New Doggy

Hi All

Yesterday i addopted Tyson who is 10 month old pure staff all registered and got all his pedigree papers. I got him from quite a long drive away so ddnt have time to take him on a long walk last night. so today we was up bright and early to go for a walk. when we arrived were we was going we set off on a long walk around our local country park. Every dog Tyson saw he was going mad barking and almost pulling me over to get at other dogs. The guy who i took him from said he had not had any interaction with any other dogs at all. Any way we got him home and bathed him and let him out to use the "toilet" and he heared next door let there dogs out tho which Tyson decided to jump our 5ft fence and try to attack there dog. I am now scared that he will end up hurting another dog he is brilliant with people but we have a 2 year old little boy too and i am scared of him hurting him. could any 1 please help on what i shoud do or how i can train him to be good with other dogs? iv had 2 staffs before and neither were like this.

Thanks in advance

I take it that it was a private adoption?

I know this will sound harsh, but you should have been far more careful where you got a dog from as you have a young child.

If he has never been socialised you'll have your hands full. Why was the first owner getting rid of him?

Congrats on the new dogs and welcome to the forum!!!

This seems like a real common problem with dogs in general, rather than just Staffords. Logan for a while there wasn't overly great when meeting dogs. I searched and read online for ages to see why this could be and if I'm truly honest I decided a lot of it was my fault. Logan was attacked a few times as a pup and I was very nervous for a while when he met other dogs as he is my pride and joy.

Are you nervous at all when you are walking him?

The only remedy is more socialisation, sounds stupid, but it's the only thing that will help. Always on lead however for the first while.

Have you got friends/family that might have dogs that you could go walking with and get him stuck right in to socialising. Above all else remember to take a deep breath and chill when you approach another dog, if the dog is off lead feel free to ask them to be put on lead, as I did for a good while and still do on occasions. Remind yourself constantly, if both dogs are on lead, what's the worst that can happen, and over time it'll just go away

I am not saying that you should trust him with your 2 year old child but you should not put dog aggression and people aggression in the same hat so to speak. As any advice , never ever leave a dog and a child together unsupervised but don't make assumptions , that's why so many end up in rescues or worse

thank you for your replies

yes he was a private addoption. he is a very loving dog with us all he wants is cuddles. Im not nervous when walking him i just try to control him but i hate the dirty looks for waking him. It makes me want to bark iv taken him to my parents to there two dogs and he was fine just sniffing and trying to "hump" both dogs (one is male btw). Do u think his previous owner has encouraged this behaviour or he has been attacked as a puppy ?

It is most probably just due to the fact that he has not had the possibility to socialise. The best weapon in your toolbox is good treats and the "watch me" command whilst out walking . maybe you want to thing about taller fence panels as well or putting a return on the top of your fences so he can't power up them and all the way over

Staffs can develop dog aggression anyway, but particularly if they're not socialised (as with all dogs). The owner might not have encouraged it, he might have just completely neglected that aspect of his training. Our old Boxer was dog-aggressive because he was locked in the house all the time, didn't get the chance to meet other dogs, but he was brilliant with people. I'm not saying you should trust this new dog around kids just like that, obviously you have to let him settle in and work out his personality more, and do some training, if needed, but dog aggression isn't the same as human aggression. It takes a lot for Staffs to be aggressive to people, I think any harm they do to people tends to be accidental.

Do you know any friendly, calm dogs you can walk with Tyson? Maybe you can try that, keeping them on the lead of course, see how they get on. It sounds like maybe he isn't aggressive though, just picky or unsure about other dogs.

i dont own the house its private rented and i dont have funds for a new fence. my previous staff loved playing with next doors dogs. every time he saw another dog he was pulling me all over i was trying with treats at the same time he saw another dog and he completley ignored me. I can walk him with my parents dogs but my step dad works away alot and my mum looks after my nephew so it would be hard to walk them together every day plus i dont live in the same village. is there anything else i could do when walking with my perants dog cant be done?

i never mentiond he hasnt been neutered do you think that would calm him down?

I wouldn't even think about neutering him until he's completely settled as it could make him nervous, especially at such a young age. Castration doesn't necessarily stop aggressive behaviour.

I'd work on getting him used to your family & home, get some good training into him and try to find a couple of bomb proof dogs you can walk him with! Not off lead, of course, or at least not yet. Jut start off walking with you & the other owner on the inside & the dogs on the outside. Once they are both comfortable with that, the other dog can be walked between you, but keep Tyson on the outside. Then reverse so that Tyson is in the middle & the other dog outside. Once you're certain that they are both calm you can try walking them side by side.

Try and take things slowly - the slower the better really so that it's a gradual build up for him.

Please don't worry too much about his reaction with your child. As already said dog aggression is a million miles away from human aggression. Having said that, I would never leave any dog alone with a young child, no matter what breed it is!

i would never leave my child alone with him. like u said no matter what breed some 1 told me to put a muzzle on him i hate the evil looks for walking him in the 1st place with out them thinking he is a very nasty dog. is a muzzle something i should consider if i dont have the opp to take him with another dog every day?

I wouldn't. Dogs often feel a bit vulnerable with a muzzle on which can make matters worse. As long as you can control him (maybe a harness and a collar with a double ended lead so you can clip on them both) and you're patient you should be able to improve his behaviour without needing to muzzle him.

At the moment it's hard to say whether he's actualy dog aggressive (da) or just unsocialised. If he gets on ok with your mum's dog then I would lean more towards unsocialised.

well i was thinking that untill he attacked next doors dogs. u use a harness but he also has a collar on so i will deffinatley try the double ended lead. When i was trying to controll him today in just the harness it was quite difficult and with just the collar he was choking him self.

As far as next door's dogs go, I think you're going to have to be very careful! A muzzle won't help there, because there's always the chance you'll forget. Good training will be the best way forward. Make sure that whenever you open the back door, you tell him to stay until you've checked the coast is clear. If he tries to barge out, bring him back & try again.

hi and welcome....

A private adoption can always be a little tricky....BUT he is hear now so i think its going to be a lot of hard work.

for your garden in stead of a new fence which can be costly have you seen those bamboo type roles you can get, this may help and add a little bit of height for you.

As for your young child, as every one else mentioned dnt leave them alone, dn try force a relationship but try to involve them together in activities. Your little one as you know is at the perfect age to learn the right and wrongs of how to interact with a dog

As for the dog aggression, i would advice as everyone above

keep us updated

I think this dog literally hasn't met any other dogs and so doesn't have a clue how to act. If he was ok with your parent's dogs but is lunging and barking when he sees new dogs it sounds like he just doesn't know how to approach and react when he meets them. Your best bet is lots of socialisation, find a calm and relaxed dog which he gets on with and use him/her as your new staff's teacher. I would also recommend signing up for a training class, the Kennel Club good citizens awards are good for dogs like him who just need some social skills.

He doesn't sound like a nasty dog, think he is just a bit over-exuberant!

The more he is socialized the better he will become. Older dogs that are already well trained are ideal if you can find them. A no pull harness will help with control issues and a good watch me command is a must. Take things slow and remember it may take him awhile to settle into his new home.

If there is an area you can walk him where there aren't alot of dogs around prior to introducing him to other dogs this would also help with the energy levels.

thank you so much for all your replies.
we have decided to take Tyson to a training class which is an 8 week course. the trainer said he can help and will guarantee manners, socilization skills and all basic commands and basic training

thats great