Topic: Smelly Staffie!

[feet of clay]

My son's Staffordshire Bull Terrier is flatulent!  In fact he can f**t to Olympic standards!  Eye-watering  and choking are common reactions to his copious output.  This is my son's other dog - to the Bichon of the extortionate vet's bill - so there's little chance of a visit to the vet.  The dog is fit and well, muscular and glossy but gassy!  Any ideas?

[Jesse]

I can sympathise, my father had a labrador who was, well, smelly - that is the only polite word I can think of describing him! Changed the brand of dog food, and lots and lots of exercise, it helped but sorry to say it didn't completely solve the problem.

[Steven]

In the 5 years of owning my Rottie,he has always had bad wind.He really does stinky ones and because he dont have a tail-there is nothing to absorb the sound!  ;D

I have over the years changed his diet,but nothing seems to work.Mine has always been fed on dry food-what does your son feed his on?

[Gardengirl]

I was once told that charcoal biscuits solved the problem of flatulence - probably get them at any pet shop.  Haven't tried them myself (on my dogs I hasten to add ;D)but would be interested to hear if they work.  Also yogurt is supposed to be quite good.

[feet of clay]

Staffie fed on dry stuff.  I will recommend the charcoal biscuits and yog.  A friend always had Staffies and she confirms that all of her dogs could get the wallpaper peeling!  I keep dogs and occasional gassy output is one of the hazards but this Staffie.............!

[Muddy_Boots]

Born and brought up with Staffies FOC, no chance!  But their gentleness and good nature make up for it!  My much younger brother used to dress one of ours up in his rugby shirt and shortsl; she revelled in it and paraded around 'talking' (as only they do) telling us how good she felt!  Bless her, she was white with pink eyes, not a beauty but lovely nature!  Only had one failure, white dog who turned.

Apparently, when I was baby (when on earth was that I ask, amazed!), we had Staffie and Alsation cross (white), and she used to guard me pram and pick me up and put me back in if I climbed out!  No wonder I'm crackers, must have been all those head bangs when I fell out but she was better than any nanny!  But no nannies then, just next door neighbours but I had Bess!  :D :D :D

[feet of clay]

My son has been shouted at for walking his dog without a muzzle!  That dog is the biggest wuss on the planet.  He would be the perfect envoy for Staffie awareness.  My Alsatian is a big softie too - happy to have a cuddle anytime.  When I was a kid (dark ages) we had a Corgi who was a really nasty piece of goods! A friend had a psycho Retriever - and you can't get anything more soppy-looking. The words Book and Cover spring to mind.

[Gardengirl]

We have quite a few Staffies round our way foc and they are all very friendly.  I must admit I have never come across an aggressive one, but they are very vocal when you get them all together at a dog show :D

[Steven]

I too have had people ask why i dont muzzle my Rottweiler in public.I just politely explain that Rotties are not on the dangerous dogs register and im not required to have him muzzled-so i dont!
I used to get some pretty nasty comments about the breed of dog i own and used to give as good as i get,but lifes too short to spend it angry.Now i find that if i speak gentle and sarcastic-they leave me alone.

A family round the corner have a little Staffie puppy-its a an adorable little 5 month old girlie which always runs to me and my dog.It absolutely loves mine and wherever he goes she is beside him.Strange thing is,most of the girlie dogs round here always follow him about and if he lays down,they do next to him-its like he has a hareem!

And being a bloke,i bet he feels flattered!

[Gardengirl]

A friend of mine has had Rotties for her past two dogs Bubble.  They have both been the most gentle and friendly dogs (both males) with their tails undocked.  It's a shame they dock them as they have beautiful tails, wagging all the time :D

[Steven]

Tail docking is something which devides dog owners.Rottweilers are working dogs like Springer Spaniels,Boxers,Dobermans etc and their tails always got damaged.Admitingly,very few dogs are used for work nowadays,but the breed standard for various types of dogs dictates that the tails should be removed.This,i think is the fault of the various kennel clubs round the world.Despite mine being tail-less,i can see what sort of mood he is in by his body language.

Rotties are actually known as "The Butchers dog" because they were used to herd cattle to market and once sold-the farmer would tie the money round the dogs collar so nobody would steal it. The Romans apparently used them as dogs of war because of their strength and aggresion.In the right hands,they are no different than any other breed and make perfect family pets-mine adores children and always makes a bee line for neighbouring kids because they play with him.Its when people try to make them permanetly aggresive,problems surface because they are then uncontrollable and a good dog ends up being destroyed.

There really should be more control of ownership of these breeds to stop them falling into the wrong hands.The breed is already tarnished wth a horrible reputation and hopefully my big,black playful boy has changed some peoples opinion on them.

[Val]

 :-[ Just be thankful people know its the dog. We had a visitor and as the dog was sat beside me at the time, I swear blind he thought it was me, to make matters worse he was a friend of my son and as I foolishly said after he'd gone, well I hope he didn't think it was me , son was going to tell him it was.... IT WASN'T .  ::)

[feet of clay]

Similar thing.  Son and posh visitor (mentor from Prince's Trust) and bad smell!  Son thought it was visitor, visitor probably thought the same, but the Staffie hidden under the coffee table between them knew different!

[Val]

Hi Feets, its usually a fatal combination, lads and smelly dogs. ... Nothing to do with dogs but my lad has a hearing problem, when he was at school he had a visit from a different hearing teacher, she not knowing the type of hearing loss he had , erm, passed wind rather loudly. he did manage to keep a straight face, unlike me I curled up when he told me.

[feet of clay]

My eldest had speech probs. We live near Manchester and his speech therapist sounded like Billy Connolly. Quote 'Say RRRRRRR for rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrabbit.' Not a lot of use.  Little s*d learned to speak OK without the therapy.

[Val]

They usually do when they want to, the "experts" are sometimes not very quick on the uptake, they never seem to take into account the personality of the kids. still they manage to grow up sometimes despite us.