Puppy and toddlers - advice please!?
My partner and I have decided to add a puppy to our family (two daughters aged 3yrs and 15 months)
We did lots of research and decided to get a smallish dog (not nec. a puppy) like a King Charles or Pug. We also joined an animal shelter as we ideally wanted to rehome and were not in any rush to get a dog, we just wanted to make sure we got the right one.
This is where the issue lies - I phoned the shelter, they told me they had a 3-4 month old puppy that would grow into a small dog and was very gentle with children - this seems to be a rare find at a shelter. We went to see her w/out the children and we fell in love, she is gorgeous and has the most amazing temperament, they said she would be a smallish dog. We went back again the next day w/out the kids again and were told that she will be a medium dog as she is a Staffordshire Bull Terrier Cross.
Before we take the kids to meet her please can you offer me some advice on Staffies with toddlers and whether this is a good idea?
Thx
Hello again!
Thank you for being so supportive.
I have done lots of research into dogs with children so know the basics. I have also researched the breed (although I had not come across some of the links you have posted below which are great) however I appreciate that there is also going to be a degree of the "unknown" regarding the dog's inherited characteristics and size with her being a cross-breed.
I wonder in addition to this whether any of you who have/had young children could tell me what I would be letting myself in for. Some real experiences would be invaluable as reading about it and actually doing it are going to be two wholly different things and I want to be as prepared as possible!
Thanks again x
You should always introduce your children to a new dog slowly and they are to be cautioned NOT to be rough with the pup. If you take that dog home, you must continue with that RULE, now and forever!
Good humans raise GREAT dogs! Teach your kids to be good humans with dogs at the outset. Its all in how they are raised and treated (kids and pups alike).
I have a Pit that loves kids.
My Am-Staff let my nephews and nieces TEETH on his tail. When we saw it happen we stopped it IMMEDIATELY but they occasionally still got to bite the dog (OUCH). Me, I would have slapped them or bitten them back but that dog endured it and licked their faces afterward.
I loved your story until I heard what breed it is. That Bull Terrier could be too aggressive towards your little one! I have grown up with dogs all my life and I can recommend, Flat Coatted Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, Labradors, and Huskies. They are all large dogs but gentle. I have been around them since I was a toddler! Good luck!
any information you read on staffordshires will tell you they are fantastic with kids.i had a staffie for 11 years,i got him before i had my children.i then went on to have 4 kids and he was fantastic with all of them.he just adored my kids and would watch anyone that was playing with them to make sure they werent hurting them.staffies are very tolerant and patient with children,plus that pup is young so thats an advantage.i say go for it and well done for rescuing rather than buying.good luck,hope all goes well
edit-what you are letting yourself in for is many years of happiness if you train your pup with love.remember the pup will be a novelty at 1st with your children,the most important thing is to teach them to be gentle and it will be great for the pup to play with them.the 1st week will be the toughest and a bit hectic but it will soon calm down as you establish a routine.it is very important you train your puppy from day 1.staffies are very intelligent,thus easily trained which is why some idiots teach them to be vicious.you show your puppy love and you will get it back ten fold.good luck
Terrier breeds are very good family dogs. They are good with children and are generally more protective with a family that has children. Their fighting instinct is with other animals or dogs. It is a good idea to make sure they are well watched around other animals as even with training that instinct may kick in. However they are good family animals like I said and are protective of their family. I believe it is better to get a dog as a puppy because you can train it and socialize with other people and animals which can help avoid its natural instinct to be aggressive towards other animals. I would also say go for it.
I have a pit bull mix which is in the same family and he is the most loving dog. Really he is a little loving wimp. I’ve had him since he was a puppy and he is awesome with my little baby. I would recommend a medium sized dog anyway. Small dogs although they are small can still be just as or more aggressive then larger dogs. The main difference is small dogs don’t severely injure people as much cause they are smaller and there jaws aren’t as strong and people can kick them away easier or something like that. Of course I’m sure you can get info to back it up either opinion though.
Added: With my dogs we kinda trained and socialized them to be good with kids even before we had them. We played with them a lot and pulled their tails and ears and climbed on them and under them played with their mouth and all that stuff that kids do so that if I child were to do this then they would be use to it and not think much of it. Of course we were did not do things that would hurt them just annoy them. We would give them toys and bones and stuff and take them away so that they knew that if we take it then they need to accept it. I don’t know we did a lot of things. After we felt comfortable that they were ok with everything we slowly introduced them to children of course supervised and watched what they did and when the kids did start pulling their ears and stuff they both did great. Of course I wouldn’t just let a child do these things to the dog anyway but I wanted to know that my dogs would be ok with children if a child did do these types of things and that is why I tried to train them before hand. Anyway my baby loves the dogs and the dogs love him. I am very pleased at the way they turned out and am so glad that I have dogs that my child can grow up with.
http://www.k9web.com/dog-faqs/breeds/staffords.html#faq
this should tell you all you need to know
It is not really the breed of the dog that gives it it’s temperament .
Yeah i know that some dog can be classed as angry dogs . But there are exceptions , you said the puppy has a great temperament . If this came from the people from the shelter , then take it as gold . Those people would not lie .
The Staffie is renowned for its reliability as a family dog, with special emphasis on their reliability with children. The breed thrives in the family environment, being a suitable compact size for close family living. They can be protective of their family, especially those with small children, and it is for this reason that they make an excellent family guardian and watch dog.- I got that from wiki .
I have dealt wiht a few types of breeds pit bull , Irishwolf hound hound , staffie .
I can tell you that they are protective and playful . Play mate for your daughter in the day , will protect your house at night .
Just keep in mind that they are athletic , they need alot of exercies , and atteion . It is a great idea .
Hello,
Staffs have a bad reputation as a fighting dog..but this is because they are taken by bad people and trained to fight from a puppy..therefore growing into bad fighting dogs that will kill.
Staffs also are very popular in UK as a family pet, given love, proper training, security etc etc any puppy would grow into a stable wonderful family dog.
I must say though over here animal shelters will not rehome any dog in a family where there are children under the age of 4. Having and training a pup is alot like having another child, it takes alot of time and patience…are you sure with 2 such young children that you would have time for all of this ?
Don’t rush into this, think long and hard about it. We waited for our kids to get abit older before getting a dog, we chose carefully, he was 5 months when we got him and he was a complete nightmare, very dominant, it was a constant battle of wills, then he got ill..a long term disease and the medical bills were astronomical. Sadly we had to rehome him with a couple who were very pleased to get him…all I am trying to do is get you to think about what could happen…but in the end its your decision, you may have a wonderful family pet there.
Good luck.
It all depends on what you’re willing to put into the dog, which would make it a great family dog or not.
Staffies are GREAT with kids, and any website with that breed info on it is going to say the same thing!
Here’s one that I like:
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/staffordshirebullterrier.htm
If you’re not going to do the research on the needs of Bully Breeds, then don’t get that dog. They need a firm and experienced hand in training, but if the owner is inexperienced but willing to do the homework neccessary, it could be a GREAT match.
She more than likely will be between 25 and 35 lbs. They are not big dogs.
Just as long as you never leave the child and dog alone together, you can’t trust any dog to be always gentel. Good luck.
If you take the dog from the shelter it will be a good idea cause your children will have somebody to play with.But you have to be cautious and maybe leave a babysitter with your children because you will have to feed the dog once in a while , and maybe the dog might be sick or bite your children.You may also have to leave money with the babysitter cause there might be an emergency.Although its needs might be quite expensive.