Hi, my husband and I are looking to complete our family with a wee puppy. He was brought up with Staffies from an early age and woukd like to have a staffie bitch. We have 2 kids.. Aged 8 and 9. We have waiting until the are older before getting a dog. Thing is.. We dont know where to start looking. We are really apprehensive about buying one on gum tree etc you hear so many stories about the wee puppies having health issues etc. Can you kind people please let us know what we should be doing to actively look for one from a legit place? Also what questions should we be asking?

Thanks in advance!

I would make contact with the any of the breed clubs. Also the websites for the clubs should have details of what health tests should be done on both parents.
Gumtree and many other places are not the place to look for a puppy.
Have a look on this site for Staff litters but not all will be from health tested parents. It is buyer beware and if you have a niggle in your gut listen to it.

The breed clubs will recommend only or should do the good breeders.

Breed clubs are listed in the breeders section of.the relevant breed
Also if u read the thread here about peoples views in what makes a good breeder.  it will give u an idea of what u should be looking for in a breeder .
At this point u are looking for a breeder who u can build a relationship with and be added to their waiting list
Currently there are few litters of amy breed about due to people.putting
off breeding because of covid .
U  may have to wait until into next year or.longer .and sadly prices have become ridiculous in all breeds atm
Your other option is to look at rescue .there are many staffs in rescue unfortunately
U won't however know much about potential.brèed health issues with  a rescue unfortunately

https://forum.champdogs.co.uk/topic_show.pl?tid=151546  worth looking at this too

I met some lovely staffs at the first show I took River to, and I was very surprised how different they looked to the ones you usually see on the street. Much less chunky.

One thing I did find out is that people who breed and exhibit them really don’t like the nickname “staffie” and insisted that they had “staffords”. It sounds like a silly thing but I wanted to mention it because it’s entirely possible that a breeder could immediately discount you as a potential buyer of one of their pups if you use the nickname.

Probably unfair, but they may think you haven’t done enough research and I’m sure that’s not the case.

It’s like how golden retriever people don’t like “goldie” and prefer “golden”. And my friend who has dachshunds finds it difficult to suppress a shudder when someone calls her three “sausage dogs”.

I agree, Goldens. However, my pet hate is when people call Cavaliers 'Cavvies', which makes them sound more like guinea pigs. I have even overheard exhibitors refer to their breed like this. It really sets my teeth on edge.