at matching peoples situation to the right dog so I thik it's a personal choice.

We really enjoyed having Tilly from a pup and to me it's an experience every child should have so Jenny's had hers. TBH Tilly was a really good girl from a pup so we didn't really have many problems with her apart from a few accidents and many many holes in the garden. I think we may actually struggle with a rescue anyway as they always seem to want to match the dogs with "older" children. It's a shame because I know if we found the right dog in rescue we could make a big difference to its quality of life and if we didn't do the chioldminding then the OH wouldn't even have a choice in the matter.

We rehomed Polly when she was 9 weeks from our local RSPCA centre last March, they often have litters to rehome some brought in with and some without their mother. (Pol was part of a litter dumped without their mum aged approx 4 weeks and left to freeze or starve to death in an abandoned building in January last year ) Polly was spayed at 6 months as that is part of the rescue centres adoption policy so she has never had pups of her own or ever really been around young dogs.

At the time of getting Polly we had 2 other dogs one of which Polly was very close to and when he died very suddenly this year she was very upset and pined badly. We looked at the RSPCA website that we had seen Polly on originally and they had a litter of staffie pups ready to rehome then aged 7 weeks, we contacted them and after a lovely chat, a quick home visit and Polly revisiting them to meet Charlie, we had a new family member a couple of days later when he was exactly 8 weeks

Polly took to him immediately, they play together really well and Pol is so very patient despite never having had her own pups or really being in an environment as a pup to learn to play, she has turned into a demented Staffy pup herself after being a very quiet and shy little girl, although she has met and socialised with many other dogs when we are out and about and has a few special friends she will play with. Charlie is amazing and with her to help him we have never had much in the way of biting, he housetrained within 2 weeks and he has learned to sit, lay down, stay and come back through copying Polly he is 12 weeks now and has been with us a month
It might be worth having a chat with the local rescues just to see what they would say before you discount them in favour of a breeder.
Good luck what ever you decide to do, these dogs are amazing and I only wish we had got one years ago.

Nice story Lynn and yes it's always an option, but they do normally always say no children or older children . I can have a little look now anyway as we have time , but a few months ago I had a chat with Barabarah at NW SBT rescue and she was very negative about us taking a 2nd dog in our environment on 2 points . 1 because my 12 yr old daughter regularly walks Tilly , but we have firm rules in place for both their safety, and also because of the childminding , she actually thought childminders were not allowed to have staffys which I thought was quite negative from a rescue at the time when we want to get these doggies into good homes. Apart from that we are text book good candidates as we have a large and secure garden , apart from the odd 2 hours here and there , there is always someone at home , and you only have to come looking in our bedroom at 6 in the morning to see Tilly snuggled up on the pillow in our bed as a testament to our love of dogs, and we are financially sound, maybe I will make a few phone calls anyway