To have fallen in love with Staffies?

[WellAlwaysHaveParis]

I went to a dog show earlier today, and loads of people had come with their dogs to spend the day there.

I met some people with Staffies, and the dogs were absolutely beautiful. One of them was so calm and quiet, and she would just let people pet her and stroke her, and the other one was a bit overexcited and would jump up and lick everyone who stroked him 😍

I’ve never had a dog before, as we’ve always had cats, but I’d love to have a dog one day.

I’d definitely get a rescue dog, as we’ve always had cats from rescue centres, but the idea of having a big rescue dog like a Staffie worries me a bit, as I’m not sure how I’d train it. I know Staffies have a bit of a bad reputation, but I’ve heard lovely things about them and would really love one one day. I just wouldn’t know where to start with training one and looking after one as I’ve never had dogs before.

Would I be unreasonable to think about getting one at some point? Does anyone on here have one?

(Part of this thread is a ploy to ask for your Staffie photos 😍)

Who cares?

I grew up with Staffies - I have lots of pictures of 2 year old me cuddling them in their basket etc. They're wonderful dogs. Super loyal, strong little personalities, so funny. Not the cleverest of dogs, granted, but all the funnier for it.

“Your pet will be seen by the vet before you are seen by your GP if you have an issue.”

Mine won’t, my GP takes calls for appointments from 8, the vet doesn’t open till 9.30, if I have a medical emergency overnight, there are OOH centres and ambulances.

The vet OOH clinic is 40 minutes away and I have to get my dog there.

If I needed to see an orthopedic specialist they’d send me straight up from the GP, OOH centre or A&E, if my dog needs one it’s a 2 week wait, it’s 2 hours away oh and again I need to transport him... and you only get referred to start with after treatment if it can’t be resolved by the vet who’s a GP.

I wouldn’t get what should be specialist treatment or operations from a GP.

There's no oddness at all as to why a pet will be seen by a vet probably quicker than a human, it's actually extremely easy to work out why if you think about it for 15 seconds or so. There's less pets than people, vets cost money so people are less likely to take their pet unless they are very obviously unwell, a pet can't say "I just don't feel right, something's weird" and get it checked out, pets generally and ime dont get as many illnesses as humans.........there's no big conspiracy or pets being treated better than humans, it really is just good old fashioned boring logic.

I wanted a lab or similar as our first dog but local rehoming place only had Staffies. Wish I had taken once as they are gorgeous dogs. Great with kids.
Where did their reputation come from?!

I was put off terriers generally as being snappy with kids as I have had experiences with westies. Of all terrier breeds I would choose a staffie!

The reason the dog rescue centres are full of staffers is that people are breeding them as attack / protection dogs and these are all the unused ones. Maybe the breeders are stupid and Stafford are little cuddly pets and they haven't clocked this yet - but I doubt that's the case