New staff pup I am so sorry this thing is so long

Hey guys! I'm new to this forum, and have not had time to explore the site properly, so please forgive me if i am asking a question or two that has been answered elsewhere. I have a few questions before we get our new staffy. I will give you some background information so you guys can understand:

Our puppy's name is currently 'Nugget', but we plan on changing it. He was given up at birth from his breeders, not BYBs, actual breeders (but he does not come with the papers unfortunately because he was given up), to the vet because of his harelip. The breeders did not want to have him around in case possible buyers saw him an decided not to buy the others. I can understand where they are coming from, so i do not blame them. He was also the runt of the litter. The vet raised the puppy until 8 weeks, which he just turned. Someone we know got the puppy and asked us if we were interested. Naturally, my mom having a soft spot for these 'cases', gladly accepted and we went to go see him yesterday. He's the cutest thing around, the harelip making him cuter. The vet has stated that there is no point other than cosmetics/aesthetics to do surgery on his lip as he can bark, eat and drink like any other dog. We will be getting him in three months  because the person that has him now is a trainer, and wants to ensure that the puppy does not suffer from the common problems that dogs are usually given up for. We might get him sooner. We will see him once a week for training, our rottie coming with sometimes and we might see him more for 'play dates' to get the dogs accustomed to each other. I have done a lot of research on this breed, but i need some things cleared up for me. So my questions are as follows:
1. How long do i have to walk him if i can only walk him once a day? (cannot get up earlier as i have a VERY strict sleep schedule, but if i absolutely must, i will give it a shot)
2. How long is this as him being a puppy?
3. Are the exercise requirements similar to a Rottweiler's?
4. How do i keep my rott from jumping on him? (she is a paw-er and is very, well not dominant but rough when she plays. She will jump on him)
5. My rott growled at the puppy while she (my rottie) was drinking water and Nugget tried to drink too, but my rott did not do this while we made her and another dog sit to get treats. Why is this? How do i stop it? I think it is just the 'this is my bowl' thing though. She does not have food aggression. We trained her specifically not to be food aggressive. Whenever i want her food, i can take it.
6. How long do i keep the two separated until i can trust them alone in the backyard? Keep in mind that if we have to wait 3 months, Nugget will be 5 months by the time we get him.
7. Do staffs swim? I heard that some do and some don't. If mine likes the water, should i get him a life jacket because i heard that even if they swim they aren't very good at it.
8. Are they good in cars? My rott is an angel and loves the car. We sort of and sort of didn't train her to do this. How would we do this with the staff?
9. When walking them together, is it harder walking two because you have to deal with 2 leashes, and needing to command two dogs? How do i fix/improve this?
10. Should i walk them together or separately? The first thing i'm going to do with the pup when we get him is take him for a walk alone so i can get a feel of him.
11. Thank you so so so much guys!! All answers are greatly appreciated! My rott is 3 years old and the opposite sex of the puppy we are getting. I heard 3 was a good age gap. Thanks again guys!

For the exercise 5 mins per month of age + off lead play so at 5 months 25 mins per time , this should really be 2 - 3 times a day . You will be surprised how well Nugget will be able to handle your Rottie , my girl Tilly's best mate at 4 months was my boy's English Bull Mastiff, staffy's are a very tough dog and welcome rough play.
You must be very observant , as with all dogs around food , drink etc , this will often be the source of fall outs ( I know with my 2 )
Swimmming , cars etc really depend on the dog , no 2 are alike but you can help yourself with the car by taking him on short journeys regularly to parks , walks etc so he associates the car with something good and not for example a trip to the vets.
Try and give them 1 or 2 separate walks when you can (as confidence builders for nugget) but you need to get used to walking them together as well , my daughter can walk our 2 staffs together no problem, just good training is all you need. Is there someone can help you with the walking at first to get you started ??
For socialising 3 months is a long time and you need to be interacting as much as possible with your Rottie and 1 time a week isn't really enough so please try and find some more time for this Try more feeding together (supervised) etc to gauge if you might have any problems and hopefully this person doing all this training can help you along with this.
As far as leaving them out in the yard together , you should always be supervising them , it's way too easy for a fight to break out and with a Rottie and a Staff one of them could well end up getting badly hurt

yep what he said^^^^^^ I love the name nugget... we have someone else on here with a pup with a hair lip and he's a cutie pie... We need pic's when you get him

pag wrote:yep what he said^^^^^^ I love the name nugget... we have someone else on here with a pup with a hair lip and he's a cutie pie... We need pic's when you get him

We very nearly had the same , we went to BYB to look at Tilly (we didn't know , sorry) and I picked out a beautiful little Black n Brindle girl with a white sock , instant love When I picked her up and looked at her seen she had a heir lip and my heart sank (thinking of other health problems and not looks) I was in a real dilemma over the space of 10 secs and I looked over to my OH and daughter who had also picked their favourite which was Tilly , so like the coward I was I took the easy option .

The breeders mum was in the house looking after the pups while they were on holiday and was reassured immediately by her (she saw my face drop that A) the pup had been checked out by the Vet and was fine and B) that the pup they realise would probably not be taken and would most likely end up moving to Oxford to live with her and her Boxers , not the worst BYB in the world and at least she had not removed the pup from the litter so people weren't put off , like this breeder mentioned above which is nothing short of deceitful.

We took Tilly home and then pondered for the next week whether we should go back and get the other one too , I was heartbroken at leaving her behind but we realised at the end 2 pups was a mad idea

I really can't add to Dave's advise, do keep us updated though

Awesome! Thanks guys!! i do not however have someone else to help me walk them. And i have to go to school so when we first get him he will be in the garage until i can trust our big girl with him which will take a while, but i can't keep them separated for their whole lives cause that's kind of silly but we'll see how it goes. We might have play dates with them together but we are a very busy family so it will be hard to see him more unfortunately. But i promise you guys that even with our busy lives we can fit in another mutt. Thanks so much!!

will post pics soon

Dave has given some really great advice which I can't add to.

Just a bit worried about the garage though - is it light, non-smelly (petrol etc) and will he have all his comforts there (water, toys, bed etc) ? How long will he have to stay in there, bearing in mind you are at school during the day?

Yeah that's the only thing i am worried about, but i've seen that we can pick him up on the 21st which is when my 2 week school holidays start, so we can pick him up then, so i will have 2 weeks to get him used to our house and comfortable with everything. If we get him then by the time the holidays end hopefully everything will be good. If not, i just remembered that my mum is going back to school to study so she will only have TAFE 3 days a week so if we have to put him in the garage (Which we will puppy proof) then he should be fine. To answer your question Lynda, there is a high window in the garage and it's not very smelly at all. If it is i will just leave the window open a crack for it all to flow out and he can't get to the window. I will put puppy pads down for him as well as his water bowl, toys and a bed or his crate. When i get home i'll make sure to take him for a good long walk and then he's out of the garage for the rest of the day. He will spend max about-if my mum goes to school same as me-7 hours (which i hardly think will be the case) for 3 consecutive days in the garage which i agree is a bit excessive for a pup. But the garage is big, the only problem is him possibly getting bored even with all of his toys etc just because he's a puppy. Will have to work some things out, so thanks guys for making me think! Better now than when we get him. I'll be the one spending most of the time with him as i expect it to be the same with our current dog. We'll have to work a few things out but it'll be easier next week because i think that's when my mum starts going to TAFE. Thank you so so so much guys! Can't tell you how much you've helped me! Will keep you posted on our progress

Cant wait to see the pics! and Welcome from Rocky and I