older & pup

so we have a 7year male willy (neutered) he was not always aggressive towards other dogs only when on the lead,when he was off free he would run up to other dogs and just play around..
we have just taken in a 5month male pup dippsy,,things went ok, willy just did a bit of sniffing,and looking,then the play fighting started which took us bk at first but all seemed harmless with the pup and willy not hurting each other and we made sure we would step in and never left the dogs alone.
but during the last day or so willy is showing a bit more aggression towards dippsy he will still let him sit next to him plays with him ,,but has showed his teeth a snapped at him on the odd occasion ,,is this just a old male just telling the pup no!
any advice would be much appreciated
kind regards laura

good advise theere shane couldn't agree more

thanks Shane it does look like a dominance thing ,,
earlier today the pup was pestering willy even stated nipping him and hanging off his neck,,willy just sat their and jawed ,didn't even bother but when he was having a nap the pup came up to him and willy showed his aggression teeth up and the pup backed right off.
is there anytime its best to keep them apart or just let the get on with it ?but keep an eye on them and dont leave alone together

I would personally NEVER leave two staffords alone together, no matter how friendly they normally are - it only takes the wrong move by one & there could be a blood bath.

Example..........When we first had Bandit a couple we became friendly with had his half sister. They also had an older bitch, and everything was fine between the two. They never showed any agression whatsoever. One day these two friends went shopping & left the two dogs in the house together. When they returned, bith dogs were lying in pools of blood & were badly hurt - one, the older girl was in shock & very ill. They think that a silly argument had started over a toy, or perhaps a sleeping place & had escalated out of control. The two bitches had virtually killed each other.

I would also never have two male dogs together. Just my preference as you never know when the 'challenge' will come - and it will - and which one will get hurt.

I would also never have two male dogs together. Just my preference as you never know when the 'challenge' will come - and it will - and which one will get hurt.

would this also stand as the two males are a different age ie senior and pup,and not two same age males pursuing dominance
we have looked into having the pup neutered with so many different views its a hard one ?but are very keen.
would this help much

Sooner or later the youngster will want to assert his dominance. It just depends on how the older one is likely to take it. Having the youngster neutered may help, but as I said in my post, it can also happen with bitches! It just isn't safe to leave two such single minded dogs alone together! And staffords really are single minded when they want to be!

As I said, as a personal preference I would not have 2 males. BUT, if you can cope with two & are prepared for all eventualities, who's to say it can't work?

Trouble is, once they switch on, they rarely switch off of their own accord. They'll fight till they can't fight any more (either they'll be out cold, or their human will stop them).

like i say in a older post when i got memphis the breeder i got him off kept one of the girls in the litter, and the pup was making her mothers life a living hell, and the vet said there is nothing you can do you will just have to leave them to work it out, or the pup will have to go, as they will never be able to be left alone if it dont,

Agree with all the above! Having to males u will have 2 be prepared for the worse....You will need a very strong hand and good pack control, u will need to make sure there is no discrepencies on who is boss....you! Get both neutered asap and invest in lots of baby gates and put them up on every door so its always easy to separate if nessesery. I have to Boys a netured 1 yr old and a entire 4 month old (who will be done as soon as he can be) I get a lot of air snapping from the 0older one as well. I think it can work with 2 males but u need to put in alot of effort and work & still be prepared for them not 2 get on eventually. We are lucky we have the space to easily separate and the time to put into them if we didnt we would of never accepted the little one. Having said all that mine are acctually the best of friends (at the mo lol) and we are hopefull it will stay that way....i wont give them much other choice. I would say obviously let them play (air snapping growling & lots of noise is all fine) but if it gets a bit out of hand or 'to much' then put a stop 2 it so they dont take it to the next level! They should never break the skin....im assuming ur pup has lost his baby teeth now? Also never leave them alone together, if u go out they need to be separated. My baby is crate trained so he stays there and Ty stays out in the back porch where he has access to the garden.
It can work but will need alot of work lol
Good luck!!
x

bigwazza wrote:like i say in a older post when i got memphis the breeder i got him off kept one of the girls in the litter, and the pup was making her mothers life a living hell, and the vet said there is nothing you can do you will just have to leave them to work it out, or the pup will have to go, as they will never be able to be left alone if it dont,

What awful advice from a vet???!!!!!! Honestly! Leave them 2 work it out??? They will work it out one of them will be dead! I would never leave 2 dogs of the same sex alone together anyway!! Some vets really dont have a clue when it comes to behavioural issues!

sorry no i didnt mean it that way, leave them to sort it out didnt mean leave them alone to sort it, thay were told keep them apart when going out but try to get them to mix without being totally hyper, and if thay dont start to get on better the pup would have to be sold on.
i remember when i was doing the visits to see memphis before we got him
angel(the pup im on about) was always going to be kept by them so when people were coming to visit the pups i would say on two of the three times i went she was left in the crate with her mother so i think her probs were brought on by being to spoilt by the mother as she has been with her 24 /7 and the last time i went to see them about 5 weeks ago his mam was in a terrible state ears all bit and the under side of her neck all sores and the backs of her legs all cut (i think the vet was trying to tell them it wasnt going to work) but i dont think they want to admite it (the mother has shown no aggresion its all down to the pup)

In a situation like that, I'd either make sure the dogs were ALWAYS seperated, or I'd sell the pup. It really isn't fair on the bitch as she'll still see the pup as her own. Eventually, however, the bitch may well forget she's its mother & decide to retaliate. Nasty.

Ah i see what u mean now bigwazza. Yea i would also be worried the bitch would fight back espeacially as pups older now. Maybe thats what the pup needs though a older dog to put it in its place (whose not mum).

Depends how old the pup is. You get to a stage where the pup becomes old enough for a proper fight to develop. Once that's happened you ain't got a hope in hell of ever keeping the two together again! And if the older dog that teaches the pup a lesson is not the one she lives with, then she's even more likely to 'get her retaliation in first' with the bitch she lives with!

hmmmm maybe....

see the way there looking at it is theve always had more than one gen of dogs in the house without problems' but i also can see its going to course problems i would also agree with selling the pup on as its not fair on the mum and also for the sake of the pup with the aggresion.
but i think the main problem was the pup was given to there seven year old as a pet .

The trouble is the older the pup gets the less applealing she will be for people to buy. not a nice situation to be in i feel for them...

i know it not a good situation but there no gettin out of it .
needs to be sorted before it goes to far

what about having the pup neutered may or may not help with any fighting in future over dominance

niff wrote:what about having the pup neutered may or may not help with any fighting in future over dominance

Is that the dog pup, or the bitch pup?

If the bitch pup, neutering won't make too much of a difference.

Actually in my experience it will help with either sex.....

i thought they were both male

thought i was going nuts there

two topics running at the same time first one is two boys
and the second is two girls and they were thinking of getting her spayed but vet said wont help to much becouse it not hormone aggresion

Thanks for all the advise, we have always been completely aware that two staffs should never be left alone, but we we were unaware when we got dips that its inadvisable to keep two male dogs, we've now learnt the hard way!!! Now we've got him we would like to try and see if it would work out, but obviously the dogs welfare comes first. so we`ll have to try and work around it.!!! Willy was quite aggressive towards him at first and the pup didn't seem to back down, but neither has got hurt and willy seems to be accepting him gradually,and the pup seems to know where he stands now. willy still snarls and air snaps at times when he is tired and had enough, but the pup does hassle him a fair bit,and has made us realise how good willy has been with the pup, We`ve invested in two stair gates thanks for the advise!!! that's helped loads. Its just very hard work and worries us a bit as we have two small children as well. busy time ahead for us i think lol,,he will be six months very soon so i think neutering is a must.

dont strees to much about the kids as the dogs will see them in a copletly differant way to other dogs there are loads of people with staffs that are not very good with other dogs but are perfect members of the family with the humans

bigwazza wrote:dont strees to much about the kids as the dogs will see them in a copletly differant way to other dogs there are loads of people with staffs that are not very good with other dogs but are perfect members of the family with the humans

I agree, my old boy was a terror with other dogs, but my two children learnt to stand by grabbing his scruff & pulling! Never a snap or a snarl. All he used to do was look at me with a sad face as if to say "Do I really have to take this? I do? OK".

The only problem may be if the dogs fight & the children are around, they could get caught in the crossfire! However, a lot of staffords seem to have a sort of radar when they fight & humans rarely get hurt.

i second what caryll says a staffy will put itself in danger before a human

=D> well said

I used to put Harley in my bedroom when i went out (with a place for him to eat drink and toilet)when he was a tiny puppy as Mia would really attack him, and only when i felt he was big enough did i let him stay with her, they still have their moments, he comes running to Mummy for protection and i'm the one who gets bitten by Mia.