staffy running up to other dogs....

Hi All,

Right I really don't know what to do....so a pal suggested here.

My Boy 'Mac' is approx 12 months now, and when im home (im a soldier away alot) we spend pretty much every living hour together. I live in the vast Wiltshire countryside and try and walk him as much as I can, (sometimes twice a day a hour and half each) and we run together every other day.

The problem....

......just recently iv had problems with him, when he see's another dog he runs up to them at full whack to what i deem as a playful manner. The other dog has reacted in fear and snapped at him, sadly 'Mac' retaliates by going back ten fold! this has happened twice now, normally other dogs are happy to see him and I can barely pull him away for want to playing.

The other day we went for a walk and on the way home he came across a small terrier type thing he ran up to do the normal routine of sniffing and playing, usually the other dog chasing him around followed by 'Mac' licking their ears. This dog however straight away bit Mac on the eye, and he then in turn bit and pinned the other dog to the floor.....I waded straight in and stopped the toil and realised Mac had bit and cut the other dogs neck. Needless to say he got a telling off.

Sadly the woman was hysterical shouting that she is going to have him put down etc etc....i tried to explain it was mark of defence, (but although true its not acceptable behaviour) all she could say its a Pit Bull etc etc etc

She in turn called the Police, who are investigating it.

So.....what on earth do I do to stop him running up to other dogs, I want him to enjoy walks with out a lead. He's normally the most soft and affectionate dog you'll ever come across, we have two other dogs not Staffies and he is so soft and calm with them.

What can i do?

Firstly if anything does happen then you would be responsible as technically Mac would be out of control as the off lead dog and morally with another off lead dog if he has gone flying up then yes the dog may well react like this and you would still be the one out of control , but more of a difficult situation as they are both off lead.
Personally if you want him to be in more populated areas then you need to get a long training line to use and focus on his recall. Its almost as good as having him off lead but you have still got him under control.
If you want to be really off lead then until you have his recall cracked then you have to look for quieter areas

Cheers for the advice,

i think the other major challenge im facing is people perception of the breed in my area.

People are extremely ignorant to his breed in my area.....that said this incident doesnt help admittedly but still not good.

Whats the best way to teach recall?

Hi & welcome.

I agree with Dave. Although Mack was acting in self defense, you should not have allowed him to run up to the strange dog in the first place. Until/unless you have a 100% recall, you should not be letting him off lead near other dogs. Having a staff unfortunately means you have to doubly responsible.

Try using a long line (you can get 30 - 40' leads on ebay at reasonable prices) and clip it on when you let him off lead. Just let it trail, but make sure you keep the end well within reach. If he starts to head for a nother dog, call him - if he doesn't respond immediately, pick up the lead & reel him in! Make sure that he's got a harness on though, so that you don't hurt his neck pulling him back.

stacka83 wrote:Hi All,

Right I really don't know what to do....so a pal suggested here.

My Boy 'Mac' is approx 12 months now, and when im home (im a soldier away alot) we spend pretty much every living hour together. I live in the vast Wiltshire countryside and try and walk him as much as I can, (sometimes twice a day a hour and half each) and we run together every other day.

At 12 months old you have a teenage hooligan, Mac is also going through his second fear period so every time a dog reacts this behaviour is being reinforced and will get worse.

The problem....

......just recently iv had problems with him, when he see's another dog he runs up to them at full whack to what i deem as a playful manner. The other dog has reacted in fear and snapped at him, sadly 'Mac' retaliates by going back ten fold! this has happened twice now, normally other dogs are happy to see him and I can barely pull him away for want to playing.

You should never let Mac run up to another dog before checking with the owner first, it is quite a frightening sight to see a dog like a Staffy racing towards you, this has been made worse by the media classes them as devil dogs, we all know that they are very loving, soft dogs.

Of course Mac retaliated when a dog went for him, that is what we do if someone attacks us.

The other day we went for a walk and on the way home he came across a small terrier type thing he ran up to do the normal routine of sniffing and playing, usually the other dog chasing him around followed by 'Mac' licking their ears. This dog however straight away bit Mac on the eye, and he then in turn bit and pinned the other dog to the floor.....I waded straight in and stopped the toil and realised Mac had bit and cut the other dogs neck. Needless to say he got a telling off.

A lot of small terriers are fear reactive to other dogs, if a dog races up to them they will attack, it is what they have been bred to do. They have been bred to kill vermin, if they don't attack right away the vermin will attack them so the dogs are bred to go in first. If this dog was on the lead he is classed as being under control, Mac being off the lead is classed as out of control.

It is pointless telling him off, he doesn't understand that he was being told off for attacking the other dog when he was defending himself, it is better to get your dog away as fast as you can and let him calm down, he would be very stress after that so nothing you do will have any effect or get into his brain.

Sadly the woman was hysterical shouting that she is going to have him put down etc etc....i tried to explain it was mark of defence, (but although true its not acceptable behaviour) all she could say its a Pit Bull etc etc etc

She in turn called the Police, who are investigating it.

She has made the problem worse by her hysterical shouting, she can't have him put down just like that.

So.....what on earth do I do to stop him running up to other dogs,

I want him to enjoy walks with out a lead. He's normally the most soft and affectionate dog you'll ever come across, we have two other dogs not Staffies and he is so soft and calm with them.

What can i do?

You now need to show that you are a responsible owner, Mac must not be off the lead under any circumstances until you have taught him a very reliable recall, he must never be allowed to approach another dog in that way again. Instead of him being off lead, have a long line on him, that can be as long or as short as you want, I have 30ft long lines for my dogs.

Staffies love everyone, unfortunately not everyone loves them and they are very boistrous dogs that are high energy. If you live near the Malvern Hills I may be able to put you in touch with someone who will be able to help you with Mac, she understand Staffies and boistrous dogs, also aggression in dogs. I have learnt a lot from her.

stacka83 wrote:Cheers for the advice,

i think the other major challenge im facing is people perception of the breed in my area.

People are extremely ignorant to his breed in my area.....that said this incident doesnt help admittedly but still not good.

Whats the best way to teach recall?

No easy way to do it and some dogs are better than others , I was trying to find a good post for you to study but there are various ones , try searching "recall" in the search box and you will find some useful post to help there and you will also find you are not alone.
I think the most important tip I can give you is high value treats , the dog has to know that you are far more interesting than whatever is distracting him. My 2 aren't bad but have to catch them before they get too far, they would never run away from me , it's just a case of stopping them running up to other people and dogs, you really need to be extremely quick Good luck

There are various ways to teach recall, this is how I do it and I am sure others will say how they teach it to their dogs.


To have a good recall with your dog you need to have good recall in your house and garden before working outside in various places. It is very important to set our dogs up to succeed with recall, there is nothing worse than trying to call our dogs back and them not coming.

First decide on a word to use for recall, this can be any word but one not in constant use generally. If you have a word for recall and you dog ignores it, use another, it is easier to teach a dog to a new word than to change his idea of the present word.

Never call more than once, we have all see dogs that come on the second or third call, have you every wondered why? The owner has taught the dog to come on the second or third call by continuing to call, the dog has learnt that he doesn’t have to come at first call, this isn’t good enough for me.

Never call your dog when you know he won’t come, that is teaching him to ignore you, again we don’t want this. This is very hard to do but worth the effort as you dog soon learns that you only call once.

If your dog has his head down a rabbit hole or investigating something he won’t hear you when you call so no point in calling, his mind is on something else. Think of a child watching a good cartoon on the tv and you ask them to tidy their bedrooms.

I use a long line clipped to a harness, I don’t let my dog get to the end of the long line so he never learns how long it is, this is handy when I add another long line. I call him back from various distances and give lots and lots of praise, I go overboard with the praise.

I try to get my dog looking at me at first before asking for him to recall, this is so I know he has heard and I can encourage him back with my body language as well. If my dog isn’t looking at me I can try several things, high squeal, rustle a bag that normally has nice things in, start to walk the other way and saying “This way”, bounce a ball, anything will do to get my dog’s attention. I have been known to lie down on wet grass. I can then give the command for him to come back to me.

As my dog improves I stop getting his attention first and still expect him to come back to me immediately unless his head is down a rabbit hole etc.

Once my dog is doing well and coming every time I introduce a whistle, I give the command and whistle, it doesn’t take my dog long to associate the whistle as come and I continue to use both.

This doesn’t really take that long, it just looks like it takes a long time.

Once my dog is 100% recall on a long line I add another and carry on setting him up to recall every time but start to use the whistle more. The whistle travels a lot more than our voices so is very handy for recall.

I will often add another long line depending on were I am and how busy it is.

Once my dog is 100% recall I then drop my end and let my dog trail the line still working on the recall. If everything goes well I take a line off , work some more before taking the last line off.

I take my dogs away a lot and don’t know what the countryside is like, in these situations I will still put a long line on my dogs but let them trail behind. My dogs are used to this and don’t think anything about it.

When teaching recall to our dogs we also have to take into account our dog’s breed and what they were bred to do. Some dogs like Labradors are bred to obey us, others like Terriers are bred to think for themselves, it is up to us as owners to find something that our dog will come back for. This can be treats, praise, play, toys etc some dogs we have to mix these to keep them interested.

I agree a long training lead is need until you have 100% recall, if ever. I still keep Rocky on one and he has been with us (my hubby and I) for 18 months now. His recall is getting better just not there completely yet.

How is the injury to your dog ? Did it heal OK ?

Thanks all for the responses....he's totally food obsessed so I think treats will work fine.

The ironic thing is, he has never even batted a eyelid at anything. We have chickens and regularly he cuts around the yard with them and doesn't even bother, like wise with cats.

In fact until now he's just rolled over on his back when faced with other dogs.

I take him beating (getting pheasants up for local game shoots) with me and there is normally a lot of very excited dogs and not once has he dashed off to another dog. Only when I take him for a walk?

kathytake2 wrote:

How is the injury to your dog ? Did it heal OK ?

He was fine, straight to the Vet who is very understanding and loves him. Bit of iodine and a stitch and he was ok.

Here he is in his natural habitat......sleeping upside down, snoring!



or with his love of his life....

does any one have the contact details of a good behaviour trainer. Mac is going out of control just lately....some thing needs to be done, im at my wits end!

whereabouts are you based?

wiltshire

What sort if behavioural problems are you having? Is it the same as before?

yeah sadly, he's on a lead....but walking is becoming like a bloody workout. And he just wants to kill every other dog,

Unfortunately, some Staffords just don't like other dogs, and you may just have to put up with that.

What do you do when you see another dog & what does Mac do?

I try and calm him down, talk softly and keep the tension on the lead with out trying to yank him back.

Mac's ears bolst up, he stands tall and tries to get to the other dog. Its such a shame he used to happily play with dogs and walk no dramas, now im too scared to walk him in the day.

Really feel for you.
My Charlie hated other dogs, and I just had to keep her on a long lead and find walks where there weren't any other dogs.
I have my own fenced 5 acres where owners can bring dogs for exclusive use, so you might find similar in your area.
Good luck

Adam Daines, I'll get you his number 2 secs

07805466238 Hes a good trainer, I do puppy classes with him. Where in Wiltshire I know he covers trowbridge, chippenham, corsham, box etc.

http://www.avondogservices.co.uk/home/about-me/

My staff is so people and dog friendly that I have to keep him on a leash. He also used to just run up to people or dogs, but of course, people look at a staff and think vicious. I only let him off when in an enclosed area in our nature reserve or when he is with one of his friends because then he is fine.

Hey did you have any joy with the trainer who's details were kindly provided? I live in Frome and have the same problem with my boy, we were out playing fetch yesterday on his Xmas morning walk and the field was empty so he was off lead. Another walker came into the field as he was running for the ball and he used his momentum for chasing the ball to change direction and race full pelt up to the other dog, it was a terrier of some sort and naturally went on the offensive to my dog as you'd expect. By the time I'd caught up my boy had the dog pinned to the ground by loose skin at his jaw. I was terrified my boy had really hurt the other dog so flung myself on them shouting and striking my own dog desperate to get his jaws to unlock.

Eventually he let go, felt like ages but was probably only 40 seconds. He was so calm upon release and paid dog no interest. Thankfully he'd not pierced the skin just shaken the other dog. I came out worse as the other dog bit my hand as I was frantically trying to get my boy off it.

I took my dog for a walk on his lead last night but am scared i can't trust him at the moment, the attack has really knocked my confidence.

I've read about training leashes and harnesses so I'm definitely buying these ASAP and will not have him off lead again for a very long time, if at all, unless I can get him in 100% recall as he was like a different dog when he decided to go for that dog. Thinking back I probably shouldn't have tried to prize their jaws apart as I could have been hurt more severely than I was!

I too have contacted the trainer given in this link as I live close to his classes.

My boy is the softest, loving and tactile monkey but he's so strong and know know I have got to take my responsibility as his owner a lot more seriously, I feel sick to my stomach when I think of how badly things could have ended yesterday :0(

Just for background info, my Nugget is a rescue therefore a stray with no history. He's 18-24 months and was very stressed in kennels. I've only had him a couple of weeks and I realise I have a long way to go with his training in terms of socialisation. He's a gem at home and in every other way except for his extreme aggression but then again he's still in his 'settling in' period with me do maybe this is why he's so overtly anxious of other dogs?

Any advice eagerly accepted...

Monk wrote:Just for background info, my Nugget is a rescue therefore a stray with no history. He's 18-24 months and was very stressed in kennels. I've only had him a couple of weeks and I realise I have a long way to go with his training in terms of socialisation. He's a gem at home and in every other way except for his extreme aggression but then again he's still in his 'settling in' period with me do maybe this is why he's so overtly anxious of other dogs?

Any advice eagerly accepted...

Firstly letting a dog you don't really know a thing about, off lead after only two weeks of companionship was a bit of a huge mistake. My Fiver was a rescue dog that the center knew nothing about but he is also the softest most gentle loving social people loving dog, and he is great with other dogs too and has never shown any aggression even though he gets other usually rat arsed little dogs go for him all the time when he's on his lead, he never retaliates and has only once defended himself when he had to teach a Ridgeback that was trying to rip his throat out some manners

We waited weeks trying out his recall on up to a 50' lead before we were confident enough to let him off at all, and even now when he's off lead if another dog approaches off or on lead, we call him to heel and just put his on until we know they will be OK together, as although I trust Fiver, I trust no other dog or owner until I know they are OK.

Staffie's jaws don't actually "lock" their bite muscles are just so strong that prizing them apart is a futile task. There are ways to get them to open their jaws and I'm sure someone will tell you how. I'd just put this down to experience and try your dog with other dogs on lead to see how social he is or isn't. Some dogs just don't like other dogs

This might have been a one off because the other dog attacked him and he felt he had to defend himself like mine did, but until you are confident that his recall is 100% keep him tethered