Biting and agression

Hi there,
I really need some advice if anyone can help or point me in the right direction. I have a 10 week old staffy puppy called benjy... he is very loveable and friendly but he is biting and nipping meand my mum constantly. My mum's skin is fragile so he is constantly making her bleed. We have tried yelping, firmly saying no, ignoring him, put him in his crate, stopped playing and he just carries on or stops a min and then returns to biting. Also when he is tired the biting gets worse and he can get guite snappy, growling and snarling... I just don't knowwhat to do

You really need to get this behaviour stopped asap.

I think it might be that you need to get a behaviourist in to show you how to perform techniques.

Lancashire and Cumbria are my areas that I cover (Im a qualified behaviour psychologist and trainer) and am willing to come out and work with you if this the line of action you feel you need to take.

Claire

I would appreciate any help and advice you can give me

Hi, I've been through the very same thing and I think you are doing the right things. It really just takes time. There was a stage when we thought "what on earth have we brought into this house?" It does change and he will stop but not overnight.

I found our pup hated being on her own and 5 minutes in the kitchen alone was the best action to take.

Keep being persistent believe me it will change. Millie is almost 8 months and she walks around the house now like she's 8 years of age!

Good luck

The best thing to do is turn around and ignore it each and every time.

all puppies bite and be abit nasty dont matter what breed, you have to train its wrong to bite and be nasty.....


if he bite you you say nooo and ignore him/her if the pup carry on you place him on and nurghty step and you make sure he/she doesn't move till you happy he/she been punish enough just like you bring up and childen.

I'd put money on every single member hear having been through a similar issue at some point.

Most pups will "nip", and with their teeth being so sharp, it can break the skin.

the yelping, saying no etc isnt going to change the biting over night, but you have to be constant with it,.



Are you sure its snarling / growling and not excitement and talking.. both can seem similar in some breeds if you dont know them too well, Id assume youve only had him a couple of weeks at the most..

Find somewhere local that do puppy classes, great for you, and your dog, cheaper than one 2 one sessions too!

They will be able to witness the biting first hand and help you more.

Yes puppy classes are fiine in most situations but if you have dog you are very unawre of and at this age who is not fully up to date with vaccinations an inital one to one session is very useful, they are not as expensive as you would think if you find the correct traininer (I know i am one of the cheapest in my area- plus i can proove my qualifications unlike most here)

I work initally on a 1-2-1 basis to asses any potential aggression then enrol them in my puppy classes with no more than 6 dogs per class. This also aids socialisin but is also not a huge amount of dogs which might frighten the pup.

Staffies talk and 'chunter' to the their owners and some times u can mistake aggression when the dog is is just 'talking' rather than actually snapping or growling

We're all unaware of our pups at that age assuming we get them at 8 weeks or so...

At 10-12 weeks they should have the jabs, it's the perfect age for puppy classes designed for puppy behaviour surely?

Plus the added benefit of socialising with other pups.

I'm no expert, just going on personal experience, but at the sane time, I'm not trying to sell a service, som I'm not biased in any way.

The trainer I use is very qualified, but more importantly to me very experienced.

My experience so far with the puppy classes has been brilliant, and Bode is doing really well, of course I could learn it on a one to one basis, but having bode focused on me, with her full attention off the lead in a small room surrounded by at least 6 other playful pups really pleases me.

On the other hand, our older dog has other issues that I feel one to one help would be far better if we chose to get some expert help.

I just feel that in this case it's simply a puppy staff being a puppy staff and the "usual" training should see things go well.

Again, I'm certainly no expert myself, have only had 6 dogs in my life (family dogs rather than my own)

Well thank you everyone for the advice. Benjy is having his 2nd jabs Monday and I have booked him on 8 weeks of puppy training courses that start on 21st feb. So I will keep you all posted on how things .

Runningwiththepack wrote: (I know i am one of the cheapest in my area- plus i can proove my qualifications unlike most here)

we not in any competition here it's not very hard to train a dog what right and wrong

sammylou85 wrote:Well thank you everyone for the advice. Benjy is having his 2nd jabs Monday and I have booked him on 8 weeks of puppy training courses that start on 21st feb. So I will keep you all posted on how things .

dog training claases already? hes only 10 week old

read these 2 pages

http://staffy-bull-terrier.co.uk/dogbodylanguage.html


http://staffy-bull-terrier.co.uk/stopyourstaffypuppybiting.html

I was making a point as people think behaviour therapy is expensive I was not competing for business.

Puppy class is fine one the full vaccination course has been given, some vets do 8 and 10 weeks others do 8 and 12 weeks.

Puppy naughtyness can be nipped in bud quickly once they get out walking and socialising as a lot of behaviour issuses can come down to boredom and testing boundries with new owners.

Let us know how your getting on with the classes.

yes i would say we have all been through the biting nipping stage as said you just need to be cosistant with the training dont let any insodents pass as it will just put you back to square one.
and re the puppy classes best to leave them untill 15/16 weeks old and make sure you get a trainer that likes staffies as you will only get negative input from them
but on the other hand its a great feeling to show them how good staffies can be

Hilsie wrote:Hi, I've been through the very same thing and I think you are doing the right things. It really just takes time. There was a stage when we thought "what on earth have we brought into this house?" It does change and he will stop but not overnight.

I found our pup hated being on her own and 5 minutes in the kitchen alone was the best action to take.

Keep being persistent believe me it will change. Millie is almost 8 months and she walks around the house now like she's 8 years of age!

Good luck

Same here, we had a stage where Dora was mouthing and nipping badly. She got really fixated on my feet at one point and I had quite a few scratches on them. We were very consistent and told her off when she did it. If she continued we crated her until she was calmer and let her out again. She is brilliant now, apart from the occasional ear nibbling/licking but that is only because we haven't been discouraging it.

This sounds like normal behaviour for 10 week old puppy, try and distract him with toys and whenever he plays and chews his toys praise him he will soon get the message. My puppy is 14 weeks now and she went through the same phase

To add to this - do you have a garden he can go out in? I spent hours outside if I didn't have a toy I put something on the end of a brush shaft for her to chase after. They soon get tired out. Also as Andy N says distract him with a toy or chew when mine started nipping I always had a chew to give her instead of my hand, arm or shoes.

Start training yourself they are VERY intelligent and learn so quickly. I never went to puppy classes and I have Millie sitting, lying down, getting up, waiting and coming to me all to hand signals. She still gets excited when meeting people or other dogs but we're getting there. Do a little training with your puppy everyday and you will see how clever they are.

The only real problem with giving a toy or chew to stop the nipping is that your dog might associate the nipping with getting something good, and so nip all the more.