Mum has a mastff x ridgeback and he's just brilliant with my kids. Here's my daughter with there 12 month old.

Getting an older rescue dog is a great idea to find a good fit for your family
But you might be better off looking at a different rescue, the RSPCA dont seem to be the best.
How about a breed specific rescue for the breed you want - or another rescue where they foster out the dogs in a family environment so they can fully assess what the dog is like

I would have no issues in general with a staffy cross, they can be fantastic wee dogs
But a dog in kennels is a bit of a gamble if you dont have its history
- only saying this because you have concerns for your son
You dont know how well the dog has been socalised or really why she is being rehomed

All branches of the RSPCA are different, if you quizz them and you feel they have really done their homework with this dog and know what she is like then fair enough
Spend lots of time getting to know her in all situations

Although she has your heart a little now it would be much easier to find out she is not suitaable now rather than 6 months down the line

Good luck with whatever you decide to go with, I look forward to seeing the lucky dog and hearing how you all get on

Hi, Thank you to all for all your advice, sorry it's taken me quite a while to respond. The RSPCA did make sure that we saw her and took her out a few times, we also had to have a house visit. We've had Bella (the staff cross mastiff) for 3 weeks now and what an adorable girl she is, a raving looney, but loveable. Since having her, I can't believe that I was originally weary of the breed, but as said before, it's the bad press they were given, or to be more accurate the bad owners. People who I've met dog-walking have all said how brilliant the breed is with kids and I have only heard positive from people. I think the only form of physical she would do to people is to lick them to death, she's such a loveable friendly lass.

Ah, that's great news!

Now you have to post pics!!!

Welcome to Dogsey Bella!

J.

oh thats so great to hear! she sounds great, but... where are the pics??

Great news, figment! Yes, pics!

I don't think you can generalise across the branches.

Nope, Sorry, I tried to copy from the kids [a social network] pages, but it wouldn't let me paste on here, haven't a clue how to do it (showing my age here), so will have to wait for one of the kids to show me. Will put a couple up when I've managed to master technology a bit more.

great the your new dog has settled in...if you want you can open a photobucket account and download the pics from there..good luck.

http://photobucket.com/

Aww, congratulations. I do hope you can post some photos. The explanation of how to do it is here......

http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=10395

http://a03-b03.mypicturetown.com/P2P...ntroller/cache


http://a03-b03.mypicturetown.com/P2P...ntroller/cache


Well, I hope this has worked, very much a techno-phobe I'm afraid and sorry for the delay. Bella has settled in really well, and has got a little bigger since these were taken, not by much though. (now got to fathom out how I get the photos downloaded from my mobile phone).