I’ve grown up around them and had several myself (from puppy and rescued). I’ll start with the one I had from a puppy. She was amazing to say the least. Toilet trained extremely quickly with no fuss, training took a bit longer because she was quite strong willed, however I’ve known other puppies to just ‘get it’. Always got along with other dogs and we introduced a kitten, rabbit and hamster into the mix and within a day or 2 she was completely fine with all. Never aggressive towards anyone or anything, only barked to scare the birds away
Extremely loyal, more to towards me as her owner but also other family. Health wise no issues (I know genetics can play a part). In her life we had her at the vet maybe 4-5 times, when she was spayed, 2 puppy vaccinations (I’ve never done boosters) having a few teeth out and for arthritis in her later years. We had her with us almost 14 years, she really mellowed around 8 and that’s when she spent more time relaxing instead of bouncing around everywhere.
Onto rescue staffies - I’ve fostered 3 and rescued 1. You will need a lot of time and patience if you plan to do it this way. Every single one I’ve had has come with issues and rightly so. Some have been surrendered and suffered major separation anxiety and some were ‘dog aggressive’ because of past abuse but totally fine in the house. It was like having 2 different dogs. You really need to know your stuff and be confident to help those kind of dogs. Having my staffie mentioned above helped one staffie we rescued. Wouldn’t recommend if you have children maybe under 10? I’m not a rescue but I know kids are like flies to
tit around dogs.
Overall I don’t have a bad word to say. Maybe that’s because I’ve spent my whole life around them but I wouldn’t go for any another breed. They’re not bad dogs, they’re just sadly raised by all the wrong people.