never easy!!!

Hey all not been on due to broken phone etc.
Still having a nightmare of a time with our 19 month old. To sum it up she was an only puppy, has been really bad for mouthin, has weird hyper spells where she spins like a psycho and general hyperness. Done loads of training at home and classes but now cant be off lead due to behaviour. So went to vets and spoke to them and they suggested calming supplements and wev tried a few but nothing really works! So i asked to be reffered to the specialists and am now on a waiting list! And have been for weeks and weeks. So where we are now is in limbo it seems, her behaviour is really bad so she pulled my niece down by the shoe and has gotten really hyper and nipped my arm a few times, really badly a couple of weeks ago. Shes been weird with the fireworks and has peed in the house a few times and has not wanted to go out. We are really worried about it as wev literally tried sooooo much with her training wise and its so hard to excercise her wen she cant get off lead. Last time i took her to a nice quiet area and was chucking her ball and she was bringing it back bla bla bla so then i picked it up flung it and turned to c if there was anyone around and wen i turned bk she was running at me with her mouth open (no ball) and just jumped up and nipped my arm, i had my jacket on but still had a cut and a huge bruise after it but she wouldnt stop jus was so hyper i had to throw her treats down to get her attention off me and grabbed her collar n got her on lead. Im literally soooo stressed about it all.

This sounds awful for you; I can only suggest that you go to see a dog behaviourist. Your local RSPCA will provide you with the name of someone suitably qualified and if you explain her behaviour, I'm sure they will see you promptly. The majority of owners report weird behaviour from their dogs because of fireworks so this is not unusual but in the meantime you should definitely keep her on the lead when outside. Could you increase her walks to help use up some energy? Good luck

Hey. Its a nightmare cant believe theres a waiting list. Yeah been trying to get her out more but she hates the rain and her jacket more so. Such a stress and worry

Have u tried the dog for shorter walks more often. Ie for 10 mins a time three times a day what do you feed the dog?

Sounds like over excitement and enthusiasm to play. I can understand your frustration it must be so tiring. The only things I can suggest is best quality food and as much exercise as possible to tire her out.

Seeing a behaviourist is a must as there has to be a way of tempering this over excited behaviour. In the meantime, have you got a long lead so that she can at least run off some of that energy while your still in control ?

Due to her allergies and biting her feet alot she is now getting lilys kitchen mixed with jwb. She acts very strange like shes wary and refuses to go on the grass in the garden n all sorts of crazy stuff. Iv noticed her tails down alot but wen i take her to vet shes mega excited n happy acting

Hmm paw biting My Flo does this and we have found that Thornit powder has worked wonders. She still has one sore paw that we treated late and am working on this. Might be something to look at.

Oh thanks for tht weve struggled to help that. Its horrible wen shes chewing on them

Have you tried mental games to help tire her out? The leave command should also help

When you have a young hyper dog the temptation is to increase exercise
and do everything you can to tire the dog out in the hope of achieving
some calm behaviour.  Really you need to be teaching her to chill and
be calm and not stimulate her further.

From reading your post it seems that on all the occasions this behaviour
is at is worst is when she is excited. I imagine you though that the ball
game would help but it probably worked in reverse and just revved her up!

She also needs to play some games that will teach her self control and
'leave it' is one of the best ways to do this.  Then in the future when
she gets hyper you will be able to use this experience to get her to
use self control to stop.

Mind games and teaching 'tricks' are perfect, but as soon as she shows
the slightest inclination to get hyper you should stop immediately so
that she learns "calm is better and calm get her what she wants".

Show her more love and attention when she is calm (but again without
going over the top and stimulating her).  Reward her every time she
is chilled.

It will take time but she will catch on I promise you.

One trainer I went to with my boy told me that "Staffies are like
Ferarris - 0 to 60 in 2 seconds".  

Thanks. To be honest im finding it so hard to deal with im so down about it. Its the constant challenging me and not doin a thing shes asked. Iv timed out her in the hall wen she got hyper and she tried to pull the wallpaper off. I try and calm her she mouths n flies backwards from me. I hate walking her now cos i know she will start at some point and its so annoying wen i walk an hour with her and 5 min before im home she turns! Its so frustrating. Moneys tough just now too but this referal is taking too long and our excess is 80 so i phoned a dog behaviourist last night who can see her for a session begining of nxt week and is 60 for an hour. He seemed really good on the phone so was thinking get him out for an hour see what he says and suggests and wait til after xmas to book again and try his methods in the mean time.
I hate not letting her off but if she was to do what she done to me to a stranger it would be the end for her. I feel my bond with her is broken its more a stress than it is anything else. The barking all the time the whining the eratic behaviour iv never seen anything like it.

Pleased that you are getting some help; can I suggest that you check that the behaviourist is qualified. Sadly there are quite a few out there who are not and I would hate for you to waste your money.

Hes pet proffesional guild and modern dog training methods trained. He has good reviews and deals with alot of aggressive dogs. Iv booked for one session and said will take it from there. I also phoned my vet again about my referal to the vet school behaviourists that i can see through my insurance so they checked the file and its not been done was so annoyed as it was meant to have been put through by now and i was under the impression i was on a waiting list. So im awaiting a phone call frm them again to see whats actually the case.
The guy iv booked for one session seems to be on the ball and like i said if he gives us advice and suggestions and we find it works we can book a block after xmas is by.

Sincerely hope that this will help you and your girl so that you can
enjoy each other again.

Thank u il keep this post updated. I just want her to be happy

Dizz is super hyper at times and mouths as well couple of things we do for him...
We have taught him "gentle" - to do this you have to be calm and we use it in all sorts of situations it is more a be calm command.  It's hard to explain how we taught it but he nipped me once and I said ow and followed it with no - gentle at which point he licked me so he got petted for being good.  Now if he mouths and gets to rough in play he gets told gentle and it calms him as he knows he is being too rough.  He is told the same round my father-in-law who is in his 80's so he knows he can't jump up at him.
We also do mental games as well as walks as he needs both to tire him out.  We do leave it - currently treats on his paw is the one we are working on (anything more than 30 seconds being a success )
I let him have a loopy five mins every day, he chases his own tail, jumps all over the garden and generally has a loony - as it is in the garden it is controlled and I see no issue with it.
Finally we have given him food with a lower protein, I know not everyone thinks this works but we needed to try something and it seems to work for Dizz so we have stuck with it.
Hope some of this helps, I know how horrid it is to have a dog that you just think - please behave just once, all I can say is we worked on it and I wouldn't be without my bundle of fur now.

Lovely to hear a success story and some good ideas for you to introduce if possible. Let us know how you get on with the behaviourist, good luck.

Thanks for the support everyone!!!!
Aww will definately give ur methods a go. They sound quite alike, i do the treat on paw leave too shes good at it. Last night her nose was touching a bit of chicken but she wouldnt eat it til i said.
I love her to bits its just very stressful and the not being able to trust her off lead is really hard. Like yest she was barking and watching a buggy!???!!! Whuch wasnt even tht close. So weird.

Hopefully the behaviourist will help and can maybe give some good advice to try and we can gauge how well it goes before booking more sessions.

Hope the behaviourist helps

Hello all and happy new year.

I said i would give an update on progress and i know its late lol but with the festivities and the dog i had no time.

So as i said i had contacted a behaviourist and to be honest was a waste of time so i contacted the vet for a refferal to a vet behaviourist at the vet school.

We had a 3 hour session with the princess lol in the behaviourists office and went through EVERYTHING since we got her and all her behaviours etc etc so the outcome was she showed a slight reaction to her lower back being prodded at and think its from the 'zoomers' she has tht are scary, and that her behaviour is normal staffy.....but amplified and that being the only pup is very common to have these issues.
Next step was to change the food and for 2 weeks she had nothing but pork mince and potato as the specialist wanted to see what happened which was her behaviour got worse.....she then was to get burns lamb and maize which helped so then she was to go back to her normal food and within days she was tazmanian devil dog whirling around again. So she is currently on burns with maize and applaws wet in with it as the vet thinks the rice isnt good with her so next step is blood tests as they want to check her liver is actually processing food as normal as this can be a cause for bad behaviour. Also we noticed going through everything that alot of behaviour started once she was speyed. Also after walks she tends to go crazy but jus now with the wet she refuses to walk lol

Its been so stressful and upsetting as i feel we cant get her behaving at all and in this wet weather she wont walk so its hard to burn energy

Is she taking anything for the allergies? It could be that she is suffering in silence with them and its causing her to get over hyper. I suppose it could be like us itching all over but not being able to scratch it.

Keep strong though, there is clearly something thats annoying her and hopefully the behaviourist will get to the bottom of it.

As for the crazyness after a walk, my Nita does that too for 5 minutes or so and from reading posts on here others do it as well.

She was getting supplements for her skin and also i use petkin itch stick for it but the behaviourist said for the time being shes not to get anything other than her normal food.

Its taking ages cos the vet says to wait til the insurance pays the first behaviour consult and then they have to pay anything related and we can do all the other tests necessary.

Reason I ask is that Nita is on antihistamines for her itching (she has mange) which has helped a lot. She still nibbles but no way near as much as she did when I got her. Might be worth asking the vet if it could help.

Can you not ask the vets to do the blood work now? I had Nitas done and it wasn't expensive. I think it had been mentioned before but when she does get hyper try ignoring her completely until she calms down. No eye contact, talking to her or anything.

She was getting supplements for her skin and also i use petkin itch stick for it but the behaviourist said for the time being shes not to get anything other than her normal food.

Its taking ages cos the vet says to wait til the insurance pays the first behaviour consult and then they have to pay anything related and we can do all the other tests necessary.

Thanks, i said to the vets and they quoted 200 but said insurance will have to pay it if i wait and i said i didnt want to if she was in pain or that and they said she wouldnt suffer to wait??? Its a horrible time with it cos i just want her to be better and start taking in the training. She gets antihistamines in the summer but it never stopped the feet biting so much. I tried oatmeal foot baths too as my friends got a big dog that has really bad itchies and he gets bathed in oatmeal and it helps

£200 for blood work? Jesus. It was £82 for the consultation and blood work when Nita had her seizure.

Oh wow thts a huge difference.
They said cos it would be a few tests. They would take blood on empty stomach then feed her high meat content food take blood again then again after some time from eating to check liver functions etc.