Any advice on getting another staffy pup?

Hi All,

I have an 18 month old staffy Mia, but have just bought my own house and am moving. I am wanting to get another dog to come to the house so Mia will ahve company and a playmate while we are at work.

She is a very playful girl, but can randomly be aggressive to my mums beagle. I think it is just a power struggle, but everything I ahve seen suggests it is Mia instigating the fights.

I am hoping for some advice as to wether it is better to get a male or a female pup.

Any advice would be fantastic!

Cheers,
Megan

Hiya and welcome from me and Moo

I ave never owned 2 dogs together so I'm not going to be much help but you will get great advice here Xx

It's usually the case that male and females couples get on better, but not strictly always true. We do have members here with same sex couples getting on just as well.

Would the new dog be a rescue or young puppy? If a rescue you can take your current dog along with you when you go to look at potential new playmates to see how they would get on together. Some rescue centres even encourage you to do this anyway.

Good luck with your search.

Dogs of the opposite sex tend to get along a little bit better. If they are not spayed or neutered you will have to keep them seperate when she is in season. I would wait until your current dog is just a little bit older but it could be okay at that age.

I have always kept them seperate if they are not being supervised as well becasue a small disagreement can escalate quickly if there is no one around to step in.

Opposite sex I would say, but if she's a spirited, dominant type of girl, your probably always going to have to watch her with a house freind whether you get a male or female, a staffy that is over playfull, excitable, dominant, call it what you will, is something of a force to be reakoned with in my veiw, and a lot of other breeds just cant/wont put up with it, then get another staffy that wont put up with it, and all hell could break loose!!

Thats not to say dont do it obviously, but take your time, have plenty of intro's, meet plenty of other staffys etc etc ... you dont want to open a can of worms, or rush into something like this

Best of luck ... we want another too when the time is right

Thanks so much for your replies!
We will be getting a puppy as my brother in law has just had a litter.

I would be really disappointed if we had to keep them separated as I'm wanting another so they can playand keep each other occupied while we are not home.

Mis is desexed already and the pup will be by 6 months as well.
I've read that I should take an old jumper or sometime and leave with the pups and then take home to mia to get her used to the scent?!

Getting them used to each others scent is an excellent idea

I love having 2 but at the moment when we are out they stay in separate cadges they love to play but as they are both young it can sometimes get a bit rough
Their cadges are next to each other so are together

Good luck with your new adittion

ginger_meggie wrote:I would be really disappointed if we had to keep them separated as I'm wanting another so they can playand keep each other occupied while we are not home.

As a personal preference I would always keep them seperated when you're not there. A friend a few years ago had two that had grown up together, but one day she came home to a blood bath! We'll never know why the two fought, but they were both badly injured.

ginger_meggie wrote:.
I've read that I should take an old jumper or sometime and leave with the pups and then take home to mia to get her used to the scent?!

Yes, that's always a good idea. At least she'll be aware of the scent of the newcomer!

ginger_meggie wrote:Mis is desexed already and the pup will be by 6 months as well.

May I ask why particularly 6 months?

We were keeping our 2 separate for longer times when we were out but just started to trust them for the odd 30 mins here and there if we pop to the shops and can't take them. However, we were contemplating abandoning the downstairs crate completely but over the last 2 or 3 days they have had a couple of slightly bigger fallouts than we normally see (Tommy is normally the instigator) so am erring on the side of caution at the moment.
Generally speaking though under normal circumstances and our supervision they get along pretty well these days.
Tilly is a real softy though and has put up with a lot of torture from Tommy and I wouldn't guarantee that a less passive dog would handle it so well. So lots of attention and training I think

Getting them used to each others scent is a good idea. I have two and they are great company for each other, play really well and cuddle up together, but I do separate them when I'm not in the house. A couple of times recently I've had to separate them when a disagreement has gone a bit too far and I'd hate for that to happen when I'm not there to step in.

In Australia dogs have to be registered by 6 months. If they are desexed by then, the registration costs are much lower.

I feel like keeping them apart when we are not home defeats the purpose of getting another pup, but at the same time I would be devestated if I came home to see the do9gs having done each other damage.

It's rare that Mia is aggressive now.. Just sporadically. Thats the hard part, I don't know what the cause is when it is quite rare.

Have you considered fostering, if you have the time for 2 it would give you all a chance especially Mia to find a perfect pal Xx

janey wrote:

Have you considered fostering, if you have the time for 2 it would give you all a chance especially Mia to find a perfect pal Xx

now thats why you are where you are good sensible solution