showing Mia who's the boss?

Mias 12 weeks old today & she's coming on great but think there's still an issue with her biting which I understand will be her teething, but she also likes to ignore me and my girlfriend, I've been told by a lot of people who have bit more experience in bringing up dog's and some staffys that i need to show my authority over Mia. Is there any harm in been bit more aggressive to her?,some friends have suggested something as simple as a roll up newspaper can do the trick? Obviously not striking her with it but it will scare her, I'm not sure about this & would like to know if anyone else has had to do this just to 'show who's boss'?.

I wouldn't suggest this or tapping them nose or anything similar it will just cause her to be scared and fearful which creates more problems. Just a firm no and giving her chew toys and being firm and consistent. Ruby's 14 weeks and I can see an improvement every week it does get better, just be consistent.

Why would you want to scare a 12 week old puppy? Please don't do any of these things, they're old fashioned, uneducated, cruel "training" methods.

How about teaching her what you DO want her to do? Redirect her puppy mouthing onto frozen kongs/carrots/tea towels/soft toys. Play with her. Walk her. Feed her a decent food. Train her with positivity and rewards. All of these behaviours are completely normal and natural for any puppy, you just need to teach them with kindess and patience what is appropriate in a human household.

agree with Rach please dont listen to these people you will end up with a scared and frightened pup that will end up having problems as it gets older,training and more training they soon pick it up they just like to try your patience some times

I absolutely agree with Rachel and Stella - 'aggressive' training should have no place in any dog's life, never mind a puppy.

Very often, if an animal starts to ignore instructions it's because they don't really understand what's wanted, or because they don't understand why they should do it. 'what's in it for me' is a key in training, as is consistency. Be black and white in what's acceptable and what's not, in what gets rewarded and what gets something less nice as a consequence, and it will be easier for her to understand.

When I say 'something less nice', I don't mean hitting or scaring. If a dog is play biting your hands for attention, getting up and walking away is less nice than playing. If she learns that biting hands will actually drive you away - something less nice - then she will stop. Just being aware of the attention you give for all sorts of behaviours can make a huge difference.

Away with aggressive & educate instead! Pup needs to be shown correct behaviors not punished for bad, redirect, train and most importantly invest time. Good luck let us know how you get on!

Thanks everyone for all your advise i will take this on and hope for a change in her behaviour soon, i know it will change i just got be more patient

Hi Andy, it's early days so you are right patience is needed. It's always tempting to use dominance but reward based training is far more effective. I've seen dominance training in use and had to bite my tongue at the time. A few years down the road and the same behaviour is coming from that Dog, they just don't understand like humans.

If you think about it logically, you are more likely to do something if you get something out of it but if your berated to the point of being scared you're more likely to rebel.

do training with the dog 5 mins a day then change to something new you want to learn her once shes confident in the previous exercise things like this don't happen overnight but once it does you will say remember when mia used to.........

Quick update Mia is alot better now in her biting, still has a mad hour everyday, she's really good on her walks, the only little problem we got with her is she thinks she's a cow, she will not stop eating grass on my back lawn, is this normal & will it cause her any harm?

Here is a link that may help

http://staffy-bull-terrier.com/why_do_staffies_eat_grass

That's point mind at ease thanks

glad wee mias a bit better.

Another quick update on Mia, she's doing great & her biting and chewing has got a lot better,think the last couple of weeks of good weather have helped plenty of play in garden & walks around local lakes & parks have made her nice & quiet at teatime

glad ses improving and hasnt she grown

Wow she's growing up! That football won't last long I bet!

So pleased to hear things are coming together - great news.