First time Staffy owners!!

hi,
We are getting a little male Staffy pup next friday who will be 8 weeks old.We've bought and read a book all about the breed and weve also spent a lot of time on the net looking things up and just getting more info.
we've both had dogs as we were growing up but this is our first with each other (we cant wait),we also have a 1 year old son.basically,all we need is to know what to expect over the first month of having him,its ok to read books but we need to know from actual owners.
Should we keep him in a crate or bed?
what injections will he need and when?
what stuff should we get in?
do we start training straight away?
etc
any information would be gratefully recieved.thanks

Hi &

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Hi and welcome!

To answer some of your questions, I'd go with crate training as it speeds up the toilet training and if they see the crate as somewhere to enjoy it's a lot less stressful for them if they ever have to spend any time somewhere like the vets.

Speak to your vet about injections as different vets do them at different ages.

Training wise, dogs are learning from you 24/7 - something to remember but in terms of obedience training, yes, start straight away, lots of little short sessions and keep it fun.

In terms of what you need; what have you already got and what will you be getting with the puppy?

A book I would recommend you get is Gwen Bailey's The Perfect Puppy. Also have a ready through Ian Dunbar's http://www.dogstardaily.com/files/BEFORE%20You%20Get%20Your%20Puppy.pdf and http://www.dogstardaily.com/files/AFTER%20You%20Get%20Your%20Puppy.pdf he's a bit dramatic but lots of good stuff in there

Hello and welcome to the forum from Tyson & me.

Hello and welcome from me and the kids

After picking up our pup at eight weeks old, the first month was a pretty exhausting. She was very happy when we were with her but trying to get her to stay downstairs at night was difficult. The routine became to wait with her until she fell asleep, then sneak upstairs until she woke up again, usually 1.5 hours later. Then we'd go down, clean up the inevitable mess and go though it all again.

I wish we'd have crate trained to be honest because it took a good six months before she stopped messing regularly overnight, and we still have a few overnight moments even after a year.

We were first time dog owners and didn't really know what we were doing so it was probably pretty cruel to make her sleep separately at first; but we were paranoid about cultivating bad habits.

The most difficult issue we had was separation anxiety. In the beginning, leaving her alone for 30 seconds would usually mean you'd come back to a puddle.

I was off work at the time so I could work on it gradually but it took a long time before she was happy we would be coming back. Well, that and leaving her with a load of food

Oh, one other thing that we didn't realise was how much of a difference food makes. We had her on quite cheap food at first, and she would have moments where she'd go absolutely barmy (beyond normal puppy stuff). Putting her on decent food stopped that immediately.

This is my first puppy too, but this is just based on what I, myself have learned.

1. Crate or bed is fine either way. A crate tends to be easier for toilet-training, but my Loki is doing really well with that without the crate, so it's a personal choice.
2. 8 weeks old is good for his first injection; the sooner the better. He'll need a second set a couple of weeks later, and then (according to what the vet told me) two weeks after that before taking him out on walks. They're for quite a lot of things, I can't remember but you'll find the info from a vet easily.
3. A bed/crate, TOYS, food/water bowls, a good brand of puppy food, lots and lots of things for him to chew on, a collar and lead...anything else you can think of.
4. Yep, start the training straight away, it's never too early for that, and you'll find that they pick it up very quickly. The sooner you start it, the sooner they get into the mindset of obeying you and following you.

It's only been less than a week since I've had my Loki, but it's been...exhausing. I don't have kids, but it feels like this is what it must be like, it's a hell of a lot harder than I thought it'd be, but also extremely rewarding. Expect a lot of tiredness, running around, and "NO!"s or "LEAVE IT!s".

Hi and welcome to the forum from Rocky and me.

You have some excellent advice about, well done for getting clued up before the event.

Hi and welcome from us and Suki

Thank you all for your advice,we can't wait till we bring Dixie home.

Hi and welcome from me, Millie and Bella

Hi and welcome. We are a first-time Staffy family too!

Agree with the good advice above, crate's definitely helpful...and a nice safe place for her when you go out or can't attend to her, it would be nice if she got used to it and liked it.

It's exhausting but so much fun! Good luck, enjoy.

Hi and welcome

hi, i've had my puppy Rosco 6 weeks now and it is so tiring but worth every minute, i never thought of a crate until my partner suggested it and i got 1 off ebay and it's 1 of the best decisions i've made regarding Rosco, he loves his crate, and it's nice to know he's going to be safe when i'm out or want to get ready in peace or if he's getting too excited and needs to calm down.
Also, definitely lots of things to chew on, i bought several kong toys that i can fill with treats or cover in paste, cream cheese, peanut butter, keeps him quiet for ages. He loves his stag bar too which i got off ebay. I got him a mini tyre toy from pets at home and he loves that too, just the right size to fit in his mouth, can get bigger ones as they get bigger.
Anyway good luck with everything, it'll be fun :-)

Just had a call from the people we're getting Dixie from.he says Dixie is ready to pick up now,a few days away from 8 weeks old.he says the mum is starting to get nippy with the pups.
We can't pick up until thursday at earliest.do you think it's ok?is this a normal thing?

It can happen and just a few days shouln't make a huge difference.

we're just wondering, what would be the best food for Dixie? the people we're getting Dixie off are feeding him pedigree puppy food, but we would like him on a more healthier options, we've been looking at wainwright, but we don't now whether to give him dry or meat?

any advice would be great.

p.s would you advise to stay up with the puppy when he comes home, or just let him settle down himself during the night.

We got a crate for our wee Skye - and I've got to say it was a great decision; really helps with the toilet training (she never once soiled in the crate overnight, and she pretty soon stopped soiling in the house when she was outside the crate too). The crate is also useful just for a wee bit of respite from the full-on puppy experience - we put Skye in the crate when she needs time to calm down (usually she just goes straight to sleep), or when we need to be doing other stuff around the house - like cooking, picking up dog-toys, clearing up shredded toilet roll, retrieving stolen shoes and socks...

Would recommend buying a crate online - much cheaper than Pets at Home or other pet shops. We got Skye a 36 inch crate for about £30 - actually she now has three - one for the house, one in the back of the car, and one where she can sleep in my wife's office at work (we're lucky in that Skye can go in to work and is a big hit with all the other workers and customers).

One other thing - you might want to try to get a crate with a metal base tray (which you can cover with blankets and beds etc). We had a plastic tray for one of the crates, but Skye soon found out this was a great thing for chewing on and snapping bits off.

Hope your pup has a long and happy life with you, and good luck!

hi and welcome!

i would say definitely crate train, so glad we did. Jellybean has 2 crates, one in the living room and one in our bedroom. She's only 5 months old, so in a few months she'll hopefully be ready for just a bed in the LR and a crate downstairs still (as the cats sleep in our room too and they aren't quite ready to co-mingle the same sleeping space! and we don't want the puppy in our bed, just the cats).

our vet said Royal Canin Junior Medium was best to feed her, and now she's been spayed, we have moved her onto Burns adult chicken and brown rice.

we never had a staffy before, never had dogs as adults really, just as kids and with very little responsibility for them. so it's been VERY tiring but it's starting to get much much easier and we are all getting very comfy with each other which is really nice. Staffs are GREAT dogs, really sweet and loyal, very loving and VERY cuddly - at least from what i have seen with ours and heard from others. You'll be very happy with your little pup!!

Oh and I would add getting a kennel cough vaccination as soon as you can. and make sure he's on Advovate or something not just for fleas but for worms of all sorts. Again, talk to your vet!

Hi & welcome. Your pup looks so sweet!

For the first couple of days keep feeding her what she's used to & then gradually change her over to the food you want to give her. That should avoid a bad stomach.

Wainwright's is quite a good dry food, so if that's what you want to feed there's no problem & they do a puppy one as far as I know.