To think I don't want DP's Staffie near my newborn?!

[Lavenderboo]

I'm due DS start of next month with first baby. But me and DP cannot agree about the dog...his dog (a substitue child from his previous relationship).

The dog is usually fine and obedient, if not a little on the sad-sack, sulky depressive side but generally lives the life of a queen. (Its only recently that she hasn't had the run of the house when I had to put my foot down about her sleeping on our bed.)

Recently the dog raised her heckels at freind's dd - though admittedly the child made a bee-line straight for her, tried to play horsey with her, and squeel like a demon in her face.

DP wants to 'introduce' dog and newborn to each other by letting dog sniff and lick newborns ears and face and goodness only knows what else! I'm absolutly horrified and have not been able to engage in sensible, rational convo or find solution with DP about this because 1. I'm hugly hormonal and will burst into tears and 2. He is v defensive and sensitve about the child-substitue dog!

Any advice out there? I've looked on other threads but they tend to talk about toddlers not newborns.Is he an idiot or am I hormonally-over sensitive?

BTW the OP knew that dp had a staffie before she got pregnant,so if it is that much of an "issue" for her, then why did she get herself in this position in the first place?

I hate staffies and wouldn't choose to have kids with a guy who thought they were attractive pets and sensible animals to have round kids.
When you decided to have a kid what did you think would happen re the dog?

I wouldn't let the dog lick the baby BUT I would allow sniffing and unless you suddenly start locking the dog outside you cant really totally separate it from the baby either. It would be very unfair for a previously pampered dog to be treated like this. The dog obviously means alot to your DP and he has had it since before you met to I dont see that based on the evidence you have given there is any basis to get rid of it.

2rebecca, I'm actually at your ignorance

I also fear for my DH, as I owned a staffie when we got together. God only knows what that makes me if I thought a breed known for its gentle and kind temprement, loyalty and easy nature would make a good pet. Maybe he should be questioning why on earth he decided to have children with me, with my propensity to like these monsters

SPARECHANGE All this negative talk about staffies makes me so .I think they are gorgeous,they are brilliant with kids.I myself am a jr owner, but I would never hesitate to have a staffy or a staffy cross as a family pet.Like you I am so shocked at the sheer narrow mindedness of some.

One of our dogs is a lovely Collie/Staffie cross. (We think, she is a stray we adopted last year.) She has the sappiest temperament you could imagine, she attracts so much positive attention. Every now and then she gets given a wide berth but each to their own. We also have a little boy Westie we've had since a pup, he is still a bit exciteable every now and then but all in affection. We are due our first DC in about 6 to 8 wks or so and I have no fears about them getting along, they are such lovely characters. Yes, we will have to take care to introduce them properly but we have already started altering their habits to suit which has worked well. I wouldn't be too worried about licking with ours, as it is also a sign of pack acceptance and subservience, but again this is a personal thing.

If your DP's dog has been well loved and brought up (which it sounds like it has) then I don't think you have anything to worry about. Particularly don't worry just on account of the breed, they have lovely temperaments when brought up and bred properly. But by all means be cautious about dogs around babies, especially if you don't know them as well as you could. (The dog, not the baby obviously!) But equally thousands of families have dogs very happily (as we will I hope) and find it very rewarding.

Your dogs sound lovely MRSC2010 is the collie/staffy cross short or long haired?

darkandstormy, it really makes me sad.
We are now on our second staff and I wouldn't have any other type of dog.
As I child, we always had JRs and springers and when I first told my parents I was getting a staffie (and a rescue one at that) they were mortified and really reluctant to let me bring him to their house

Within a year, they were total converts and had got one themselves

But it breaks my heart to look on the website for any rescue. I think over half the dogs in Battersea are staffies or crosses, mostly because thugs buy them as 'ard dogs, then realise pretty quickly they are soft as mud and dump them

OMFG another dog thread...

I love Staffies, I intend to get one myself, when my rescued Fox Terrier X (who is far less child tolerant, docile than any Staff I have ever met) is properly trained.

I have two young children and I will be allowing them and their friends to touch the SBT

She's short haired darkandstormy. Very unusual looking, and very pretty, in my opinion of course! She has a Collie body and brain, astonishingly fast and very intelligent. But she has the brindle colouring and short hair of a Staffie, with a Staffie-looking face. (Very defined features, strong brow, wrinkles, floppy ears etc). Slightly narrower face than normal Staffie's though, probably from the Colliw side. Will try to figure out how to get pics up.This is our best guess at her heritage, the vet agrees.

She's still a little insecure having been abandoned (she's quite young, coming up to two) but she is so well behaved and obedient we couldn't believe it. But looking at her overly subservient reactions to tellings off (physically cowering onto her belly and trying to crawl away etc) I would say this has come at the price of some fairly 'physical' discpline as a pup. She trusts us now, but can be a little worrywart at times. Not to mention an absolute budnle of energy!!

Pics on profile now, from her first night with us. She was very skinny back then so looks a little different now!

I realise all dogs are unpredictable different name for this that is why I said to OP to wait and see how the staffie responds. Even dogs who are good with kids can snap at a little one who bothers them when they do not want to be bothered, that is why they should always be supervised. Know many staffies who are great with little ones, but can be a bit defensive when eating food, in their bed etc... So long as you give it time, observe the dog's behaviour and watch for warning signs of dog being annoyed when bub old enough to be toddling around there is no reason to get rid of dog, provided it responds well. Would also draw line at dog sleeping on the bed lavenderboo as you may want to bring baby into bed, change baby on bed and dogs do have a habit of putting their noses in some unsavoury places!

aw, MrsC, she is gorgeous
Our pup has a similaar response to being told off. A few weeks ago, I caught her with one of my shoes, so took it off her and said 'NO'
She cowered right down and weed herself. I was so upset, but god knows what she has been through, poor love.

Sorry for the Staffie love-in, OP! We've hijacked your thread a bit...

gorgeous dog

I am not a dog fan at all - any type. Scared of most of them and just don't like everything that goes with them. Each to their own. But it would be the hygiene aspect that would make OPs question a no-no for me. I don't know enough about particular breeds to think one is more dangerous than another. Imagine it's all to do with the owners.

It's different because it's a Staffie. Every dog snaps at least once in it's life and gives someone a nip. When a staffie snaps, they bite people's faces off.

That dog's gotta go.

Snobear dog was there first,op needs to realise she has got herself into a situation, and now needs to live with it.If I was her dp no way would I part with my beloved pet.By the way my dog has never snapped in all her twelve years,and none of my past dogs have either.

Ignore it, DAS. I reckon Snobear's on the wind-up, just to irritate. No-one can genuinely be that stupid.

VAL I really hope she is,sadly you just cannot be sure sometimes.Anyway I am just waiting for my friend off out for a summer tippleso no more mn for this evening, it is just to addictive at times.However, nothing but nothing riles me like the anti dog sentiment on the site in general.I could not imagine a life without a pet dog tbh .anyway goodnight.

'every dog snaps at least once in their life' - Hmm, let me see...

Doberman my dad bought me when I was a toddler - nope in her whole 13 years of life, she never snapped at anyone.
GSD - Yes. She was abused before we got her. She snapped at everyone but me. We had to re-home her in the end because she was too protective of me and would go for anyone who came within a foot of me.
Akita - Nope. 11 years old now. Never snapped once.
Black lab - She'd rather eat her own tail than show aggression to anyone. She is scared of cats ffs. She is about 13/14 now.
JRT - She died of epilepsy aged 7, but in those 7 years, she never snapped.
SBT - She was only pup, but never displayed aggression to anyone.
Fox Terrier X - Snapped at people. Oh yes. Mainly DH. Also possible history of abuse.

So of the seven dogs I have had very close contact with throughout my life, only two had snapped/snarled at people. Both had a history of abuse. The dog in the op has not been abused.

Mu Unlces Rotty never snapped at anyone either. The one he rescued from an abusive, neglectful home could only be trusted with my Uncle and was not able to be trained. The Bull Mastiff he raised from pup never snapped. Are we noticing a pattern here yet???