Anyone help, Murphy bullies me alot

I joined today to see if anyone can help and give me some advice.
Got murphy from the dogs home when he was 5 months old hes 13 months now and he always bullies me. when my partner is in the house hes so good listens and behaves himself, but as soon as he goes to work he barks at me bites my feet my hands anything he can really, and when i say no he just wags his tail and thinks im playing, its driving me crazy, can anyone help??

It sounds like you don't have his respect. You will have to be very firm & consistent with him.

Make sure you have some tasty treats in your pocket all the time. Everytime he displays unwanted behaviour (barking at you, nipping etc) tell him "No!" in a firm voice (but don't shout or lose your temper) and turn away from him. Don't look at him or talk to him until he's calm again. Then you can give him quiet praise & a treat. If he won't calm down, then gently but firmly lead him out of the room & shut the door. After a few minutes you can let him in again & see if he's calmed down; if not, start the routine again.

You might have to repeat this quite a few times, because it sounds like you'll need to break the habit, but eventually he'll be ok.

Just a thought, does he nip & bark at you when your partner is around, and if so, what does your partner do?

He doesn't nip or bark at him now but he did at the beginning and he just said oi and no but in a loud voice, ive tried everything with him, but the strange thing is he can be very loving toward me like he will sleep on me and if im not well he will sleep next to me, its just its as if hes bored and thinks right im going to bully you now and start to bite me and it does really hurt

when my partner is in the house he will only do it if hes not in the room, i have to shout his name and he stops straight away

Maybe you need to be more firm with your voice. Try saying "No!" in a lower voice so he knows it's different to normal & you mean it. Then you must ignore him till he's calm again. If you start to run away from him or try to push him away, you're actually interracting with him & encouraging the play which will make it worse.

Right, i wont push him away any more, i think he thinks its all just a game, he wont bite anyone else just me, hes so good with children also

It sounds like he sees you as a playmate. He just doesn't realise that he can't play with you the way he'd play with other dogs.

If you're consistent with him & stop all interraction with him as soon as he starts being a pain, he'll catch on soon enough. As I said, try to lower your voice a bit, it should help.

Agree completly with Caryll. It will just take time. You have to react the same way each and every time as well

yes I agree with everything too..consistency is the key. he is testing the boundaries..

Hey everyone

I haven't posted here for a while but still check out the site every once in a while.

Saw this thread and just wanted to add one thing. If I was you I wouldn't look at it as bullying it makes it seem worse than it is and in turn probably makes the situation worse. It is just him wanting to play with you but as Caryll said he see you as a play mate and not his leader so isn't showing you the respect he should be. Follow Carylls advise and you will find the situation is sorted fairly quickly. The other thing I'd suggest is make sure you feed him at meal times etc.. Let him see you as a source of food as well as teching him his bounderies. Oh and don't stop the affection - staffies need that more than anything else lol

Good luck and keep us all posted.

Excellent advice from everyone

show him whos boss in simple ways. make him sit and wait before you go through a door and enter before him. mix his food with your bare hands to leave your scent in it (apparently helps show your pack leader) and make him sit and wait before hes allowed to eat it. just sounds like hes trying to test you a little bit, you just gotta assert yourself as packleader and he will soon understand

Thank you everyone. With the food he just has dry food and its down all day he only eats a little bit at a time and i don't want to take it away just encase he is hungry, i don't mind him eating when he wants to because hes not over weight as he gets out for 2 hours every day on the field with 4 other staffs that all meet up, so hes getting enough exercise.

Great advice from everyone and I hope it all works, I will be monitoring the siutuation as we can apply this over playfulness to my daughter. Tilly sometimes gets very excitable (normally when I am not around) and will bite Jenny's feet when she's wearing Crocs or shoes , not barefoot. I have tried to teach her to be firm with her and she does stop eventually but it is only when she lowers the tone in her voice (to her hormonal , nearly teenager exorcist voice ) but she will start again at the next opportunity . Along with this on occasions she does some lead biting (and with me as well) I have noticed this would normally follow a brief bit of excitement with her that is cut short, say for instance our next door neighbour making a big fuss but moving on too quickly , or seeing one of her doggy playmates when everyone is in a hurry and she hasn't had a proper time to say hello , does this make any sense ??

the day i got clio from rescue centre she was the same but i let it go for time being until she really nipped me hard on the inner thigh, out of no where i pinned her on her back and bit her hard, she yelped a little sprung to her feet and had the staffy "im sorry" look on her face which was nothing compared to the look on my girlfriends face, any way short story shes been good as gold since she bites when we're play fighting but has never bit down hard like she did that day, wouldnt recomend it though, even i was shocked i did it !!