Talk me out of wanting pup

[SpicyPear]

So, went to Pupaid yesterday and there was a tiny Staffie pup up for adoption. Was sold online as 8 weeks but was probably only 2

Now she's 5 weeks and needs a home. I already have a luffly rescued breeding bitch who loves pups and would mummy her. Please tell me how hard pups/two dogs are. I need to be talked out of this!

Your dog has already done her mothering. I wouldn't want to foist another puppy on her.

Am a bit and about how anyone could mistake a 2 week old pup for an 8 week old though.

Think of the cost. The extra food, vets bills, boarding costs. The utter destruction a pup can bring. The behavioural problems whhich might manifest due to the poor pup being separated from its mother too soon. The potential stress to your own dog.

Enough?

You might think that two young dogs = twice the work, noise and mess. You'd be very wrong. Two young dogs = ten times the noise, mess and work.

Training needs to be done both individually and then again together. For example we have been working on leash manners lately. I have three dogs, so this takes approx 3 hours a day. Two are improving loads. Put them together and it all goes to pot again. They need to be 100% perfect alone before I put them back together and even then they will still need to do some training together before they realise the rules still apply when they are together.

Behavioural problems that one dog has may be picked up by the other.

Two dogs can work together to create far more mess and trouble than one dog alone ever could.

You need to pay for twice the insurance, twice the food, eleventy million times the training treats and classes.

At 2 weeks a pup has only just opened its eyes. It would not be in the slightest bit independent from its mum. At 6 weeks it's a completely different story. If there is ANY question in your mind about this pup you shouldn't get it. You may need to seek specialist advice and it may be a far greater commitment than you anticipate. Do you have the time, the commitment and the ££££ to deal with any outcome? If you have any doubts about this dog, you shouldn't do it. You are asking the question here which suggests you may...

2 dogs, 1 only a pup equals happy chaos.
If the pup comes upstairs, big dog follows.
If the pup runs down the garden barking at a fly, big dog follows.

All the things that big dog already knew were not worth barking at such as birds, helicopters, the Hoover, the lead, a bike now become bark worthy because the pup is barking.

Rules such as walk on the left side, don't pull, come back when I call you, don't eat bread off the park grass went out of the window when the pup came along. And he knew all this.
So we had to reteach him.
And now the pup has decided to ignore any recall command so I'm sure it's only a matter of time before big dog does the same

Staffy dogs are hard work !!!! They chew absolutely everything in sight . we came home a few weeks ago , our 6 mth old staffy pup had ripped the sofa apart . Our other staffy as a pup chewed shoes, wires, leads , toys , anything she could find whilst we weren't in the room .

They are wonderful dogs though , loving but extremely stubborn .

I wouldn't be without mine though , go and get the pup , you can train it into a lovely dog and I would hate to think if you don't have it , who would :( lol no help there :P

Thank you, all very very good points.

We've had our bitch 8 months and she really is a wonder dog. Despite being caged for three years and bred she is lovely with other dogs, has never pulled on the lead, doesn't bark or jump up, learnt recall quickly and has only chewed one cordless phone I stupidly left on the floor. Her only "fault" is that she is nervous.

So the worst case scenario is the pup picks up her nerves and also teaches my girl barking, chewing etc!

I won't do it, not because of money, time etc but because my girl now has a calm and comfy life that she's thriving in and it wouldn't be fair on her to bring a pup in.

I hope someone nice comes forward for her soon - anyone ?