How did you end up with a "staffie"?

Interested to know how you ended up taking in a Staffordshire bull terrier as a pet? Have you always loved the breed? Met one and fell in love? Or was is someone else in the families choice?

Interested to know your stories

my first proper dog from pup was X staffy or pitbull cross call sam  she was best dog ever so i got xena and that was it  

I was looking for a pup & my oh showed me this pretty face in our Friday ad & said I should ring up because she looked like a real character. I did & she came home with us, boy was he right about character   He has owned a lot of different breeds & has said she is the most loving & playful dog he has ever known   

If ever we were to get a dog it would be a Stafford! My brother had one 15 years ago and we've loved them ever since xx

Well we were looking for a rescue dog, there were lots of staffies , but to be honest we were not interested in them at first. Reasons being we knew very little about them, none in family or friends, but mostly because a lot of the rescue dogs were strays with no known background. We felt that as we had 2 kids, youngest 3yrs, that we had a big powerful dog entering our homes with very little knowledge about it.
However, after seeing so many in these places started to fall in love with them. After reading up on the breed we decided to look for one that had been handed in and was known to be child friendly.
So really it was after seeing so many of their little faces, where before we hadn't come across many in life and so weren't really on our rada.

I never knew anything about Staffies though we had lots of dogs growing up, all rescues, then my sister got grace a staffy x springer and I just fell in love, had never known a dog love people so much, wanted cuddles and to be close to you ALL the time! When I found out this was a staffy trait I set my heart on having one, once I was able to   

Had a gsd and a collie, then after not having a dog for a while settled on a staffie pup as always loved them.
Reggie came to me 16 years ago ,followed by Charlie (girl) 8 months later.
I adored them both and they lived to a good old age. Took a long while to get over the loss of them, then discovered Toots. She is related to my Charlie.
I will never own another breed     

We changed our minds so much when trying to find a dog! First we wanted a Doberman or Rotti but decided against them as our house is only small, then an EBT but heard they had a lot of health problems and then somewhere along the line Staffy got thrown in as an idea, we found some pups and couldn't leave without one!
I think my parents having one influenced our decision as we absolutely love him and his crazyness to pieces.
I don't think we could have picked a better breed! We talk to so many people at the park with dogs/pups and each time come away thinking "Wow we are so lucky to have Bane!" He is so intelligent and loving and keeps us laughing all the time!

I'd always had Collies, my partner had always had Boxers or crosses of Bull breeds, we both had certain requirements, his was it had to be a bull breed.. I needed it to be a quick learner (I needed the dog to be able to work) I didn't want something to big etc, anyway everything pointed to the Stafford being the perfect dog for us and I can say hand on heart.. Rolo is perfect and I wouldn't change him for the world.   

I loved their wee muscly physique about 2yrs ago and then saw a blue and decided then and there that was always going to be my 1st dog based purely on physical looks then Googled and loved the characteristics (they left out naughty! lol)& health issues and my lease was due for renewal so I cheekily asked if we could get a small dog and she said yes, that was on a Wednesday, on Thursday I contacted a breeder with pups for sale and Saturday bought him, 4 weeks later he was home!!

Loving reading everyone's stories, great thread Rach xx

Me to saz, it's really lovely hearing how everyone fell in love with our beloved breed xx

Lovely reading! My first Scrumpy was a present from my ex, we broke up and he kept her (touchy subject), when I sorted myself out I had to have a staffy in my life - hence Moo my little rescue x

Had my best Staff Helen when I was a teen and fell in love with the breed back then. Then I had the boys so wasn't really fair to have a dog at the time as I was working away a lot.

So... Flo chose us really. I was visiting Battersea for the second time as my youngest wanted to go cos my eldest went with us the week before. Just to look   

2 of the 3 dogs we liked were still in the kennels but I said it needed to be a dog that fitted in with the family.. My ace card for not to get a dog !

Anyway, passed Flo's cell and read her bio.. Then wandered on, and then back again and so on.

Long and short, she came home with us that day   

Wouldn't be without her now  

The hubby and I started out with rotties each many years before we got together, continued to stick with rotties for many more. When we were back in Aus we saw a show that had Dogo Argentinos which we fell in love with but thought we would never own as they were banned in Aus. In 2000 we moved to Thailand and took our 2 rotties with us and after a couple of years our old girl passed away so we decided to add a Dogo to our family and he and our male rotty were the very best of friends for a couple of wonderful years until our rotty passed away from bone cancer. Our dogo at the time was also experiencing ill health and he too passed away about 6 months later (secondary infection from ehrlichiosis but I think losing his best mate was the final straw ) We continued with the Dogo Argentino for at least 10 more years until november last year when our last boy passed away from 2 tick bourne blood diseases and we realised that we couldn't do it anymore because as much as we loved the breed and thought we would always own them, the realisation that the immune system of the Dogo is not as strong as some of the older breeds and we, especially our daughter couldn't handle losing them at the young age that they kept on dying at.
When we started looking for a new dog, we knew we wanted to stick to a molosser/bull breed but wanted something less intimidating (not to us as we never saw rotties or dogos scary) and smaller as we planned on travelling throughout Europe once we moved back and thought that checking into a hotel would be much easier with a smaller more compact dog would be easier than doing it with a "horse"   

If hubby had his way we would've gotten a Cane Corso (hardly small!) but we girls said no more big dogs so initially looked at the EBT (love their egg heads) but decided that the SBT would be the one due to their reputation as a loving family dog and their "nanny dog" reputation.
It wasn't easy finding a stafford here in Indonesia and if we were set on a puppy, we still wouldn't have one as the 2-3 breeders that do have them haven't bred any staffords in over a year (a good thing I suppose considering everyone else breeds the crap out of other breeds here   ) so we were very lucky to find Marquez when we did when he was 14 months old and with pedigree papers which we absolutely needed for his travel to Europe and within the EU. After owning him since January, I really can't see us owning any other breed - he has us all laughing with his little quirks which I've come to see as normal amongst the breed and which seem to be unique to the SBT but also other little things that we loved so much in the Dogo that we also though were special.

I had a serious phobia of dogs all my life!! When we moved into our home my OH kept subtly talking about staffies (he loves dog but never had one). So I started reading up everything I could. One day I came home and saw the neighbour had one and thought "wow, powerful looking, not sure." The next day the OH had stayed home to let the phone company in and said the staffy had come running into our house full of cuddles and kisses. I read up some more and started thinking ok, they're nanny dogs, they're loving, they certainly have more good to them than their bad reputations and over here they are extremely popular.

So I told the OH we should look into getting one. I told him if we got a pup, the pup and I would grow and learn together. He wasn't sure. We even went off to buy a doggy bed and accessories before even coming across Roxy.

And then we met Roxy...........     

PS: the neighbour's staffy was brindle and very similar looking to Rox. At the time he was about 13. Not long after we got to know him he suffered 2 strokes. We were walking Rox as a pup and Shaka had managed to get out the house. He was very wobbly on his legs and didn't have much movement on his left side. I managed to comfort him and keep him with me until his owner got home to let him back in. It amazed me even then how friendly and loving they are He was PTS not long after that as he suffered another stroke and had lost his sight He used to come flying out his house and up to our gate to see Rox and they'd paw at each other and "chat" through the gate.

I've loved reading these! So many happy and positive stories!

I ended up with a staffie as I had grown up with two staffie/pit bull crosses and my friends parents always had them as a kid. When I started working in rescue it broke my heart to see how many of my beloved childhood breed were abused and abandoned so frequently! I wanted a Rottweiler but Staffie bitches are my heart dogs I especially had an affinity with ex breeding bitches. They all seem to have very similar traits and they're just so caring and sweet, but often not seen much of the world. Most of you know I wasn't ready for a dog when little Biscuit came along, but there's no way I was leaving her behind. So here she is

I've worked with hundreds of breeds over the years, and bull breeds really are just the best!

I grew up around power breeds and always loved them. An AmStaff is perfect for my lifestyle and still small enough to be a lapdog.

Great stories everyone  . My first experience with the stafford breed was on my cousins farm & i feel inlove with the breed right there & then. I always wanted a rottie but after spending a week or so with my cousins staffords i knew this is the breed for me.
When i moved away from the big smoke & into a rual lifestyle with a big yard i knew it was time for my first dog & the stafford was the only breed on my list. I could't imagine life without my boy, he is just amazing & so loyal & a great companion.

Got my staffi Tuesday from the blue cross she is only 10wks old. Have always had bull mastiffs so this breed is a first for me. She has come into a home with 3 cats. so any more multi pet households who have advise would love to hear from u.

Controversially for this forum, I am not especially, or not only, an SBT aficionado. Don’t take this the wrong way, I can explain!

I love all dogs – even though some are too big for me to consider giving a home to, and very small ones often seem a bit bereft of personality. Sorry for this prejudice, but this is my story.

Whatever dog I offered a home to, it would have to be a rescue – there are so many fantastic dogs that have been dumped/jettisoned/abandoned. I wanted to do some good – as well as have some fun, which having a dog obviously gives you. So, in theory, any medium-sized dog was a contender. Didn’t care, male or female. As I investigated all the rescues, I couldn’t help noticing that more than 50% of all the dogs in all the rescues were staffies or staffx.

I didn’t particularly want a staffie. I am appalled at the reasons for which the staffies are said to have been bred and would prefer it, now we are no longer in the 19th century, if the word ‘bull’ could be dropped from the name altogether. A Staffordshire terrier – that would help all of us get better write-ups in the press.

So, anyway, despite not particularly wanting a staffie, Douglas sat looking out at me from a kennel at the SSPCA and he was, I have to say, from the moment I first saw him, a totally gorgeous dog. At that time he had one of those aggressive, macho names (that I don’t even want to mention). I resolved that any dog I took home would have a kind and pleasant name and that he would never wear studs. Out of the cacophony of noise (every single other dog seemed to be barking its head off) Douglas was the only one who stood there silently. That impressed me - though I realise it could have been because he had been there so long (9 months) that he’d got fed up with the sound of his own voice.  The rescue had taken a particularly off-putting picture of him for their website.  Maybe this also contributed to his being overlooked time and time again. Really – that photo would have deterred anyone; the rescue should have re-done it.

I took Douglas for a sad little walk round the rescue car park before sealing the deal – visited the rescue at least twice, maybe thrice. It’s difficult to know what else to do to test things out before committing. Talk to the handler? They know very little and are scared witless by the data protection act, which they think prevents them telling you anything useful about the dog’s previous life. Which is annoying. During the walks, the dog was off his head, totally hyper, turning round, biting through his lead. Again, that behaviour would probably have caused others to walk away. I knew life would never be the same again and on 11th Feb 2013, I signed the paperwork, paid the money, and walked out with a bewildered Douglas and a batch of documents. It says ‘staffx’ on the receipt.

It’s a pity you cant open the windows in modern trains because that dog’s insides were seriously disturbed on the journey back to Edinburgh! It took him a long time to settle down with me and to figure out finally that he was in a safe and caring place. Now, after 15 months, Douglas is a happy, well-adjusted, pleasant, very affectionate and intelligent dog. He is maybe 3 years old. He only has one fault, but it is a big one – he can be very grumpy with other dogs. So I cant give him as much freedom as I would like him to have – and as he would like to have himself. He isn’t a big barker though – that initial assessment was correct. When he barks it is very low and throaty, but he doesn’t do it often.

If anyone wanted to buy him off me now, they couldn’t afford it.

Lovely stories. Me and OH both grew up with dogs, all type, mostly mixes. At the time we started thinking about our dog we were renting 1bed flat. So we open uncle google and search for dog that is small, doesn't bark, is great family pet and will love you for ever. In result we had Staffy. I've never heart of them, and shame to say, when I started reading that they were fighting dogs, all the papers stories etc, I was like " NO WAY". And then I saw pics of them and felt in love. I wanted that big, heart shaped head dog, with the bigest smile. That's how we ended up with my baby.

we had friends come over to stay for the week end and they brought their staffy over with them,i fell in love with her and when they went home knew i had to own one myself,two weeks later and sasha arrived in our lives   

I decided I wanted to rescue, knew I didn't have the time or experience to raise a puppy.

I wanted a dog sized dog but knew a rotty/lab could be too strong for me especially as it could have had little training previously. Did some research wanting a dog I could run with, short haired and from research can to the conclusion that a Staffy would be perfect. That and there was a massive amount of choice.

I only popped into Dogs Trust on a bit of a reccy and from the questionnaire they matched me to Ledger (then George) who was massively kennel stressed so couldn't be on public view, he came home a week later with a promise that they would take him in for the week I was working away if I couldn't talk my parents into taking him in (they did)

My friend has two lovely stafford litter mates and i love them to pieces they are 4 now and they grew up with my other dog jasper and he loves them to bits, i have worked with lots at kennels and on behavior consults with my uncle and just fell in love with them, so decided to get one of my own

I used to be petrified of dogs when I was a youngster as we didn't own any pets when I was a kid. When I was 20 I lived with my then partner who talked me into having a staffie, I agreed but basically said it was his dog and I wanted nothing to do with it ( horrible I know but I was young and actually quite frightened of owning a DEVIL dog).

Anyway picked Matilda up and the first night she cried and cried (she was downstairs) although I didn't want her I couldn't bear to hear her cry, went downstairs and put her on the other end of the sofa from me (didn't want her too close) and fell asleep, when I woke up she was lying on my chest fast asleep with her head nuzzled into me, and as simple as that I fell in love.

Unfortunately me and ex broke up, I knew I had to let her go as she would have a better life with his parents (big garden and they could spend lots of time with her). It broke my heart, by that time we had her for 2 years and I loved her so much.

Now i'm settled with my partner and talked about having another dog, I wouldn't have any other breed..... so Gordon came into our lives, and we absolutely love him to bits, hes a bit of a crazy guy but so loving     

We were on a shopping trip to a Morrisons store in Cambridgeshire and decided to pop in to Wood Green on the way home. We had been popping in there for sometime anyway in the months leading up to this shopping trip as we were interested in adopting a rescue dog.

We had a walk around and Rocky was sitting at the fence of his enclosure. I looked at him, he looked at me, I looked at hubby and that was it really. We went and put a reserve on him straight away. Had never had any contact with a Staffy before, we didn't even know what breed of dog he was (Rocky is a Staffy cross) it didn't matter.

About a week later we bought him home, once he had his little procedure that is.

last dog was a samoyed (couldnt b any different from a staffy) had to have him put to sleep at 13 worst thing ive ever had to do! said no to any more dogs then other half said what about a staffy which i was (as lots of people r) oh dont think so! i then looked into breed and decided if we were to get another dog it would b a staffy and a rescue one! (bartolli my last dog) was buried under a willow tree my son was in willow class and when i started looking on rspca rescue site there was "willow" a 7 month old staffy who had, had a bad start to life it was meant to b! love her as much today as 1st time i saw her! 

Have never had one before, but always loved the breed their tenacity and love of life and people so I guess that's why, will never have another breed now  

tessa is my forth staff. we had ben a very expensive pedigree brindle when i was young and after we lost him we had bess and lucy two litter sisters and also very expensive pedigree dogs. i took them with me when i left home and they lived till 14 and 15 respectivley. i said i wouldn't have another as it hurts too much when they go but we all know how they get under your skin.
we have had tessa for two years now and she is every but as loving,funny,loyal,well behaved and intelligent as all my other dogs and the only difference is she is a rescue. it's like she has always been here with us and goes everywhere with me. i like all dogs but i only love staffies.

If you had told me a couple of years ago that I'd end up with a Staffordshire I'd have said you were mental.
I've always loved all dogs but was never especially keen on bull breeds because of reputation and what I now recognise as complete naivety.

I'd actually been on a waiting list for and Austrailian Cattle Dog pup for over a year before I made the switch and started looking for Staffs. My fiance's parents got a staff/boxer cross from rescue that I just loved. I couldn't believe how affectionate and reserved his nature was - completely in contrast to what I expected or had been conditioned to think. My fiancé wasn't sold on the idea of the ACD as she thought it would be too high energy and high maintenance and so I started (grudgingly) doing some research on Staffordshires. I was pretty impressed and definitely taken aback by a lot of what I read.

I couldn't be happier that we chose a Staff. I'll admit I was still a little nervous about it, even on the day we got him and the couple of weeks after, but I think this was more to do with the expected perceptions of people I knew, rather than my own worries. My family were very skeptical. One of my brothers virtually disowned me for a few weeks! Now that they have met Rubio a few times their eyes have been opened to the breed just like mine were. My parents LOVE him and I love seeing them be surprised and amazed at what a smart little dog he is.

Great stories. I grew up with lots of giant breeds dog and loved them from a baby and till today but my best dog growing up was a gsd. In recent years I a pitbull and also am staff (he wasn't mine took care of him for friends for a while.
Peppa choose me it was just before Xmas and my partner (kind of was)
Was looking for a present for me and I said that the only thing i want is a dog that we were planning to have for a long time .
But couldn't decide between a staffy/shar-pei .i know!
I went to see the pups and parents . He wanted a male but the minute I saw peppa that was it. She just looked at me as if saying I'm a wee-wee puppy right now but I promise you ill grow up to be a great doggie if you give me the chance and she is great.
I feel bad about not rescuing but heard ill have problems cause i live in a flat (ridicuiless think how many staffies are not being rescued for the same reason) but I think that was faith.
She was exactly 8 weeks old the day I got her.

it were a case of love-at-first-meet ..

by chance .. in passing .. i stopped in at a rescue center .. 30 miles from home
had mulled over the idea of adopting a dog for about two years previous ..
couple of friends had rescued a chihuahua and a jrt and i did a bit of dogsitting for one
i grew up around dogs ( overseas ) and never came across one that i couldn't make friends with
only factor i had in mind was size of dog relative to living space ..
as for 'staffy' .. had never been around one .. seen them here and there ..
and in the news .. but paid no attention to negative media reputation ..

at the rescue center .. i had a look around their 20 or so kennels ..
all the dogs were barking like mad .. except this one .. who when she saw me
came out of her corner .. slowly .. ears back ..
i crouched down to say hello .. her tail started to wag .. she came to the kennel bars
looked at me .. i looked at her .. and that was it ..

i asked the staff about "the one in kennel 11" ..
and they said "oh the female white staffy" .. ( i don't recall any other staffys being there )
"would you like to take her for a short walk"
"ok" sais i ..

on the walk i again crouched down to say hello at her level ..
and she jumped up onto .. and into my lap .. shaking and trembling ..
"yeah she's had a fearful time here in the kennels .. she realy doesn't like it" i was told
( at the end of the walk it were quite evident she didn't want to go back )

' well i know a quiet out-of-the-way place .. has central heating .. good food ..
a comfy bed for you .. and a park and woodland nearby .. i think i should take you there
and you can call it home ' ..
she looked at me .. and her eyes said 'yes pleez' ..

and off we went on the 30 mile drive home ..

it was only after .. that i started to research buy some books regarding the staffy breed ..
and only 'cause the r.c. staff had called her a 'staffy '
and the vet i took her to for a health checkup said she were mainly 'staffy'
( she could have been another breed for all i was to know :-)

Aww lovely story, Daisy was the only one not barking in the kennels too   

I like their muscly physique and once I researched their behaviour and characteristics I wanted one straight away.

One of my friends had a Staffy that was a lovely dog but we had never really thought about having one of our own.  We had talked about getting a rescue dog but were looking for a GSD not a Staff and then having gone round a lot of the centres and realised how many Staffies were abandoned we started paying more attention to them.  It was at the Dogs Trust though that Dizzy caught my eye, he had only just come in as a stray, was skinny and so nervous, but when I bobbed down and asked him to sit he did and looked so proud of himself.  

Despite their reputation and we do still get the odd judgement and have been told to get that vicious dog away from me, the most he does is bite my OH's feet when he wants to play (he sneaks up - pretends to look away and then nibbles on his toes)!

We are considering maybe adding to the family at some point and chances are we would get another Staffy. 

What a brilliant thread this is, loving all the stories.

I have wanted a staffy for years as a couple of friends have had them, and they were just the friendliest dogs ever and to this day I've never met one that I haven't loved.

We sadly had to have our last dog Alvin put to sleep at the beginning of this year due to a brain tumour, he was a collie cross (we think with a staffy) we rescued him when he was 2 years old and he gave us 11 years of love, laughs and wonderful memories.

We gave it a couple of months but the house was just too quiet and our erstwhile cat wasn't filling the void, so we made the decision to get another dog.

We both decided a staffy would be perfect as we both loved them, and my Wife particularly wanted a lap dog she could snuggle with as our other dog was just too big (despite him thinking he wasn't) and used to shed a whole hoover-full of hair every day it seemed.

all of our animals have always come from Rescue centres but on this occasion we knew we wouldn't be able to pass the stringent home visits as we rent and our garden doesn't have 6 foot high fencing all around, so we went down the classified route with a mind to getting a slightly older puppy and not one potentially BYB for profit.

We found 9 month old Radley in an advert and after lots of phone calls etc learnt that the family had to move to a different area as their tenancy agreement was over and they could not find anywhere that would let them keep him, so we went to meet him and he came running over to us, covered us in licks and the rest is history.

Their loss was definitely our gain (although it was horrible seeing them say goodbye to him) but we have the dog we've always wanted and couldn't imagine life without him.

Oh what a fab story Hun xx

We had not had a dog for a long time (last dog was a liver & tan doberman).  Had 2 small kids in the house and never seemed to have the time for another dog.  Decided 3 years ago the time was right to look again (kids at Uni..).  I originally looked at rescue and went to the Blue Cross Kennels near Birmingham to look at a staffy called Poppy.  They brought her out and she wouldn't stop barking and ran away from us.  This really put me off as my brother and friends had staffies which were totally different to this one.  We left and decided that if we were going to have a staffy, it would have to be a pup.  We started looking in local ads and found some for sale quite nearby.  This time we took a friend who knows the breed.  When we got to the house, there was poo all over the back yard, so much we had to tip toe through to the back door like we were avoiding landmines!  Once inside, the house stunk to high heaven, but the 7 little pups were adorable.  The mother was on her 2nd litter and wasn't yet 2 years old.  It was obvious that these were BYB's, and if I could have afforded to buy them all, I would have just to have got them out of there.  We were advised by our friend not to take any, so we left.  The next one we saw was equally adorable, but they lied to us saying that she had papers and hadn't got them after all.  Strike 2.  Kept looking and after a while we came across an advert for pups in Doncaster.  Went to see the 2 remaining pups she  had.  When we got there, they were running around together with a raggy rope.  I checked out the paperwork whilst the rest of the family watched them playing.  They looked really healthy and well looked after.  I went back outside and the little brindle came over to me to say hello.  I was smitten!  A quick family conference and we took her home with us there and then (she was 12 weeks old) and we had her home for Xmas.  I love her to bits (we all do), she is the right size for our house, if that makes sense and she totally completes our family.  She makes us laugh and follows me everywhere.  I wouldn't be without her and only wish I had made the decision to 'Staffy up' sooner, but then again if I had I wouldn't have Meg.  Sorry for rambling on!

BTW, her KC official name? 'TIME WAS RIGHT FOR ME', pretty apt, I guess

LOVE these stories (no surprise there).

Wanted a dog for ages - years, and slowly started working out how I could, say, work from home so that I could adopt a pet eventually.

Just over two years ago I applied for fostering. Fostered a Labrador Ridgeback x who I loved but had very violent unexpected outbreaks around certain types of men, and he was rehomed to someone who lived on a farm, with not too many people around. Was very sad about that because he was an amazing dog.

I then fostered a female Staffy who was not mentally stable, I don't think, and who would bite me all the time in a way that frightened me and which escalated - she was adopted by a vet.

After that experience I was even less keen on getting a Staffie. Then the rescue called, we've got a third dog for you. It was supposed to be a Jack Russell but ended up being Rupert, fresh from having been tied up to a lamppost and being found by some kids.

He was about one and a half but hadn't been trained at all - not even housetrained. He was scared of stairs so my sister and I had to carry him down to the train platform to get him home. He was also pretty big and scary looking (to me). I thought my ideal dog was a pointer.

But his personality was rock steady and lovely and it became clear within less than 24 hours that he was a keeper. He has always been confident but not domineering. I am so lucky that he wound up with me in this roundabout way as I would have never picked him myself - I knew nothing about Staffies.

To paraphrase a Grace Jones song title:

He's not perfect, but he's perfect for me.

And I didn't even know what I was looking for in a dog. Has changed my life, and my perspective on a lot of things.

I've always loved all dogs.  Straight out of high school I had a short job as a vet tech and had a chance to work with many different breeds.  I always liked to study about the histories behind them.  Call it destiny or premonition but I just was drawn to a pic and description of the staffy in one of my dog breed books.  Love their huge heart in a compact body.  Funny thing was Staffies were very rare in Hawaii back 15 yrs ago.  We had tons of pit bulls, pit X, and Am Staffs but I had never met a staffy.  Hawaii is a rabies free state so bringing in dogs from other states had to go through quarantine and a big deal.  As I did my research, found out that I could import from Australia and skip the whole quarantine process.  And so we got our first girl Sugar from a breeder in Australia shipped all the way over to Hawaii.  Best decision I have ever made!  She fit hubby and I perfectly!  And when we finally had children we couldn't have asked for a better nanny.

We have been talking about getting a dog for over year and my hubby always wanted to have a Staffie but I wasn't keen. On the other hand I wanted to get a Shiba (Japanese dog), but it is difficult to get a Shiba in the UK. After my hubby read about the breed, he was really not keen and changed his mind back to a Staffie.

We are always agreed on 1. Short hair 2. Medium build

We went to Battersea rescue centre and were surprised to see so many Staffies out there looking for a home. We registered and waited for an under one year old Staffie to come along. We saw a 9 month old female but realised that we want a puppy so started to look for a puppy online.

One weekend in last October I saw some breeder has blue Staffie pups so I called them and went to see. We knew we were taking a dog home that day.

Three people named our doggie, so now he is Zeus Peanut Pancetta. He fit into our lives almost immediately like he had always been there. I glad we chose a Staffie, and I cannot think of our lives without him!

Everyone's stories are brilliant.

I had always wanted a dog, and 8years ago I was at work one night and my ex called me and asked if I wanted a tan staffie pup, I thought about as all we told was they where ten weeks old full staffies and if wee wanted boy or girl, I chose girl,
I know it wasn't 'right' how we got her but didn't know about adoption etc just got offered a puppy and dived in and wouldn't have changed her for the world,
Got home from work and she wasn't tan she was tigerbrindle with a white chest, but she gave me a wee look and I said ok you can stay haha
She is a brilliant natured dog and has a brilliant bond with my daughter. She picked her name as wee said a load of names to her all to no reaction then I said Ellie and she turned and looked at me.
Relationship ended ex walked out and took Ellie with her miss my smelly Ellie and havent seen her in 3months it's not nice but couldn't care less about the ex and would stop in street if I seen them just to say hello give Ellie a good rub and not even acknowledge the ex just let her stair into space

Then a friend phoned me one night and told me about tan staffies for sale,
(Wrong again)
But missed the company a dog gives and was at a very very low point in my life so went and seen them and they all looked amazing. Had a choice of two and picked Spud he was always going to be Spud, got him early aswell (wrong again) 6wks but hey 6months later he's here and again wouldn't change him for the world and absolutely amazing and keeping my chin up, giving me amazing cuddles lots a smiles and of course the inevitable big kisses yuk haha
Looking forward to the next ten plus years with my wee man watching him and my daughter growing up together as she's 8 and gonna be hitting her teens soon so Spud will be scaring the boys away haha
Well he better