Staffy Pup Mouthing

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Hi and welcome to the forum from Rocky and me.

Just to mention that castration does not always work for calming dogs down. When he nips give him a firm NO and turn your back on him.

With regard to behaviour when you have visitors could you put his lead on him when people arrive so you have a bit more contol over him. Try to keep your voice and mannerisms calm the idea being that he will reflect this in his behaviour.

Hello & welcome.

I agree - when he bites, tell him "No!" and turn away. Don't talk to him - don't even look at him. All play stops immediately. Once he's calm again you can give him quiet & calm praise. If he carries on don't say another word (you've already told him "No"), just pick him up & put him out of the room until he's calm again.

With visitors, they will need to do the same thing - turn away & ignore him. If he carries on, you can take him out of the room. Try putting him on a lead when you have vistors & wait until he has calmed down a bit before you let him greet them.

Castration rarely helps with dog aggression - if that is what this really is. I would have thought he's a bit young yet for true dog aggression. You say he lives with a female dog, but does he get to socialise with a mix of other dogs?

Hiya, he doesnt seem to be aggressive its just like hes playing too rough (if that makes sense) hes jumping up to people trying to get their face but biting but still wagging his tail and being giddy, i've told him no a lot, he gets it at first but just has to do it again, like he cant resist the urge sort of thing.. he is really bad with food agression though, if hes eating dry dog food its not a problem but if its wet dog food he will growl when i'm near and i'm trying to sort this too but he dont seem to get it, i might sound a bit stupid here but i really am trying with him, hes learnt the command "leave it" so if i drop anything or throw anything and save leave it, he will leave it and then gets a treat, i've been trying to use this with the mouthing but its like he turns himself off unless i've got food then he will listen, and hes not really round other dogs that much, i take them out a lot but nobody wants him near their dogs, maybe cos hes a bit boisterous or maybe their dog could be a bit aggresive

Ah, memories!

It's completely normal behaviour, and they key to stopping it is consistency, patience, more patience, and yes, even more patience!!

As said above, when he is biting/mouthing, a very firm NO then ignore him completely. Same with the jumping, tell him NO and turn your back on him. Staffies hate to be ignored and soon learn quickly that being ignored is what they get for unwanted behaviour. You need to make sure that EVERYONE does the same with him - friends, family, visitors - everyone must be consistent or he'll just be confused.

Persistance, perseverance, and patience, patience and more patience!!

It feels like they're never going to get it, but they all do in the end. Good luck

I would say that he's just not used to other males. there's very little you can do about that unless you can socialise him more. Have you thought about taking him to a training club?

With the food aggression, try hand feeding him a bit at a time. Once he's used to that, drop his food into his bowl a bit at a time, but leave your hand right by the side of the bowl. Then you can progress to leaving your hand inside the bowl. If at any time he growl, just stand up and walk away for a minute. Then try again. Also, before you give him his food get him to sit & wait patiently for a few seconds - you are the food provider & unless he's respectful he doesn't get fed.

The mouthing will improve as long as you (and everybody else) are consistent with the "no" and ignoring. It can sometimes take a little while for it to sink in, but he will eventually get it.

What are you actually feeding him?

Agree with everything above. I think it's also a good idea to have a family meeting and discuss the rules for the dog. Make everyone understand and agree with the rules and enfirce them every time. The nipping is the pups way of trying to get attention. If you ignore him he will learn that nipping doesn't get him attention.

Hi again all, thanks for the advice, I'm going to give everything a try and stick with it, I've been doing the back turning when he jumps up but when he jumps at my son, my son cant communicate so he doesn't know to turn away from him, he does ignore him ALL the time though lol but he does it with everybody but thanks I'm going to tell everyone that comes to do the same as me too, just hope they listen!

With your son, you'll need to step in & physically tell your dog "no" and then turn your son around to face away. Obviously if that doesn't work, you'll need to go straight to step 2!