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Post by catherinef on Jun 18, 2017 20:55:29 GMT
Hi, We recently adopted a beautiful little staffy girl from CDH into our family (2 kids, 1 cockatiel, 3 chickens), she is very quiet, she does not know how to play (we are working on it!) she does not get excited, we know she lived with her daughter beforehand. She is loyal, loving, so very trustworthy and quick to learn but very lazy! My question is 1 lump or 2? We had our last staffies for 12 years but always as a pair,both from pup, unfortunately we lost both with in a space of 8 months to different forms of cancer I am curious to see peoples preferences and the reasons behind them....... ( I may then be able to convince the other half!) x
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Post by Baglady on Jun 20, 2017 19:31:15 GMT
Two - definitely two! Or three. Maybe four, then you stop counting.....
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Post by cassie on Jun 22, 2017 6:55:23 GMT
I have had between one and five dogs together, and now have two. I love having two dogs, as mine get on so well together and love to play, yet I still get time to give them individual attention. Having said that, I would never acquire two dogs together as i want them to be, primarily, one of the family, rather than one of a doggy duo. You sound like you are doing really well with your girl and putting in the work to bring out the best in her. My advice would be to carry on as you are for a few months, whilst she settles and you get to know her really well. If you can find her some doggy friends to play with in the mean time, then great, but then you will be in a better position to know what sort of dog she gets on with best, or, indeed, whether she wants to share her home.
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Post by catherinef on Jun 23, 2017 7:45:03 GMT
Thank you for the brilliant advice. I did take her to a dog trainer to double check how she reacted with other dogs and also hoping how she played with other dogs would help us learn her play style so we had a foundation to work on at home with her. We learnt she is nervous meeting new dogs but not reactive, she prefers to just walk side by side with them not bothered if they bump into her whilst walking but also she does not play with dogs either, we have on our walks met seldom few as we live very rural but on our trips to kilve beach we do let her meet and greet with the calm, better mannered dogs just to put in a strong start to coping with with her nervousness. She just sits and cries if she sees another dog and it's a little heartbreaking I do think you are totally right with your advice on waiting, we will after a decent period with her look at introducing an senior gentleman to the household so they can both happily just 'be' around each other without all the jumpiness
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Post by cherylW on Jun 23, 2017 12:05:58 GMT
All sounds like very good advice, and I think it's sensible to wait a while so you can fully understand her and know her well before introducing another dog.
I adopted my first dog Megs about 7 years now, and at first she was very quiet, and quite withdrawn, she didn't really get excited about coming for walks (possibly because she was very tubby when we first had her!), and didn't play at all. But gradually we started to see her personality emerge, we taught her to play by getting her really excited (jumping about using high pitched voices 'isn't this exciting?' 'what have I got here' etc etc) and she would start to chase toys and balls. She still isn't really that interested but she will sometimes play with toys.
With other dogs she's always been a bit hit and miss in terms of who she wants to be near. I now know the kinds of dogs she loves to go say hi to with a waggy tail and she does funny little jumps and squeaks when she greets them (anything big and fluffy, generally lol). She has a friend who's a collie cross who she adores, and will play with. Most dogs she'll just give a sniff to and move on though.
As I now know her so well, I felt it was time to introduce another dog, so we now have a new addition, Tilly, who is much younger (about 18 months) but fits so well with Megs' personality as she'll take it or leave it if Megs does or doesn't want to play and is very respectful of her. Tilly goes off to play with her toys rather than pester Megs, and I knew that she had the kind of personslity that would fit well.
I'm so pleased that you've got this girl in your life and are giving her such a great world to live in!
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Post by catherinef on Jun 27, 2017 21:02:41 GMT
Thank you for your story Cheryl. Ginnie (previously Gem) is the most subdued staffie we have ever met- even our old boy we had previously and our 9 yr old cushingnoid were like puppies at 9 and 12 years old. I haven't let her meet any boisterous dogs at the moment, I always try and talk to the owner before the dogs meet (years of living with a dog reactive dog made this habit) and our time with the trainer and her mastiff gave us a really good insight into her personal behaviours when she is nervous or uncomfortable so we can control the situation without Ginnie feeling the need to take it to the next level. We are still very much in the learning stages with her, but to be honest I love it- seeing small parts of her she was to scared to show coming out everyday from chasing the wild rabbits in the garden to wondering what that big thing mooing at her through the fence is, She is truly mesmerising. Before having her we had both our last 2 staffies as pups and after losing them both we both swore we would never have a staffie again as it would feel like replacing them, in fact when we rung cardiff I personally spoke to Rob who tried his best to tell me all about the great staffies they had, I spent the phone call making it clear in no uncertain terms we were NOT having a staffie- we did not care on breed but not a staffie and certainly not a black staffie (both of our old dogs were black) we visited to look at other dogs but she was perfect- everything we didn't think we wanted but most definitely without a shadow of a doubt what we needed. We will wait and when the time comes we will be back to CDH We will also see all the lovely staff there next month to have her spayed
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