Follow-Ups to Answer from Expert Susan Downes

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Jarrod wrote at 2007-08-26 18:07:52
My Staffy lives with a Doberman, a Boxer, and Australian Sheep Dog and a Poodle mix. They all get along great. We also have horses and a cat and there have been no problems. I socialized the Staffy at a young age, and brought her into the "family" as a puppy, and everything has gone swell. Certain Staffys can be dog-dog aggressive, and have a high prey drive, but many do not show that characteristic and can be fine with other animals. The previous responder stated "My Staffordshire killed a cow, and two other dogs before I had to have him put to sleep". This is obviously not a person you need to be listening to for advice. She allowed her dog THREE TIMES! to be in a situation where he could kill another animal ( AND DID) when he was obviously not stable. There is a good chance that your rotty and staffy will get along fine. My question to you is: why not get them neutered and eliminate that added catalyst? Staffys, Pit bulls, AmStaffs---they get the bad rap because of people LIKE the last responder, they are not bad dogs and are trainable, but they do tend to want to be the alpha dog, rottys not as much. Since you are bringing in a puppy to a house with a (Supposedly) dominant Staffy, if the rotty doesn't continually stive to alpha status you should be fine. ( I am referring to "alpha" with just the two dogs in mind, YOU should be the "alpha" animal in the house).



Hope this helps and good luck, I have trained many hard to handle dogs, if you have any questions please post again! Jarrod

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