Georgieboy

Thanks so much for this great post and the video! I'm teaching George my 6mth old SBT to do this and after 3 nights we're finally getting the hang of it! Its so cute!! :D

We have a 6 month old SBT, George. We got him at 8 weeks old and for the first 4 weeks we kept him in the laundry through the day while we were at work. I just made sure that he had plenty of toys in with him, his bed (a doggie beanbag and a blanket) and we had a clock radio in there with the radio playing softly all day. We covered the floors with newspaper on top of blue plastic tarps from bunnings (which we hosed off every night and rotated them around). All in all he was pretty good, with only the door stops and one piece of skirting board that came to a sticking out corner chewed! (white vinegar in a spray bottle sprayed on the chewed area seemed to help stop the munching ). Just make sure there's no cords hanging down, or plugged in that your baby could pull or chew on. At 12 weeks old we started leaving George outside through the day. I left for work at 7:45 and my partner was home around 5. George has coped fine with being on his own through the day. We'd have a big game of ball before I left, then I'd give him some treats and his breakfast (which I still do right before I leave) and he's fine. He knows that when we get home, he's inside with us. He's also great with kids and the elderly. He can get a bit rough when playing with us at times (we dont have human children, just a doggy one), but around my 5, 3, 2 & 1 yo nephew's and nieces or my 89 yo grandfather, he's the very gentle and well behaved. One suggestion is that anything you want to keep in your garden - fence off. We've had to put plastic lattace all around our pot plants that George could reach the top of, as we were coming home to empty pots where he'd dug them out, and our BBQ covers have been shredded, but its a small price to pay for the joy he brings us. The other thing I've done is to ensure that he's been well socialised with other dogs. Enjoy, SBT's are fantastic dogs, George is our first and he's the best! Such a personality! (who's sound asleep on his back with his legs in the air and snoring on the couch beside me as I type! ) They love your company, want to be with you, sit on your feet, and snuggle up to you on the couch to watch TV. They snore and burp (and fart! ). But best of all, they give you unconditional love.

It might be a silly question, but does feeding a dog bones on concrete make a difference to feeding on grass Just curious as George drags his bones up to beside his kennel which is on concrete and eats them there from time to time, he has no ulcers though....

Its amazing how uneducated peope can be sometimes! I've had several people say that about our Staffy and it could not be further from the truth! The only way ours will kill something is lick them to death!

However at 4 months it would be a very brave vet indeed who would determine that a puppy has a retained testicle..... Hate to suggest you may have jumped the gun, but what sort of vet was it who made this diagnosis, a specialist or just your corner-store type vet?????? Not sure that our vets are "experts" in Staffy's but we've been using them for around 10 years now and have never had any reason to doubt their diagnosis and have always been happy with the services provided. I think they've been around for about 25 years. Interestingly, I did a bit of reading on this website and the common theme was that both testicles should be visible/there by 8 - 10 weeks. We possibly did jump the gun, given they found the testicle fairly easily, however, after bringing George hom we had lots of discussions around breeding. We decided to make the move and have him desexed as there are already plenty of great breeders out there. There are also too many dogs who go unloved, get handed in to shelters or are miss treated and we didn't want to add to that problem. We know its the minority that are unkind to animals, but couldn't handle the thought of any puppy that came from us being mistreated or unloved.

He's pretty switched on so I was thinking that Flyball would be fun. I was thinking of showing and breeding however we discovered George had a retained testical, so decided the best thing to do was to have him desexed. Now our main objective is to have a relaxed, well socialised and well behaved member of the family.

Hi Everyone, I'm a new user of this forum. Have been reading bits and pieces over the last 8 weeks since we brought home our new baby Staffy George. George is 4 and a half months old now. We had him desexed 2 weeks ago, hasn't slowed him down a bit! I'd like to take George to puppy school as he already has quite a strong will and plenty of attitude! He's pretty good considering his age and the amount of time spent training him, he sits, drops, waits for his dinner, pee's on command etc. He's well socialised with other dogs and being a staffy thinks that everyone wants to be his friend. We just need some hands on help with getting him to come when he's called and to stop the mouthing as he's got most of his adult teeth now! Any suggestions on puppy schools in the Mornington Area in Victoria would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!