Boysterious 8 month old dog

My staffie Ozzy is 8 months old, he's very boysterious and playful. Most of the time I can deal with this behaviour as I know it's quite comman for staffies other times I find it hard to deal with. If I stop to talk to people in the street he starts to show off and misbehavior which prevents me from having a conversation and I have to end up carrying on walking. Also if people bend down to pat him, he lies down and appears calm as soon as they try to move away he jumps up and grabs onto their clothing people who have owned staffies are fine with it and correct my dog but others think he is attacking them. How can I stop this behaviour?
He aslo struggles to control himself when people come in the house and jumps all over them and I then end up having to put him in a seperate room. There was one incident the other day where he kept jumping up at my friend and when I went to push him down he turned and grabbed hold of my arm. He didn't mark my skin and I feel that if he wanted to hurt me he could of so don't think that this was his intention but I really need advice on how I can stop this behaviour from him.
Decpite the above he is a lovely dog he knows the all the commands but listens when he wants to (if he knows theres something in it for him) He is brilliant with children and with other animals. He is walked regulary so he's behaviour is not down to not having opportunity to burn off energy. He just wants to meet and play with everyone he sees and doesn't seem to know how to control his excitement or the boundaries of play.

At 8 months old, he's just testing the boundaries. When you are out and about, keep im on a very short lead, and when people approach, put him into a sit. If he does it, treat him, if not, push his back end down and make him sit. Once he's sitting, tell him to stay. Show him the treat, let him smell it, but don't let him have it unless he does as he's told. If he won't behave, say goodbye and keep walking, don't let him greet that person.

In the house, again, keep him on a lead until he learns how to behave when visitors enter your home. When someone is at the door, put him on the lead, and when they are in the house, tell him again to sit and wait for the visitor to approach him and use the lead to control his jumping.

He will get the message as long as you are consistent with the training. Good luck

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Hi & welcome.

Can't add anything else to what Shontelle's said. At the moment you're doing what he wants you to do when you're out - you stop talking & move on; he's won!

If you introduce some structure to you meeting people in & out of the house, you will see an improvement. It might take a couple of weeks but you'll start to see a difference!

Better to do what has been suggested sooner than later too. The earlier you do the hard work of training like this the easier it is even if it does take a few weeks.

Shon gave excellent advice. Just to add a bit try to have people come over as often as possible. If you have a neighbor who is good with dogs ask them to come over as much as possible so he will get used to people coming to the house.

Thank you for your advice everyone, will be working hard with him when we're out and about and in the house.

I have a similar problem with Buster when people come in the house. He gets really over excited and keeps jumping up. I will try keeping him on the lead for a while when people come round. When we are out he is fairly good at sitting and waiting if I am talking to someone. He will try to get up and start being silly, so I normally tell him to sit again. He is even getting better at doing it if they have a dog/dogs too. He is a nightmare if they try to stroke him though, he goes really excited, wriggley and licky to the point where some people think he is trying to bite as he is constantly trying to get to their hands with his mouth to lick them.

Great advice from shontelle.
To many people feel the need to stroke everyone elses dogs. I know their cute but sticking your hand in strangers faces isn't even normal in our world

Buster's_Mum wrote:I have a similar problem with Buster when people come in the house. He gets really over excited and keeps jumping up. I will try keeping him on the lead for a while when people come round. When we are out he is fairly good at sitting and waiting if I am talking to someone. He will try to get up and start being silly, so I normally tell him to sit again. He is even getting better at doing it if they have a dog/dogs too. He is a nightmare if they try to stroke him though, he goes really excited, wriggley and licky to the point where some people think he is trying to bite as he is constantly trying to get to their hands with his mouth to lick them.

Does Buster lick everyone at home a lot too? Licking can become obsessive compulsive in some dogs and its almost impossible to get them to stop when they get like that. If it is a constant thing, I would seriously try to get him to stop now before its too late, do the same as you did at the nipping stage, a firm no, remove your hands and turn your back to him.

I think you have to be careful with this turning your back thing. Turning your back is the ultimate sign of respect and submission. It's important that they show submission when you give the No! before turning your back otherwise it sends mixed signals

shontelle wrote:

Buster's_Mum wrote:I have a similar problem with Buster when people come in the house. He gets really over excited and keeps jumping up. I will try keeping him on the lead for a while when people come round. When we are out he is fairly good at sitting and waiting if I am talking to someone. He will try to get up and start being silly, so I normally tell him to sit again. He is even getting better at doing it if they have a dog/dogs too. He is a nightmare if they try to stroke him though, he goes really excited, wriggley and licky to the point where some people think he is trying to bite as he is constantly trying to get to their hands with his mouth to lick them.

Does Buster lick everyone at home a lot too? Licking can become obsessive compulsive in some dogs and its almost impossible to get them to stop when they get like that. If it is a constant thing, I would seriously try to get him to stop now before its too late, do the same as you did at the nipping stage, a firm no, remove your hands and turn your back to him.

No, he will lick my legs if I have shorts on, or just got out the shower then he is told no and he stops (I'm not a big fan of being licked - I know where that tongue has been!!!) he will occasionally lick our hands, but not very often. When we first got him he was very bitey as he had been left out in a garden and not really taught many manners. We stopped it almost straight away and now when he gets excited around strange people he licks instead of biting. It does only seem to be for a few mins, and if he is doing it to people who own dogs he does soon get it out of his system and is alot calmer, but if he does it to people who don't know much about dogs they tend to stop straight away and just think he is going to bite them (i.e. OH's parents )

Welcome. Good advice given already. You will need lots of patience, a return to the basics and be consistent. You have a teenager on your hands but they do grow up.