My Staffy is driving me to insanity!!!!

So my little Louie who is now almost 6 months old has turned into the dog from hell. He will literally eat anything, jumps on people all the time, tries to bite our face, steals everything and hides to destroy them and still pees inside!!!

At first it was if you left something on the floor but tonight he grabbed hubby's wallet from the coffee table and completely destroyed it. In the past few days he's eating earphones for a mobile phone, an xbox battery charger, the cat poop on a very regular basis, the cat food, hubby's wallet, socks, undies, bras, biscuits, 10 cupcakes from the dining table and a chicken kebab still on the bamboo skewer which I grabbed from his throat just before he swallowed it. I think thats all he's eaten.

He has heaps of toys, we play with him all the time and are always training him and doing puppy school and putting things out of his reach but he's like a very naughty little child.

It sounds like he's hit that rebelious teenage phase, lots of people will have advise I'm sure, Daisy was older than that when I got her so no experience myself

Yip, welcome to adolescence Be patient and very, very consistent and you'll soon get through it! Good luck!

He sounds like a real pickle ! The worst thing mine have chewed is my iPhone ! Luckily I saved it before they chewed thru the case !

Defo sounds like a rebellious teenager. Try not to leave things laying around - take away the temptation - if he does get hold of something he shouldn't - a very firm NO ! and get him to Leave it/drop it.
Anything he picks up - deal with it immediately - dont leave it a few mins then tell him or u send mixed messages.

Buy a large stagbar for him to chew - these are fab for keeping then occupied and help satisfy the chewing desire.

Ah yes definitely hitting the rebellious teenage phase, they like to push the boundaries & drive us crackers darcy is 9 1/2 months and likes to be a teenager from time to time, we just go back to basics, letting her know what acceptable, lots of patience, persistance & praise for good behaviour and things should settle down good luck.

Oh joy!!!! LOL

Thanks everyone! I thought this phase might have hit in a few more months but it seems like its now....sigh

Any idea how long this phase lasts?

That will depend on how u train him- stay consistent, assertive and it will pass quickly x

I always give myself two weeks for every new thing that I teach Rupert.

There are a couple of American Labradors I know who destroyed the lower half of their owner's wooden spiral staircase.

It's maybe best to focus on maximum three things you want your pup to learn. I made the mistake of allowing Rupert to have access to all his toys all the time. Now I put them away and when it is "play time" he can have one - otherwise he just starts taking them for granted. I also make sure that there is nothing I don't want him to chew lying around (although he's not interested in chewing much more than cardboard boxes and shoe laces these days). In the past - when he did try and chew something I didn't want him to, I would very calmly substitute a chew toy for the thing I didn't want him to chew. It also took me a while to work out what kind of chew toys were best suited. He can destroy most of them which is not ideal - so I give him a stag bar or a chuck-it ball. Dogs chew and need to chew - just need to make sure they are chewing the right things.

I would never leave food within his reach as it's just too tempting.

When pup misbehaves stay calm. Rupert knows when he has done something he shouldn't and when he does I put him in a room on his own for two minutes "thinking time". He hates being on his own so this works much better than getting cross or whatever else.

The thing you must remember is that there's no point telling him off unless you catch him in the act. They don't know when they have done something wrong, because if they knew it was wrong they wouldn't do it!

Sometimes they haven't yet grasped what's acceptable & what isn't, sometimes they forget they shouldn't do something. Either way, you haven't quite got the training through to them. So, it's your fault!

Sorry! Just make sure that you watch him like a hawk so that you can catch him in the act, and make sure everything he mustn't have is well out of reach - preferably in a combination safe; one that you haven't left the number laying around for.

having had two wallets chewed up and being reduced to ordering food over the internet because i can still only just make out the numbers on a card I can sympathise.
both mine were the same at approx same age, but dont worry it stops just as quick as it starts. Im a big believer in life stages and found the following a great help in understanding what my dogs were going through as pups
http://www.doglistener.co.uk/puppies/criticalperiods1.shtml
http://www.doglistener.co.uk/puppies/criticalperiods.shtml

chin up and persevere , we've all been there at 1 time or another , thought your hitlist was a little on the light side to be honest

Just stick with the advice as above , how's the exercising going , how much and how often ?? What are you feeding him on ??

i feel putting him in a cage will come him down, i did that to alfie and within a month he stopped his chewing and now he is a different dog

Since I got a dog crate i've had no bad behaviour. All the weeing/pooing inside has stopped aswell. Best invention ever for me.

Otis hasn't hit this stage yet, but he does have his rebellious moments.

My advice would be to be hot on his case all the time and catch him in the act - Continue with the training, move anything and everything if you can out of reach of your pup.

If he is getting too out of line I would have some time out in a separate room then re-engage with him.

Keep up with everything and let us know how you get on

It definately sounds like the teenage phase so back to training the basics and everyone has to be consistant. Bitter Apple on things you don't want him to chew.

How much exercise is he getting? He should have at least 2 but preferably 3 walks of 30 minutes per day. This will help with his energy levels which are very high. Mental stimulation and traiing will also help with this.

What is he fed? Lower quality foods can also cause issues sort of like feeding a child lots of sugar.

How it was explained to me was as follows. As the Staff is growing all his muscles are rapidly growing every day. This includes his jaw muscles and they chew anything they possibly can as a natural instinct to promote growth.
I am not sure how true that is mind you, because we all know 90% of these " facts" people like to throw around are wrong. It is however definitely a faze and one which, I am sure you will be delighted to hear, will end. When left alone for a few hours mine actually managed to chew the bottom section of a very expensive oak mantlepiece pretty bad. As well as going through anything else he took a fancy to. All this is just the dog being a puppy and seeing what it can get away with. Just make sure not to reinforce this behavior and it will fade away fairly soon. But trust me I know, when it is happening, you never think it will end!