new member

hi all great forum, sorry bear with me I think im posting this in the right place lol, im a new member my story, 7 year ago I took on a stray staffy called jake, he was fab hyperactive but really good on walks and retrieving and didn't leave my side wasn't interested in other dogs and very loyal, unfortunately he was stolen, from then I have always wanted a staffy, myself and partner went around loads of rescue centres for months and eventually ended up with buster buster was a staffy x sharpie blue tonged 8 month old when we got him, we knew straight away he hadn't been on many if any walks, his history as we were told the original owners had too many dogs and had to give up some buster being 1 of them, we eventually after weeks got him to sit and wait and leave as he was off and gone every time we took him off the lead before hand,we socialised him with friends and familys dogs, he wasn't interested in retrieving and we struggled with trying to train him with food as he wasn't too interested in that either it was mainly getting him to acknowledge us that we kept persisting with, it did take hard work to do this, we then got a female and on walks he started ignoring us and running off again, he pulled on his lead and if he saw another dog he would bolt to them luckily most owners were fine , he has even ran off to some of there homes with the other dog, he is quite large and heavy and this is quite worrying were smaller dogs are concerned, bit by bit he has become too over bearing with other dogs quite ruff but not vicious, we had a word with our local vet concerning getting him neutered to see if this would help as he totally ignores us if theres any other dog around getting over excitable, the vet explained it would not help as this was his nature, we asked 2 different vets for advice and both said the same, my friend had there dog done and hes stil no different, 1 night while out in our local field a women approached with 3 other dogs 2 border terriors and a staffy x gray hound , all dogs were off there leads, the younger of her border terriors ran over towards our dogs both our then started running over towards ot the border terrior started attacking both of them, our female ran back to us while buster ran around the dog and towards the others the border terrior was stil trying to attack him, the women had headed into the next field as we were running over to get hold of buster, her other dogs attacking him she had gone into her garden were herself and the other dogs attacked him she hit him with the prop, after this incident she then accused buster of attacking her dog and sent us a vet fee, this is stil ongoing, after this we were shocked as we knew he had never acted this way and this was aggravated assault but we decided then to take buster to social classes, he was stil crying loudly all the time we were there again like he was possessed when ever he sees any dogs, he seems to go into a zone of his own and no matter what you do with him he just doesn't acknowledge any 1 around him, we kept him on his lead at all times while out walking him, he is so energetic though hyperactive that he isn't burning off his energy, we then decided 1 night to take him off the lead again he did great walked near us running around but then he heard some1 approaching around a corner he bolted and was off didn't listen to any of us shouting him we ran after him and there was a few yelpings 1st thought was a fight happening, we eventually reached the man and his dogs whom said he hadn't done anything just trod on his little dog but he was quite boisterous and kept jumping up at the owner as he had picked up his smaller dog, again we decided best to keep him on the lead as he was too much for other dogs, he pulls that much I have to use 2 leads on his harness and he has had my partner on the floor a few times lol, we then decided to buy an holtie after some advice from friends, worked great except he wouldn't move at all and when he did he would get that stressed out with it that he eventually clawed himself until he cut his mouth and was bleeding trying to get the thing off, today during his walk near the canal we kept him on the retracter lead at all times but it was like having a full work out the 2 hours we were out, again dragging and everytime we passed any other dogs crying and zoned out like hes possessed having to stand over him with him dragging us and running round us even when we had sat him down while they passed hes off on 1, right now we are at a loss what to do with him as he is getting harder work to take anywere that it is getting us stressed out at just the thought, we couldn't ask for a better dog besides this and love him to bits its upsetting to see as he needs the exercise as he is full of energy and needs to work it off but him being on the lead all the time isn't working off his energy, we have thought about getting him a muzzle for the just in case but after the incident with the holtie don't think this wil help without him injuring himself or getting stressed out, sorry for the essay, any advice would be really appreciated ,we are considering neutering him but if this doesn't help not sure what else will, thankyou

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Wow that's quiet a first post Phew.

Hi & Welcome from Flo and me

I'm sure all is not lost with this behaviour. I read that you've tried classes but they stressed your fella. Have you thought about trying a couple of one on one sessions to see if the trainer can work out what's going on.

hia from me and sasha i would also suggest him seeing a good trainer to see if they can help you with him

Hiya from me and Vinnie, good idea on the one to one Ian sk at your vets they must know some good trainers

hi ian thankyou for the welcome we are considering this as an option as we have come to the conclusion we think he needs to go back to basics and start again, I am going to contact the trainer at some point next week and hopeing they do a 1 to 1 class for him, fingers crossed as I have not other idea were to go from there

thankyou for the welcome innez marie and Vinnie I agree with ian it was an option were considering hopefully it will help

Think you've just hit the nail on the head there "back to basics". One to one sessions will almost certainly help with a good trainer. Hopefully that will lead to group sessions to help with the socialisation too.

Do keep us updated as I'm particularly interested to see how you get on

Welcome from Iza and me

thankyou for the welcome colin and iza I will keep you informed ian and let you know how he gets on with the 1 to 1, thankyou

san169 wrote:thankyou for the welcome innez marie and Vinnie I agree with ian it was an option were considering hopefully it will help

Seems the way to go and best to try anything for sake of you all. As Ian says please keep us updated

Hi and welcome from us and Suki

Hi and welcome to the forum from me and the zoo xx

Hi and welcome to the forum from Rocky and me

Welcome to the forum best of luck with the trainer its hard work but well worth the effort

Hi and welcome from Oz and me. I also think a behaviourist would be able yo help you

Hi and welcome from me and my two

Maybe he does need the extra attention of one to one back to basics. You said that when you got a female dog things became more difficult: do you think the two are connected?

He sounds like he's going berserk through lack of exercise but at the same time is unmanageable off lead. Training is going to help him burn off some energy anyway. Some people think that the best way to train recall is do it when dog is really, really hungry and have the most delicious treats on you.

My dog was terrible at recall until I started hiding behind trees. The thought that he had lost me terrified him into paying more attention. But it took some time to get there.