We are considering getting a dog and a friend has suggested getting a rescued staffy from the local rescue centre. They did this and have a 4 year old male who seems to be a very friendly wee dog.

Has anyone any experience of this or any advice. My main concerns are how the dog would get along with our baby especially as many of they may have been badly treated previously.

Also can they keep up with a bike for a short spin.

All advice appreciated.

Dogs are individuals like humans so you can’t completely generalise by breeds.
Staffy’s are generally very friendly and athletic dogs so most would meet your needs.
A mentally deranged staffy that has been abused in the past or raised cruelly will not.

Thats my worry I suppose. I will go along to the rescue centre and have a chat to them before making any decisions

go and introduce yourself at your local dog rescue.

be very clear about what you want from a dog and very honest about your current personal circumstances.

you say you have a baby, do you have time for a dog?

a good rescue will be very happy for your family to be introduced to a potential pet, as many times as required, ask lots of questions and generally be sure that you and the dog are right for each other.

if they are not, go to a good rescue.

One of the difficult things I’ve faced about dogs and babies though is that very well behaved dogs can develop jeolosy when babies appear.
One of my good friends has a dog psychiatrist cause the pet they’ve had for many years has taken a nasty response to their new born.
The priority is obviously with the baby but you can imagine that it would be a real struggle to think of getting rid of the pet.
You may not get all your answers from the dog pound, and it will always be a risk to some extent.

Generally Staffys will want to make people happy, so unless it’s been seriously abused I’d say you’ll be fine with any. The rescue shouldn’t just let you walk out with your new dog.
Go along, have a play and select the dog that chooses you. Speak to the rescue and see if you can have a bit of time with the nipper and dog together.
I would also consider the fact that you’re asking the question. if you’re not 100% comfortable now, how are you going to be in the future?
I’d have no qualms whatsoever of having a Staffy with young children, but then again I’ve had a couple of Staff. The last one can be seen here.
Keep up with bikes? I had one that would have run my legs off me and that one above who refused to run unless she was chasing something. The last one weighed ina something like 35kgs and was strong as buggery, under normal conditions this wasn’t a problem, but if she decided to change direction quickly and caught me unaware- this could be a problem in a pulling me off balance kind of way.
If you decide on it, enjoy. They are the acest dogs.

You’ll have no trouble finding one. We went to a the dogs trust a few weeks back and staffy’s must have made up at least 80% of the dogs in there.

We went to a the dogs trust a few weeks back and staffy’s must have made up at least 80% of the dogs in there

Poor little sods. 😥

My bennybum’s a rescue staffie, soft as shite, sleeps with the cats and lets himself be bullied by a toy poodle a tenth his size, 😯
Stubborn bugger though, not nasty,..stubborn….

Poor little sods.

Yeh that makes me sad too cause they’re such good natured dogs.
Unfortunately their athletic nature is often used for criminal purposes in this country.

Dogs are individuals like humans so you can’t completely generalise by breeds.

too true, my old staffy whom i had from a pup was never good with kids.

khani that sounds like my friends wee dog, he was a very friendly gentle chap.

My local centre has quite a few coming through on a regular basis unfortunately from all the chavs who get bored of looking after them

We tried to get a dog, Staffy was our first choice, but most of the rescue centres wouldn’t let us as we had kids and they couldnt guarantee the dogs history. I offered to sign a disclaimer but no good. It was the same in severals, RSPCA, Battersea in Windsor to name a few. It seeemed a shame that we couldn’t rescue one but could go to a breeder and pay hundereds and walk away with one. We eventually found a rescue centre that did let us take a dog as I just couldnt justify paying for one that I didn’t want to show or breed when so many needed re-homing. We didn’t get a Staffy in the end but my brother-in-law had one from a pup and it was great with kids. Hope you do manage to get one, they are lovely dogs and very gentle and good natured

It seeemed a shame that we couldn’t rescue one but could go to a breeder and pay hundereds and walk away with one.

Was that anything with knowing the history of the dog? Hats off to the rescue centres for being sensible.

We went to one RSPCA Centre, didn’t like the attitude of the staff, the questioning, or the hoops we had to jump through to give a dog a good home – so we went to the Dogs Trust with no problems.

Just on the off chance you’re up this way:

http://www.staffordshirerescuescotland.co.uk/

Otherwise:

Meet Our Staffies

A dog psychiatrist?

Rescue dogs need a LOT of time, effort and love. Almost as much as a baby! One of the comments I made to my wife after the first few weeks of our rescue lurcher coming home was, “Jesus ******* Christ! At least babies sleep sometimes!”. He howled all night, every night for nigh on a month, sh@t everywhere and flailed about in it and couldn’t be left for more than five minutes without becoming distressed and panicked.

There’s absolutely no way I’d introduce a fully grown animal with an unknown history to a household with a small child.

Better to buy a puppy and have it grow up in the company of the baby.

One of my friends had a rescue Staffy.
It seemed fine for about two months, then it attacked his daughter and his wife when she tried to get the dog off her daughter.
Both were hospitalised. His daughter has been scarred both physically and mentally for life.

I wouldn’t put a dog of doubtfull origin with my baby, I work with rescue dogs and they can be unpredictable.

My brother acquired Bruce, a Staffie, from a rescue centre. They didn’t know much about the dog, other than he’d been running around in the wild for a week or so before they caught him, he had a nasty cough and had lost half of his fur to mange. Despite not being the most visually compelling of dogs at first glance, he had a lovely, friendly nature. My brother and his family took him home and nursed him back to health. He’s now a handsome boy, with an alarmingly varied wardrobe,

He’s always been very sweet and friendly, and absolutely fine with my nephew, who was six when Bruce first joined the family. No incidents in eight years. That said, my brother does show caution around children with Bruce, because children and dogs can be an unpredictable combination – even a good natured dog can snap if a stranger pulls its tail or pokes it in the face. Think that goes for any breed.

Ace dogs Ihave owned 2 and they were both great with kids, my second one had the patience of Job as my neices and their friends would dress him up 😆 he was a rescue. I would be very wary of getting a Staff rescue from a regular shelter. You really dont have any idea about how they have been treated. Most specific Staffy rescue places will have fostered the dogs out so have a much better idea of how they are. There are loads on the net if you look.

A dog psychiatrist?

First World Problems.

For me the baby is more important than a dog. I wouldn’t want a dog of unknown history in my house with young children.

If I wanted a dog I’d wait and get a puppy from a respected breeder.

We went to one RSPCA Centre, didn’t like the attitude of the staff, the questioning, or the hoops we had to jump through to give a dog a good home – so we went to the Dogs Trust with no problems.

Exactly the attitude I got from the RSPCA. We both work, at the time our youngest kids was nine, and there would be times when the dog would left on their own for more than three hours. Apparently we were not to be trusted with a dog.

Fair enough, be choosy. But it must surely be better to be in a household where sometimes you’re on your own for 5 hours than to be stuck in a rescue centre where you may just end up dead?

We went to the Dogs Trust, who spent some time finding a dog that would suit us (we’ve ended up with two Trailhounds – a sort of sub-breed of Foxhound), advised us that if we left the dogs for too long they’d possibly crap on the floor and destroy furniture, and also pointed out that someone would have to be prepared to do a decent length walk every morning and evening, so it was a big commitment.

Similar advice to the RSPCA, but hugely more positive, and as a result two rescue dogs have a very happy home with us.

There’s absolutely no way I’d introduce a fully grown animal with an unknown history to a household with a small child.

I agree with this and its why we didnt get a rescue, shame.

The Dogs Trust were very open with us when we were looking for a dog. Unfortunately most of the ones we picked to look at were ‘amber’ dogs, which meant that they’d shown signs of aggression before, including a border collie who had bit a child’s face. I think it’s good that they’re open with things like this – there are some dogs that would make lovely pets, but only in the right home. Apparently if you go on a Saturday, more placid and less bitey dogs are available than on the Sunday.

We ended up with this chap:

Tibetan Terrier cross, apparently- he’s very sweet, affectionate, energetic, clever and loyal, although the last two go out of the window whenever he sees cats. Or birds. Or weasels. He starts training next week. 😀 Hoping that one day he’ll be able to run off the lead next to the bike, on fire roads at the very least. I did buy a Walky Dog, not sure how safe it is though – has anyone tried one before whilst training their pup?

This is Bruce, by the way:

I had a chat with the local dogs trust this morning. They were really helpful and offered some really good advice. Basically they echoed many of the comments above and they would only give us the option of a dog they knew the history on which rules out many staffys as they have no history.

I have to call in and answer some questions then they come out to view house and garrden and we will take it from there.

Thanks for all the advice

A dog psychiatrist?

First World Problems.

Yeh I agree but dog shrinks exist.
I’d give it a go if the alternative was getting rid of a household pet that I’ve had for many years.

Good to see you’ve taken a sensible approach to taking on a dog, sadly a lot don’t which is why there are so many in rescue centres.

There’s absolutely no way I’d introduce a fully grown animal with an unknown history to a household with a small child.

Sweeping generalisation there of course.

We got a 6 y.o rescue black lab – victim of a divorce – when our daughter was 6 months old. Best move ever and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

EDIT – I see you say “unknown history” – I would be wary if it was completely unknown, but then again who adopts a totally unknown/unseen dog?

Staffie cross rescue here. He’s a great cuddle monkey. He’s nervous around kids though. Must have been something in his past that we don’t know about. However, It’s really easy to spot. He also loved running with the bikes in his younger days. Made a great trail mutt.