New member and new staffy

Hi everyone as the title says I'm new here and I have a few questions regarding our new dog Buster. It's a bit of a long story so I'll try make it as small as possible. We're currently on holiday and a few days ago we were on our way back from visiting a nearby town, when we witnessed a rather horrific crash. We stopped to help and just so happened to see a white staffy run from the crashed car, absolutely terrified (understandably) and trying to run in front of traffic on the motorway. We were able to stop him running long enough to grab him, and looked after him long enough for a police van to come pick him up. Fast forward 2 days (today) and while at the police station giving statements we asked the officer how the dog was doing and he explained his situation. The dogs owner had died from the injuries he sustained in the crash and his family want nothing to do with him. Once the officer told us their policy means keeping the dog for a few days and then euthanising, we knew we couldn't leave him.

Now the backstory is out of the way I'll get to my questions. So first of all, we have a female staffy (3 y/o) and a male spaniel (12y/o) at home who will need introducing to buster. Any tips on making the introduction as smooth as possible? The spaniel is deaf and partially blind and has become very wary of unfamiliar dogs. Our staff is okay with other dogs but can be very boisterous wanting to play, which can cause other dogs to become annoyed at her behaviour. We have no history whatsoever on Buster so not sure what he is like with other dogs yet.

My second issue is that Buster has not being neutered yet and has taken a rather strong "liking" to my arm. He won't leave it alone! Every chance he gets he will try humping it. Once we get him neutered will this behaviour improve? Sorry for such a long post! Any advice will be appreciated

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Hi & Welcome to the Forum from Flo and me

Well that's quiet an introduction and well done for taking him in. The first meeting really wants to be somewhere neutral and on lead and let them gradually get used to each other. Try walking with humans between the dogs at first so that they know each is there but far enough away not to seem a threat.

Once you've achieved that gradually move them nearer to each other and continue the walk. The one thing to remember is that this shouldn't be rushed, take time for them all to get used to each other.

In the home you might want to have a separate space for the newcomer so that he can have some space and again take his time to settle in. Also, ensure that there is no opportunity to fight over toys or food etc. Once he's settled in I'm sure all will fall in to place.

Hi and welcome from Misty and I. What a terrible thing to witness but for Busters sake it was wonderful you were there. So happy you have given him a home!

I agree with Ian he has given great advice. Parallel walks are a good idea first to get them close to each other but theres still space between them.

I would definitely think neutering can help with the humping. It's going to be such an upheaval for buster I'm so glad he has found a good home to go to. Please do keep us updated on how it goes x

Hi and welcome from me and mine.

What an extraordinary and sad story. That's a wonderful thing you've done there. Poor Buster, what an experience.

I agree with the others about taking it slowly and about walking side by side with enough distance that they can see each other but not need to interact. I would, though, be careful about having humans between them if you see any sign of anxiety or especially if they are trying to get at each other negatively. Dogs can redirect - in other words if they can't bite what they want they bite the nearest thing instead - and you can also get caught up by accident. The ideal is to find somewhere that you can walk side by side with relaxed leads (very important), but where the distance is such that they don't feel the need to actually do anything.

You want the dogs to relax, heads down sniffing, before you start to close the gap. Get a bit nearer, then call them away again. Nearer away, nearer away. Don't let them actually get close and sniff each other until they can do so with no tension.

This might go quickly, it might take a few walks. It's worth taking your time. You might also find it easier to work with your other two separately, especially as your spaniel already has some worries.

Humping - this can sometimes just be a sign of stress, an outlet for it, and it might just go on its own. If not, does Buster know things like sit? If so, I'd ask him to do something else then reward him for it, either with treats or a toy, and with praise. Reward him for doing something he can do easily, make that what gets him your fuss and attention, and hopefully that will be enough to help him understand that the humping isn't as beneficial.

Good luck, I really hope it all works out quickly for you all.

Thank you all for the replies! I took your advice and took them for a walk rather than letting them meet face to face, started with Buster and Harvey (our spaniel) then had someone add Tara (our other staff) to the mix. Well I'm glad to report it couldn't have went better! There were no signs of aggression, lots of natural curiosity and then they seemed to just accept the new boy and Buster slipped right into our little gang.

Once we returned home, Buster tried humping both dogs. Tara was quick to give him a telling off and he's since left her alone although Harvey will just whine meaning buster continues to hump him. Weve found saying "NO" is enough for him to stop humping and he hasn't tried it again in a while. If I have a treat in my hand Buster will sit down automatically but if someone were to ask him to sit he just gives a blank look so we need to work on that.

We'll be taking him to the vets on Monday. We were originally to sort out microchipping, neutering and vaccines but we have since found out he didn't receive any vet care while in police custody, bearing in mind this is after he was involved in a car crash so you would think they'd at least get him checked over for any internal damage.

Oh I also forgot to add whenever the dogs are home alone (very rare and for an hour or two at the very most), we leave Harvey and Tara in the living room. Now we have Buster we were planning on letting him have the run of the hallway as there's no way I'm leaving all three dogs together in one room. However, I'm not sure if we should purchase a baby gate and leave the living room door open, so the dogs can still see each other, or close the door so they have no way of seeing each other. I'm more worried about going with the baby gate option and coming home to find Buster has cleared the gate and is now in the living room.

Fab news they all get along nicely

Staffies can clear baby gates with little effort, I have one that did just that and ended up with holes in the door frame for no reason as the gate was pointless.

In your situation I think it's all about trial and error to work out what's best and how they all settle, sounds like you won't have too much trouble though.

That's very good news! It sounds like you got some work to do but are off to a good start.

Re the police and vets, that doesn't surprise me. They don't have the budget and, sadly to say, they probably assumed he'd be pts as not wanted by the family. I'm sure by this stage you'd know it if there was anything amiss but it's worth having him checked over, just to make sure.

Hi, and welcome!
I can't really offer any more or better advice than has been given above, except that this is a great forum with a wealth of experience, so any questions just ask!
Lynn x

Hello and welcome.
What an unusual way to acquire a staffy but well done to you for taking him on !

I thought I'd post a little update for everyone. We took Buster to the vets for the checkup, the vet said he looks in good health however he has had two teeth knocked out. We already knew about one because it's a canine tooth and thought it was knocked out in the crash, but the vet has said it's an old injury. We were praying he had not been microchipped because obviously it makes us easier for us, but unfortunately he has and the vet doesn't know how we will get around changing the details on the chip. We need to call Petlog and explain the situation, if Buster is registered in his owner's name the police can call and explain he has passed away and we now own Buster. If for whatever reason the owner registered Buster in someone else's name, they'd need to be contacted and they could of course refuse to change the details or even demand Buster back.

Very worried

I'm fairly optimistic you won't have a problem. I'd lay money on the registration being with his old owner.

Great news on your other post, by the way. It sounds like they're all settling down happily now.

I know it's common sense that an owner would register THEIR dog in their name, and I should be thinking positive that this is what his previous owner has done. However the vet seemed to make a point of saying there's a huge chance he's registered in someone else's name, hence why I'm so doubtful. He also wanted us to hold off on neutering Buster until he is officially chipped in our name. I tried explaining that technically, he isn't officially our dog until the 6 month mark as the owner's family have this length of time to change their mind, contact the police and ask for Buster back.

I know I'm worrying about something that most likely won't be an issue, but I feel Buster's part of the family now and I can't shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen

What a worry!

The vet might think that way because the family are reluctant to take him & was therefore stolen? I know it sounds silly, but it happens.

Re: neutering. Is his being entire a big problem at the moment? If not, then it won't hurt to wait. Has the vet refused or just advised?

Is that 6 month thing something the police have told you? It sounds odd to me, given that the time to claim a stray from the warden is only 7 days. Had you not taken Buster, I'm sure they wouldn't have waited for 6 months to see if the family changed their minds!

Are you in the UK? If so, I can see if I can double check for you tomorrow. The rescue centre I volunteer for is RSPCA affiliated and we take in the local dog warden strays, they're pretty good on dog law! I'm going in for a meeting tomorrow and am more than happy to ask what they think.

Gillybrent, neutering is just something we'd prefer to have done there aren't any big issues with putting it off. The police officer I spoke to seemed to have no problem with us having Buster neutered, even with the 6 month period. The vet didn't outright refuse he just strongly advised against.

If I can dig out the form we signed when agreeing to rehome Buster I'll be able to quote exactly what it says (this is the form from the police themselves). It said something along the lines of the family not showing any interest in taking buster into the care, and by signing this form we acknowledge that the family have 6 months to decide to take Buster off us, and we understand we must comply.

Surely when the family decided against keeping Buster they would've been made away he was going to be PTS? Countless officers informed us their policy is keep the dog for a few days and then have them PTS. Unless the family was contacted and told someone was going to rehome him, I assume they are under the impression Buster is no longer alive. I'm not exactly sure on the laws surrounding this but one policeman seemed to suggest because we were in Scotland the laws were different than back home in England. Again, not sure if this is true. If you could mention this tomorrow this would be greatly appreciated LizP!

hopefully the family just think he's gone & won't suddenly change their mind. It certainly sounds as though they didn't care much what happened to him.

i think the law might be different in scotland, a lot of laws have slight differences north of the border.

To be honest, if the vet's okay with neutering & he's settled in properly with you then go ahead - as far as you're concerned you're the owners!

The thoughts of our Animal Manager are that, as you've signed an agreement, you have to stick with it. I still think it's unlikely that they'll want Buster back, I agree that the family is more likely to just move on from him, so I wouldn't spend the next 6 months (or already less!) panicking. If it happens, it happens.

I would not neuter him. If the family does want him back, you could end up in an unpleasant 'what have you done to our dog' situation. It's not worth it for the sake of a few months of waiting. If you feel a need to do something now, Deb suggested looking at chemical castration. That way there is no irreversible surgical intervention.

Hi everyone, I thought I'd post a little update here on Buster. This morning I woke up to a loud bang and realised Buster had fell off my bed. He was on his back, legs in the air, trying his best to get on his front. I managed to gentle roll him onto his stomach but he could not stand. I thought he'd managed to damage his legs/back in the fall and that was why he couldn't stand but seconds later he began having a seizure, salivating uncontrollably and peeing uncontrollably.

We rushed him to the vets and the seizures got worse, he seemed to just come out of one and then went straight back into another one. The vet administered diazepam through a vein and that helped within seconds. They wanted to keep him for a while to observe him but within an hour of leaving Buster in their capable hands we got a phone call to say the diazepam (the maximum dose!) had worn off completely and he was now barking nonstop and stressing so we had to pick him up immediately. The vet has given us 2 theories, either Buster is epileptic or he has some head trauma from the car accident that's remained dormant until now. It's just a waiting game to see if he has any more seizures, we've been given some rectal diazepam to give Buster if he does have any more fits.

Oh that must of been so scary for all of you, are they going to run tests to see what might be causing it?

It was terrifying. I was sat on the floor with him in my arms, me in an absolute mess trying to shout for someone else to wake up to come help

From what I can gather the vet wants to know if this was a one off occurrence or if it's going to happen again. If he has a minor seizure we will be alright giving the diazepam and making an appointment with the vet to discuss the next step. If he has a major one like today it'll be a case of giving him the diazepam and rushing to the vets straight away, then tests would take place. I'd rather tests were done today but the vet seems to think observations are enough on this occasion but if it happens again that's when they should investigate.

Oh no I'm so sorry to hear this. You and Buster are really going through it at the moment. I do hope the vets can help and you have easier times ahead. My friends dog has epilepsy and its managed through meds but I can only imagine how scary it must be to see your friend have a seizure. Do keep us updated.

Oh no what a scary experience for the both of you. I know it's too early to tell but fingers crossed this isn't an on going issue

Poor Buster seems to have no luck you're right there Mistys Mum. I'm hopeful that if it is epilepsy we will be able to control it easily, I've heard that what works for one dog doesn't for another so it can be difficult to find a "solution" for each case.

Thanks Ian, I am hoping this is a bizarre one off experience and things settle down for him. Poor soul

He really is lucky to have you guys, I dread to think what would have been his future if he hadn't got you! Fingers and paws crossed for you xx

Me too, the thought does cross my mind sometimes, particularly when he does something that reminds me of how amazing he is. But then I think of how glad I am to have him in my life, I'm very lucky to have such a loving goofy baby and I pray we will get over this new obstacle.
Thank you xx

You need to start writing the book...

One of our moderators - Aussiestaff aka Bek - had her dog Koda diagnosed with epilepsy recently. He's now on meds and is fine, so yes, fingers crossed that's what it is and you can manage it.