Hi everyone,
I’m posting here because I’d love to get your thoughts.
I lost my Golden Retriever girl 15 months ago now.
I’m quite experienced with dogs and did loads of agility and obedience with my Golden, who was quite simply PERFECT.
For the last 2 months, I’ve been looking for the right breed for me and my little family. As a mum to a 19-month-old daughter, Staffies came onto my radar through my childminder. My daughter's childminder has a 2-and-a-half-year-old male Staffie, and after meeting her, I naturally did a lot of research on the breed, which I must admit looked "a bit scary" to me at first. I wanted to be absolutely sure about leaving my daughter (who was only 3 months old at the time) with this amazing childminder, but especially with their Staffie ;-)
And to my surprise, he turns out to be incredible. After 18 months of childcare and now that I'm ready to bring a new mate home, it's the Staffie that I'm really interested in!!
However, after visiting a training centre, I’d like the opinion of Staffie owners. After all, you’re the real experts since you live with them day in, day out.
I work Monday to Friday but I’m home for 2 hours at lunchtime. I’ll be dropping down to a four-day week (80%) soon, so I’ll have Wednesdays off in addition to weekends, evenings, and lunchtimes.
I’m planning to join a dog club on Saturdays to do obedience training with my future dog.
Obviously, I’m looking for a dog that’s gentle with children and a size that we can take away with us on weekends. So, I want a dog that will be "friendly" with people and other dogs. I should mention that I plan to socialise them as much as possible. I live exactly 100 yards from the local woods where there are always dozens of dogs running around...
I’m looking for a playful dog that we can have a laugh with! Frisbee, balls, etc.
I’m also looking for a dog that doesn’t bark much. To be honest, moving from a "big dog" to a "smaller dog" makes me a bit nervous on this point. Little ones always seem to be barkier when the doorbell goes... etc.
Being completely realistic, do you think a Staffie could be our next family mate?
Thanks in advance for your replies!
