Your experiences as your dogs have aged

[Staffle]

Hello, as I have mentioned elsewhere we have a rescue staffy cross (possibly with terrier given his build), calm in the house but quite nuts outside in a well-intentioned wants to run everywhere (even if just in circles!), see everything, say hello/play with everyone. Currently he gets between 2-3 hours walking a day plus games and training in the house. He's about 2 years. He's our first dog and everyone we have met on our walks thinks he is a puppy!

We don't have any trouble with his exuberance but I wanted to know how did your dogs change as they aged? Is this just his personality (i.e. permanent puppy outside!)? Did age slow you dogs down as they got older or increased fitness meant they became more active?

TIA for your experiences

I've had staffies or bull terriers all my life and at the moment have a 5 moth old staffy/JRT cross. Sadly, both our previous staffies died aged only 6 - both of (different) cancers, so we never got to see them as old folk. My bull terrier who died last year was 14, though and I have had others live to 11 or 12.

Dogs generally do seem to 'calm down' aged 2-3 and become much easier to handle and be around. Training will always help. My last bull terrier was spayed later in life (aged 7) and we noticed a dramatic difference - it was like having a puppy again! She remained fairly active til around 10 - she walked every day but only for about an hour. She went blind when she was 4, so that restricted her liveliness - she could no longer do the crazy stuff she used to do, (like jump over the staffie's head, to confuse him). But on lead she grew confident as we built it up slowly until it was almost like walking a sighted dog, again. By about 10, she decided she didn't approve of walking any more, and would plant her bum firmly before she got to the end of the drive. She would walk on day trips and at the seaside but hated the daily walk to the point we just played with her in the garden. I'm not sure how much of that was her being blind, though. (Play was also difficult as she could no longer see toys, she lost all interest). By about 12, she went senile and this made her essentially a total homebody. She'd go out in the garden to pee and poo right up til her last day - but she wasn't fond of walking unless it was a sedate amble round a beach or English Heritage site!

I regularly see a very elderly staffie being walked daily, near here - many staffs seem to stay active a long time. Neither of mie were showing any signs of slowing down when they died. The day the vet put my last staffie to sleep she even commented how he looked at the peak of health and fitness - what a well-made dog he was (he had a brain tumour). The day he died he played ball in the garden with the neighbour's dog, and went for his usual 5K walk.

About a month before our old girl died, aged 14, I was asked if she was a puppy! She couldn't walk and had a grey moustache so I don't know why, but she was a puppy right up till her final six months, yet my family border collie has always been a very serious boy and at 9 he's a grumpy old man.

They do calm down, slowly and quietly and enjoy those years, they zoom by.

Or you just get used to the craziness!