MissMetal

So you made the decision to purchase and raised 3 dogs before this one? Or was that your parents? all mine, what that got to do with it anyway?

couldnt agree more! If a Stafford is a Stafford no matter the colour, I have to ask myself why people are paying through the nose for blues. Clearly both colour breeders and buyers ARE judging the book by its cover because demand for the colour is high (despite known health issues in dilute x dilute matings) and the dogs are being sold for far more than other coloured pups. Deliberately breeding dogs that have a one in four chance of a colour related skin condition IS unethical. I don't care how you dress it up. And every breeder jumping on the bandwagon of blue and every buyer that feeds the demand is contibuting to the degeneration of the standard of the breed. If you think blue Staffords are generally good examples of the breed then all I can say is you can't have seen many others. No point in saying anything to blue Stafford buyers. They don't want to hear anything. They rattle on about how their dogs are just Staffords when its plain they wouldn't have wanted one in a more 'common' colour. Ah the irony - blues ain't rare, the only thing special about them is the price. ive owned 3 SBT before owning my current blue pup. asll 3 were also from registered breeders. 1 was brindle, 1 was white/brindle pied & 1 was red ;)

couldnt agree more!

why ? if one of my family went out and purchased a blue pup, they'd certainly be subject to what I thought. followed by not to bother to come to me when poo hits the fan, because they have been warned. I would do the same. How are people ever going to learn if we all keep our mouths shut? Diplomacy, tact and good family relations. There are times when keeping ones mouth shut is a sign of maturity and this is one of those times. The pup's already bought and paid for and no doubt being shown off proudly. What earthly good is criticising the purchase going to do now? That's not educating anyone, that's just making yourself look like a mean-spirited know-all. agreed!!

totally agree!!

wowsers! how can i do that before he is fully vaccinated??

ok so my little boy starts puppy kindy next monday night im going through these guys http://www.goldcoastdogobedience.com only $50 for 4 lessons! so much cheaper than local vets around here that charge $100

hi, ive decided to put my 9 week old SBT pup into puppy pre-school, as i have a 2yr old toddler so i think it will help alot (i hope) whats the best age to start them in classes? do they need all their vaxx's first?? pup is booked in to have his 2nd vaxx this friday at 10 weeks old. thanks

he mostly gets chicken wings and other offcuts which include bone, sometimes an egg, liver, hearts etc etc. but yes occasionally (twice since ive owned him) i have given him raw mince.

Have you read this thread Miss Metal? It's very long but a real eye opener as to a buyer being ripped off because they wanted a blue stafford. what thread are you talking about??

yep, all pups were sold before they were a week old

well a lady i know was asking for $3000 for a blue male pup (staffy) and his brindle sister from the same litter was only $900... how can you charge $2100 more for a pup from the exact same litter?? and these pups are only on limited register so cant even breed them or anything. their father was locally bred & owned and basically studded out to every bitch in the state... yet another breeder i know had imported champion semen from the UK, bitch is top quality, pups were on main register and she only asked $1800 per blue pup. ;) :p

ive delt with some breeders in the past who have different prices for each pup depending on its sex, colour &/or markings even though they are all from the same litter. ive even come across a breeder who charges more for certain litters than others, depending on the parents of the pups. where as other breeders i know charge the same price for every pup regardless of sex or colour or parentage. whats the go??

i dealt with a very unprofessional, money hungry, so called well known "top breeder" who totally took me for a ride after dealing with this lady since before her bitches even concieved to after pups were born, it was all nice and dandy until the time came to choose my pup. she had promised me pick of the litter, as i was first in with a deposit. silly me paid of most of the pup before it was even born (here i was thinking i was doing the right thing) she wanted rediculous amounts for these pups because of colour. $3000 for a blue staff. so silly me thought i was getting top quality. anyway after pups were born i drove 3 hrs to go and view the pups, gave her another $1000 and told her which one i wanted and she was so excited that i was getting this particular boy. few days past and she never returned my emails or anything. found out through facebook of all places that she had already sold the one i chose plus the other males. there was none left for me, even though she promised me first pick. i was super upset and angry. there were other breeders i could have gone with that were cheaper and closer to home, but stupid me thought because this lady has such a good rep and her dogs are more expensive, then hers must be the best.... hahahahaha how wrong was i!!!! to this day, she still has not refunded me a single cent, nor did i get a dog from her.... she will not reply to any of my emails, texts, calls etc etc. what a low life scum of a human who advertises here on dogzonline as an accredited breeder lucky for me about a month later i found a much much nicer breeder who lived only 20 mins from me, had way better dogs and were much more reasonably priced.. and i got a pup from her and couldnt be happier :0)

thats what ive also done... bought regular mince when its cheap or marked down, use it straight away or freeze it if its about to go out of date.

I personally avoid purchasing butchers mince as it is usually so full of fat it is hard to find the meat content. I go to Leonard's Chicken and purchase chicken frames and pet chicken mince, a far better quality than the butcher. I also add dry food to the chicken mince when fed. ok great thanks for the tip

hi, just wondering if pet mince from a butcher is any good?? im feeding my pup a raw diet and was just wondering if introducing some pet mince would be any good? thanks

thanks so much!!

Don't bother with necks. He will swallow them whole and they're the perfect size and shape to get caught in his throat and kill him. Great food for Chihuahuas oh ok, thanks for the tip!!

sorry, i didnt see your first post... yep he's a staffy thanks thats great, much appreciated!

Cans and rolls are expensive ways to buy water. I would be cautious feeding a SBT puppy supermarket brand dry food as most of them have high quantities of wheat and corn which can cause probems if your puppy is going to have allergy issues. IMO if you want to do dry go for one of the high end brands to start with - personally I like Canidae (ouchy exxy ), Nutro, Royal Canin (medium breed junior) or Blackhawk (search on here). None of these are cheap nor are they sold at supermarkets. Once your pup is a bit older and you know if you have allergy issues or not you can branch out and mix cheaper with the more expensive. That said I personally think the best diet for a SBT is the raw diet and raise all my pups on raw with some dry food chucked in. If he hasn't had raw food before you must introduce it slowly as it requires quite a different gut flora than processed and while adults can be changed cold turkey I wouldn't recommend it for a puppy. DO NOT CHANGE HIS FOOD AT ALL UNTIL HE HAS BEEN WITH YOU FOR 7-10 DAYS AT LEAST. Raw diet for a breed like the SBT is quite easy really. They are strong enough to munch things but small enough size that you don't have to totally freak out about them like you do when raising a giant breed. My pups get whole eggs (raw, in shell), chicken wings, turkey wing tips, lamb off cuts, sardines, cheese, chicken bodies (usually 1/2 each), sheep hearts, chicken livers (which this lot hated), beef heart and lumps of roo meat. Basically they will get a an amount of food which is roughly the size of their head 3 x per day and a 4th meal which is likely to be the sardines, liver, cheese etc. with some dry food I feed them as big a pieces as I can. Search on here there's hundreds of threads. no-nos.: any cooked bone of size shape or description. onions raw potato (or cooked in large quantities) grapes/raisins aren't great one or two probably won't hurt meat on it's own (without bone) for more than one or two meals in a row. excessive amounts of liver (any species) - causes Vit D issues (calcium absorption). Excessive to me would be more than a head-sized piece per week. You need to be comfortable and confident with what you're feeding him. ETA: yes, he's perfectly capable of munching bones at this age - but they need to be bones he can actually chew up and eat, not huge leg bones. The point of the exercise is for him to eat the bone thankyou soooo much for that, its a great help!! yeah i was thinking more along the lines of chicken necks and wings, smallish size off cuts etc. thankyou!!

thanks, i have googled it a bit and have found very mixed advice as to whats good and whats not are bones (not cooked obviously) ok at this young age??

sorry i should have explained in more detail, my appologies. i mean all supermarket puppy food (ie pal etc) ,puppy cans, puppy dry, puppy rolls etc. im just trying to figure out whats best to give my little boy, processed puppy food or natural? or a bit of both? if i was to give him the raw diet, what are the things that are safe for pups that will give him all the nutrients he needs to grow? and what are the no no's?? thanks

hi, im just wanting to know what are the best & worst things to feed puppies? puppy food or not?? thanks

thanks so much everyone... guess i just need to harden up much appreciated!!