Eileen

I spoke to my vet about getting our 15 week stafford girl desexed in the next couple of weeks, as the breeder suggested we do it from about 4 months (and wants the desexing cert before she passes 6 months). The vet said he prefers to do them at about 6 months. He said that while it is not a hard and fast rule that dogs who are done early have urinary incontinence probs when they are very old dogs, anecdotal evidence seems to hint at this. What do you guys think? I'd love to get it out of the way, but I don't want to inflict incontinence on her in her dotage.....

Being only a relatively new puppy owner myself, I am not sure if this is the right advice, but our Staffy puppy pulled all sorts of tricks to get back in the house as soon as possible, including fake squats - how does an 8-week-old work that out? On one of the 4am trips she worked out that weeing on our old door mat was infinitely more comfortable than the cold pavers. Bingo, she started going outside quite quickly. We disinfect it every couple of days and it is no longer the door mat, just her cold-weather wee spot.

Hahhaaaa - you laugh but she was TOTALLY trying to get to her shoulder blades. But you're right, it is starting to settle down, she seems much less distressed. Thanks for the tip re the vet, she is due in a couple of weeks for her last injection, so I will ask then. Thanks!

I gave my 13-week-old staffy her first flea treatment yesterday morning - she was acting a bit like she might have had fleas - and now she is scratching where it was applied like mad. Is this normal? (The last time we had a dog we used a flea collar, so I am not used to using a topical treatment). I used Advantix. oops I just realised I didn't post this in health and grooming like I thought - sorry. Can't work out how to move it either.

Thanks that's really helpful, I will look up some of the threads on pack leadership.

I am not sure what is gonig on but my puppy is still biting me, but not my boyfriend! Also, at puppy preschool the trainer told us when she was misbehaving, to hold her down (gently) by the scruff of her neck, as this simulates what her mum would have done. She still allows my boyfriend to do this, but not me - she locks her little staffy shoulders and I can't get her down (and obviously don't want to force it cos it might hurt her). I've been rolling her over onto her side instead - really not sure if that is the right thing to do. It's funny cos she seems to like hanging out with me, sitting on me, playing with toys better with me, but still she bites - and trust me, her canine teeth are sharp, fishook shaped things. My hands are a mess! She doesn't sleep on our bed, and is only allowed on the couch when we invite her, she has to "sit" first. She waits for us to walk up the stairs and enter doors first, so I thought I was doing everything right!

Thanks that's great. I might just wait and see. We've bought her an outside dog house for when I go back to work that has a door on it so we can use that, I think, for the crate training if we decide to do that. We dont need to start that immediately, do we? But I want her to get comfy in the dog house, so we have that in the lounge room. I am very excited about her coming to stay. Most staffies I have seen are extremely obedient (certainly compared to our old Jack Russell) so I am not sure 100% sure why she would need the crate training. But if it is to make her feel secure, then maybe that's a good idea.

Thanks everyone, that's very helpful. I will look into sourcing some information on crate training.

We need pics!!!! She is the little on the right.

We don't have any other dogs now. We thought in the future we would get her a companion so it wouldn't matter about us being at work, but for the time being she will be our only baby.

Thanks very much, that's very helpful. I will get the book tomorrow.

Hi everyone, I am getting a blue staffy puppy on Friday from a reputable breeder. We are very excited, but I am worried about a few things. I've tried searching your forums to see if you've answered these questions before, so I hope you haven't. I am taking a few weeks off work to settle her in, and after that I will be home in the early afternoons onwards, so she won't be home too long by herself. I know she has to go to puppy preschool, but when I googled to find one near me (I live in Surry Hills) it seems there was an outbreak of parvovirus at the preschool near here. So I was wondering, if she doesn't get her shots for that for quite a few months, how do I make sure she doesn't catch it? We do have a backyard, but being in the city, it's not huge. I was also wondering if someone could point me in the direction of a good book to read in terms of raising a staffy? Any other tips would be good. My parents had a few when I was a very small girl, so I remember they were fun dogs, but we've had a lot of different dogs since then. Thanks in advance.