Des incident on his walk today

Hi

Some advice please on an aspect of our dogs behaviour that seems bit odd. From time to time whilst out on his walk he will become obsessed with another dog (normally smaller) and chase them til they are exhausted. He's Shows no aggression, barking or growling and has never bitten another dog.
It seems to be a small to medium dog will ask to play with him and they will start running and when the other dog wants to stop des doesn't want too.
He loves his ball but when this obsession comes into play he drops it and ignores all recall.
He normally skips about with his ball and ignores most dogs, he will wag his tail and loves interacting with our freinds Labradors with no incident. He will normally recall ok and is a pleasure. We just don't want people thinking the wrong thing :-(
The other day another dog attacked him with no provocation (retriever) he was not injured and did not bite back and I intervened without a problem.
He is coming up for two so wondered if its a teenager or dominance thing?
Anyone got any tips?

Not sure but I'd say it's a dominance issue, I'd pop him bk on the lead so u are controlling the interaction, not him.

At his age it wouldn't be teenage behaviour. Have you tried a long lead yet?

Hi thank you, will try that. He hasn't done it for months but we want to be I control.
Also tonight he has been up to mischief: jumping up on dining room table trying to jump up on the sides.
Hes been Generally naughty, so sent to his bed and now chilled out and snoring.

The long leads are great. They allow you to regain control quickly and let them roam as well.

Try to avoid the smaller dogs, see if you can find some dogs his own size to play with.

Yes we will be wary of smaller dogs. He normally ignores tiddlers, it's ones just a bit smaller than him and he doesn't know when to stop playing.
He plays with my friends Labradors all the time, they amble along and don't run fast so he doesn't get over excited.
He loves to chase cats too, which again we are working on- distraction seems to work there.
I was wondering if a whistle/bottle with pennies in/squeaker would help him get out of the zone?

The thing with staffies is they are terriers. The terrier instinct is ground in deeply, so anything small and fluffy is fair game. It is their mission to get that. You dog obviously has great inhibition and has no aggression which is good, but he is probably still going after the small fluffy things because of this.

As for the whistle, thats a good idea but will only work if you train him that whistle means a treat, pennies won't work and just make him nervous, a squeaker will drive other dos mad too lol

Kenny's "thing" is Motor bikes, his recall is non-exsistant. We had a long lead, 20foot made at our pet shop. So, now he's on lead at all times. There's a fenched off Rugby pitch close to us with a small gap to sneak in, sometimes we let him off there.

Skyes distraction is sirens. Police cars, fire engines and ambulances. She hates them. As soon as she hears one, she stops still and barks until she can no longer hear them.
Even at home, if she hears one, she runs outside to bark.

Hayley wrote:The thing with staffies is they are terriers. The terrier instinct is ground in deeply, so anything small and fluffy is fair game. It is their mission to get that. You dog obviously has great inhibition and has no aggression which is good, but he is probably still going after the small fluffy things because of this.

As for the whistle, thats a good idea but will only work if you train him that whistle means a treat, pennies won't work and just make him nervous, a squeaker will drive other dos mad too lol

Yes he does like to chase about, but he shows no aggression, even if the other dog is v aggressive - he will growl a warning and that's about it. I have found calling him away after an initial greeting with a smaller dog works as long as catch it early before he gets silly.

My partner thinks he doesn't really know how to play with other dogs so we are working on socialisation and pack walks with my neighbours Labradors. He can't push them about and they get tired so the games don't escalate. My freinds Labrador was playing with him tonight and des was playing well without getting hyper- which was great to see.

I find a whistle works well if it's short and sharp it snaps him out of the cat obsession and also gets his attention. He's not too fussed about treats when he has the ball but we will start taking them out on the walk as well.

The squeaker seems to wind up up so leaving that :-)

Really enjoying having a staffy and really appreciate this forum for help and advice, having des is like having another person in the house!