How to keep two or more Staffies

Hi Guys --

A few years ago we adopted a female Staffie from a shelter. She is a lovely
dog and now about four years old. She has shown absolutely no aggression to
people and is very submissive when called down for getting into the
occasional bit of mischief.

However, she does insist on being the top dog in a household of three total
dogs. The other two dogs are a very old golden-chow mix and the other is a
four year old chow-shepherd mix. The older dog could care less and the
younger dog has reluctantly accepted his role as number two. We have tried
to squash this dominance-thing with the Staffie but have only been partially
successful.

The older dog is on his last days. The younger dog is actually just
boarding with us while his owner gets back on his feet. Soon we will be
down to one dog; the Staffie. At some point we would be looking to have a
new second dog.

My question is... How hard is it to have two Staffies in the same household?
If both dogs were as hard-headed as the female Staffie, I'm afraid we would
have dog fights every day. Are there any accessible books that cover this
topic?

On Sat, 21 Apr 2007 15:19:33 -0500, "John M. Jarvis" <john.jarvis @
yahoo.co.uk> graced this newsgroup with:

>Hi Guys --
>
>A few years ago we adopted a female Staffie from a shelter. She is a lovely
>dog and now about four years old. She has shown absolutely no aggression to
>people and is very submissive when called down for getting into the
>occasional bit of mischief.
>
>However, she does insist on being the top dog in a household of three total
>dogs. The other two dogs are a very old golden-chow mix and the other is a
>four year old chow-shepherd mix. The older dog could care less and the
>younger dog has reluctantly accepted his role as number two. We have tried
>to squash this dominance-thing with the Staffie but have only been partially
>successful.
>
>The older dog is on his last days. The younger dog is actually just
>boarding with us while his owner gets back on his feet. Soon we will be
>down to one dog; the Staffie. At some point we would be looking to have a
>new second dog.
>
>My question is... How hard is it to have two Staffies in the same household?
>If both dogs were as hard-headed as the female Staffie, I'm afraid we would
>have dog fights every day. Are there any accessible books that cover this
>topic?
>


well, we didnt' have two staffies but a male staffie and a male dobie.
It made for an "interesting" environment (the dobie was put down with
cancer about a year ago so now we're down to just the staffie).

It took awhile but eventually they became best buddies but they had to
be watched ALL THE TIME. A friendly wrestling match can quickly
escalate to a major dog fight (don't ask).

And never, ever, EVER leave them alone together at home. Either crate
them or put then in separate parts of the house where there's
absolutely no way they can get to each other.

Staffies are VERY intelligent and will quickly figure out how to get
around baby gates or anything else you set up to prevent them from
getting to the other room (even learning how to turn a door knob). So
keep that in mind.

And if you think a *female* staffie is territorial...try a male..it
puts a whole new meaning to "top dog". :-)