Staffie's growth

Is it true that my Staffie wont grow as much as he should do becasue I have had him done. I got hime neuted at 7 months old because the vet told me it would be the best thing to do. Since he had it done he has become a lot more calmer and he is so much better at listening to me when I call him. I have spoken to some people about this and they have told me he wont be half the dog he was going to be and I should of waited till Billy was at least 2 years old.

Another thing Im trying to get my head around is they were telling me about how Staff's heads crack and become wider, I cant wait for Bill to become stockyer but they told me he will get bad head aches when this part of his growth starts. Is this all true?

aint had my dogs done so not much experiance here but , ive heard that when there done they can become over weight easily , id doubt it would stunt the dogs growth tho tbh , staffie's heads cracking is a myth , as your dogs grows so do the muscles on its head and this is what give the appearance of there being a split in the middle of staffies heads there heads do not crack matey

so do there heads not get bigger, I mean wider then?

if your dogs 7 months old then the chances are yes its head will get wider / bigger especially him being male ,

to have an idea of what he will look like as an adult look at his parents

I didnt get to see his parents, the people who we bought him off wernt much help at all but once I seen him I couldnt leave him there. They wanted to keep him because he was the last boy but I managed to get him off them in the end. When we went into the house he pulled the mother out of the room and into the other room and she looked quite tall but her face was a staffie face. The father we did not see. We obviously didnt get any papers and wernt expecting to get a show dog. We got Billy to be the family pet and he really has settled in and become one of the family. Maybe it's just me but I would love to know his past and will never get the chance to find out who his dad was or what he was.

you can get a dna test done on him not sure of the site , but i think it costs around £65 maybe steve might be able to shed more light on that for you , there was a post about it on the forum before it shut down a few of the members with staff x had it done was surprising what breeds were mixed in there , its up to you really by the sounds of it youv'e got a cracking family pet , does it really matter what he's x'd with?

Billy is 15 months old now, his head still looks quite small compared to his body. I know as a family pet it doesnt matter what size or shape he is, but I would just like to know what all you experianced staffy owners think. I have heard some dogs grow up ward in the first year and thenfill out the second and there heads grow untill they are 3 years old. Is his true, and do you think Billy's head might get much wider from 15 months to 3 years old?

I've never heard of neutering stunting a dogs growth.

Not every staff has a wide head wether its kc reg or not. Bully types tend to have the wider head, yours doesnt seem to be that type so will never probably look how u seem to want him to look. He's lovely the way he is and probably wont look to much different than he does now when he fully grown. x

Billy looks lovely as he is

He's lovely

If looking at the parents tell you something of what the pup going to look like, well Bruno's going to be massive

Hi Tom, as blaze has said youre not going to change the dog (I know if you read my posts I go on about genetic make up sorry) you have what you have and he looks nice. To be frank though if you saw mum in that situation and didnt see dad at all you will never know were or from who the dog really come from I mean the person who you got the puppy from was only in it for what he could get and my advise would be always research find a good breader and know what you want. I know it sounds bad but if breeders like this one cant sell the puppies then they wont continue to breed the poor bitch again and again and move on to another money earner it really is the only way to stop them.
My experience is I only have 2 dogs 1 the 12 year old bitch was spayed at 3 years old she was in lovely fit condition and although top sized a fair nice girl when she was neutered found her to gain weight very easy but not in the right places if you know what I mean. Due to hormone levels decreasing the weight sometimes with some dogs is a problem also I found her to be much more nervous then she was. Her head muscle tone has never changed and she at 12 years old is my little pot bellied piggy who still does not look her age and people are suprised when they see her bombing around to know her age.
My dog has not been netured and I find his weight is much easier to manage hes 9 but could compete with a dog a third of his age easily and again head shape muscle tone not really changed from being 2 years old.
The head doesnt crack split the definition is muscle that controls the jaw some have big ones and some dont simple as that.

CatStina wrote:I've never heard of neutering stunting a dogs growth.

A dog's growth is determined by its genes firstly, then by the way it is reared. If you neuter a dog early (before it is sexually mature) it will not get the hormones that help it to 'mature'. Whilst it does not not 'stunt' a dog's growth, it may result in a dog not being as masculine looking as it would have been, or a bit.ch not being as feminine looking as she would have been. It can also lead to less confidence in both dogs & bit.ches.

Let's not start another debate on the pro's & con's of neutering - there have plenty in the past & they will never solve anything!

I deleted my post because I didn't want to start something. I'll just say that we are big on spaying and neutering in the US because of the many health and behavioral benefits and the prevention of unwanted litters.

Well thank you, I wouldnt change Billy for the world. He's my baby and to be honest with you who say I shouldnt want to change him, well I dont. I was just wondering how long it was before your dogs stopped growing? And yes there heads do get bigger. Billy's has grown since I got him and Im sure the muscles will start getting bigger on his head. I have read somewhere that they are 3 before they are fully matured.

Jethro was desexed at 6 months and everyone comments on what a solid lad he is......He was puny to start with but it didn't take long for him to bulk up...

From what I understand, you are right that SBTs don't fully mature till they are 2 or 3. I don't know if this is just emotionally or physically, as well.

Vanessa, Jethro is a very handsome dog!

Vanessa, Jethro is a very handsome dog![/quote]

Thanks so much for that lovely compliment! He is abit grey around the gills ( hey aren't we all !! ) but I love him so much !!

Yes staffys take a long time to mature...in both regards....he was a real looney till he got to about 3..then he finally started maturing!!