Sulking/Crying Adult American Staffy

Hi All,

New to this forum but found the whole website very useful.

I have a 7 yr old american staffy called Jed, he's been through a bit in his life, hit by cars, kicked by horses and even had therapy!!! (not my doing!) So naturally being a staffy i think he's a bit emotionally touchy.

I have recently started staying with my boyfriend in his new house which is a lovely home with a beautiful balcony and my Jed and CJ (His 1yr old moodle brother) live in there house on the back porch. They are outside dogs, although for the first 5 years of Jed's life he was an inside dog... when my parents split up i took him on and for the past year he has been in my care... it did take him a while to transition into being an outdoor dog but he is getting there slowly!

Jed has always whinged, and whinged, and whinged when he doesnt get his own way (spoilt rotten) some more... he sits at the back door of the new house and just does not stop crying, and when we think he's eventually stopped, half an hour later he will start again, it has only been about a week since he's been at his new home but i'd love some reassurance that he will eventually give in and just chill out, i feel he just needs to relax and he's very tense or stressed out.

Any tips on how to help him relax? Get his mind off it all so to say? I have toys/treats for him all the time! What else could i do?




I have had staffys previously and i know they are just all sooks...

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I'm not sure they would do very well as an outside dog. They love attention and have thin coats as well. If he is getting the right amount of exercise and mental stimulation he will likely adapt after some time.

hello and welcome to the forum from me and billy

we always keep billy inside, why do you want to keep him outside, they love human company

Difficult one there. Some dogs do well living outside and some do not. Give it a bit more time, but it may never be his cup of tea. I'd say that if he doesn't adjust within a month of consistancy, it may not happen. One week though is pretty short to know. Keep it up and like Jstaff says, give lots of attention and excersise when you can and that should help. It is just a bit more difficult to such people-needy dogs.

Hi welcome. I keep my staff outside, much to everyones horror lol but she has been perfectly fine the whole time and has never whined or barked or went mad. She keeps herself amused and enjoys her own space and will not sit by you for longer than a second if you stop petting her. In winter its a lot colder here than where you are i assume, but her kennel is insulated and inside a shed so quite warm, she also has the option to sleep in the garage on the sofa with the heater on but sticks to her kennel tbh!

There are some breeds that do well outdoors and some that don't. Typically, Staffords and AmStaffs do much better indoors than outdoors. They love to be around their people and thrive on attention. That is why so many have separation anxiety issues. There may be outliers that do ok outdoors, but I wouldn't want to do that to a breed (or, I should say breeds, as AmStaffs and Staffords are two different breeds) that loves people so much.

Wow thank you for your replies! And thanks for the warm welcome!

There both outside dogs (the staffy and the moodle) as i now live with my partner who is a dog lover, but not a lover of the staffys short shedding hair that sticks to EVERYTHING! especially when he's pure white! which i think is fair enough... i was living on 3 acres at one stage for about a year and he was an outside dog there too... and was fine so i think it will be a transitioning thing.

he's got a cosy dog hutt, and has a warm wooly jumper on at night and a thin one on during the day... doesn't get all that cold here in queensland so he's pretty okay.

i understand his frustration though, from when he was a pup he slept in mum n dads bed right between them... and most of the time kicked my dad out of bed into the spare room due to lack of room! He has his puppy blanket still in his dog hutt and lots of toys, i do walk him but may need to up that a little bit. They both get small bones every morning before i leave to keep them occupied

Will keep you updated on his progress, wish me luck!

I don't really see how you can retrain a dog to become an outside dog especially after he's had all the comforts for so long , he's not settling as he want to be inside and to be honest I don't blame him.

davemck3834 wrote:I don't really see how you can retrain a dog to become an outside dog especially after he's had all the comforts for so long, he's not settling as he want to be inside and to be honest I don't blame him.

agree, 5 years of being a inside dog i think it's pretty cruel to try to make him a outside dog.

Steve wrote:

davemck3834 wrote:I don't really see how you can retrain a dog to become an outside dog especially after he's had all the comforts for so long, he's not settling as he want to be inside and to be honest I don't blame him.

agree, 5 years of being a inside dog i think it's pretty cruel to try to make him a outside dog.

I have to agree. I think he is going to be pretty bummed spending all his time outdoors when he is used to being part of the family.

Understand where you are all coming from, but he has spent a year already as an outside dog and there where no issues but honestly believe that it's just him being sooky because of the change of home.

He pretty much has his own house thats warm and cosy downstairs and has more toys then a toystore.

He's settled down dramatically the past few days and has been just relaxing which is really good!

[img][/img]

This is the big man, he got a new set of pj's last night and some tasty chicken and vegies for dinner, he's pretty happy