Having more than one Staffy

If I'm in the wrong forum I do apologise.

I have noticed a lot of you have more than one staffy. Just wanted to know how they get on?

A little back story. We have our little Jess who is now 9 months old, well when she was 5 - 6 months old we fostered an older female staffy (she is actually posted in the rehoming section now) absolutely gorgeous gentle dog, quite a big girl though.

We had her here for about 2 and a half months and it was constant between the two of them, rarely anything nasty but Jess did come of worse sometimes but she kept on going back for more. I know a puppy is going to keep trying their luck with an adult dog but do you find its better to have two dogs of the same sex or a male and female if you have two.

Hope that makes sense.

Usually I think its better different sexes, but there are members who have 2 same sex dogs who get on fine.
I have never had 2 together so not much help I am afraid   

I've never had two dogs together but would probably go for one of each sex rather than two the same. It can work out though, we do have members here with two the same I hope they can give you a reply soon.

My only experience of keeping two Staffies together they were mother and son. Gypsy was a very dominant matriarch and Sid was the polar opposite. They got on amazingly at first then there was a little bit of tension when Sid was going through puberty then finally they settled down.
They had the odd argument over a treat or a toy or a nice smell but never anything serious.

As with all dog breeds, introducing a new four-legged family member to an established family group is gonna upset the balance for a while and there will be a certain amount of jealousy.

I have a big, powerful male Staffy and am fostering a medium sized and slender female Staffy cross. They get on amazingly well. I wasn't sure what to expect. The only thing is that Rupert (my big Staffy) comes on like an American football player when he is playing with Domino (the foster, who is younger, and more delicately built) and he has twice knocked her off her feet.

But in all other senses she holds her own. I would always foster first if I was going to get a second dog, just to make sure the two dogs click. Also - introduce them on neutral territory (not in your house). There is all sorts of other advice out there on introducing a new dog to the home. I read a lot of it before taking on Domino. I think getting off on the right foot helps enormously, and sets the tone.

Ps It is quite a handful. A lot of poop to scoop...

We live on a small farm and have four dogs; Samual the three year old GSD, Dashhound x jackrussel named Gwen; then Sasha our nine year old Rottweiler and lastly six month old bull terrier Tip.
They get along relatively well. Sasha is a grumpy old girl and all the other dogs avoid her except if she inniciate play. Sam is Tip's big buddy. Gwen and Tip have the odd snarl and snap but never allowed to fly at each other. We normally stop them when their body language turn towards fighting.
You can have more than one terrier together; just keep an eye on them.

My two get on really well, thankfully. Roxy is quiet the dominant madam and Vinny the polar opposite - he's completely chilled out and nothing bothers him except any threat to his home, parents or Rox! They play hard but they love each other to bits and every night ends with them cuddled up, grooming one another and they always look out for one another and for us.

Thanks for the replies guys. we had two main problems with the foster dog, If we went out for an hour or so, we would come back to two very excited dogs but the foster dog would not let Jess get a look in at a fuss.

Also when walking them we had to let them off their leads seperately as the foster dog just used to chase Jess and would not let Jess have a good sniff around etc.

Do we consider another foster dog but a male or go for another puppy while Jess is still young ( 9 months )

hi... we have 2 beau 20months and phoebe 7 and a half months we wanted 2 from the litter [mixed] but the breeder did not recommend even 2 mixed pups from the same the litter at once and although we were not pleased at the time I have to say they were RIGHT to refuse us, so we waited till beau was over a year and got his sister. how do they get on? you could not separate them now to coin a phrase they are like brother and sister[which they actually are] sorry bout that one :-$ sure they have had their moments and beau is not the most tolarent dog but he took a lot from phoebe and we did really have to keep an eye all the time. I am sure they will have their fallouts in the future and with phoebes season due anytime we will be very watchfull but all in all our 2 have a great time together

fletberbill mabaye you could checkout some of our older pickys which does show our havin fun..

solhiem wrote:fletberbill mabaye you could checkout some of our older pickys which does show our havin fun..

Thanks for the advice. Just had a quick look for your pictures and found one thread, They are stunning, I love the Blue Staffies, The is someone selling some KC reg blue girls local to me but a bit pricey so soon after Christmas.

Hi,

Molly is a 7 year old Staff and Ruby is 7 months. Both female. They get on well most of the time, they have their moments but it 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. Ruby is quicker than Molly so gives her the run around but they are best buds.x

Hi all.

Well I managed to convince my (well it is my 40th this year) that we should get another puppy rather than going down the rescue route after the problems we had last time.

Meet our new addition

Awww gorgeous what's his/her name?

No name as of yet but I have started a name suggestion thread.

Couple of pictures of her and Jess having a snuggle.

Too sweet

I have two crosses, male and female and they get on just fine. My boy will look out for laska and lets her get away with murder. My mate jen has two staffs and two crosses the same as marley and laska and again they get along fine. And if you want to go to the extreme, another lass I know has 11 dogs which are staff, staff crosses, mastiff and two husky cross staff like marly and laska. She has no problems whatsoever but she is a task master and runs them daily bike joring.
Its mainly down to you and setting the rules as two dogs will pack up and test you and dont beleive the old crp about being a pack member...you will never be as they know what a dog looks like. Provider and security maybee but a dog no. Youll have to look out for food agression and possessiveness and nip that in the bud straight away too should it happen.
But after all that...double licks and kisses and seeing them snuggled into each other after a hard days playing is fantastic and something I would def recomend. One last thing...remember everything will double, worming, flea treatment, jabs, food, chances of vet visits etc etc

Aww she is beautiful! They good snuggled up together

My girls are from the same litter and have never been apart, they constantly cuddle up and preen each other.. They are 9 now and in dreading if anything happens to one of them in the next few years.. I was considering getting a third before the inevitable but I'm not sure how it would go down with the dogs or the wife

I've got two.. Biscuit is mostly staffy but Max is staffy/lab! Biscuit is a typical girl, very dainty and calm, just loves cuddles! Max is a bloody whirlwind, breaks everything, jumps on Biscuits head, bulldozes everything out of his way! They're not the best match, he does her head in, luckily he's just a foster always take personalities into consideration! Biscuit would be miserable if he was here forever!! She just shakes when he goes on a mad one the buffoon!! They do sleep together and clean each other though! I can't walk them together as they've both got problems on walks.. So it's not much different for them when they're out..

Well we have had Bo for just over two weeks now and all is good, she is a feisty little so and so but Jess is great with her. We do have a little bit of food aggression from Jess but nothing major and we are dealing with it. Just thought I would share this great picture I just took.

They are absolutely gorgeous!

I have a staffy and american bulldog both males, with the ambull being a rescue and they are the absolute best of friends, never a cross word between them

What a darling! Congrats!

In the past we've mainly had male and female together without any problems at all.  We did have 2 males together at a time and never had 1 problem even though they were both different breeds and both intact.  It was a big risk as one was a rottweiler and the other a dogo argentino - so two very powerful large dogs. Our male rotty was already 5 years and the most gentle boy with all dogs and not once showed any signs of aggression in all his years. We had his mother so he grew up with her and when she passed we got a male dogo.  From the beginning they were the best friends until our rotty passed away from bone cancer 2 and half years later.  Our dogo passed a way a few months later from immune mediated disease which was brought on by ehrilicia disease  DH and I think he lost his will to live because he missed his big brother so much. We then got another male dogo and he was fine when we introduced a female dogo pup and they were extremely close.

When we moved to europe we had 2 males and 1 female dogos.  The males were fine together UNTIL the younger male pup became a teenager and then our old boy had big problems with him.  We had to keep them separated after a couple of nasty big fights. Not even then did the younger male become aggressive but there was no changing old boys attitude. The female was fine with both of them.

We currently have one male staff now and after talking to many breeders, our next staffy will definitely be a female.  We've always had the best experiences with the male/female combo and after having to deal with two males that do not get along with each other, it's not something that we want to do again.  Our dogs are a huge part of the family and it was so hard not being able to have them all co-exist together.

In the end, I really think it comes down to individual dogs and their personalities as I have seen other males also live peacefully together. It's just that you have a higher risk of them not getting along which really sucks for the whole family.

Hya,

Generally dogs of different sexes are best, although there are obviously exceptions! Try and get temperaments to suit too, for example I wouldn't recommend putting 2 dominant dogs together. They will have a hierarchy, much as us humans like to think they are both equals, one will be the boss!

Age is a factor to consider as well when adding a second dog. Generally (and as I say there are always exceptions!) but you don't want to get your second dog when your first is under 1, as, being so young, they will most likely bond to each other more than to yourself, but it can make training hard as your new dog may pick up bad habits from the older one if he isn't totally trained yet. Equally, putting a puppy with an old dog can often be a little unfair on the OAP as they want calm and rest and they suddenly have a mad little un wanting to play!

I have 2 dogs - Ashton (now 5) and Ruby (now 4). Ashton was 14 months old when we got Ruby. They are best of friends and they love each others company and are great playmates. Ruby is clearly the boss though and was from day 1! We knew Ashton loved other dogs, was really well socialised, and submissive, so they were a good match.

Good Luck! Keep us updated! There is advice on another thread on how to introduce your new dog to the other which might be a good read  

Sarah
(barnesation)