Problem with my STAFFY HELP!!

Hello just wanna advice i have my first staffy and massive problem he is 8 months old , and i cant handle him when he is outside , walking it hard work coz he pull all the time especial when he see other dogs that is nightmare, and when i let him off the lead in park then he is playing with other dogs thats ok or catching and bringing ball not a problem but when he run somewhere he dont react when i call him at all i must chase him or he just ignore me most of the time , at home he is most time ok he listen and know when to stay upstairs or stuff but more problems is outside any advice i know i sounds like noob just wanna some ppl who have exp with this breed thank U

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Invest in a 50 foot training line and work on his recall.
Something like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DOG-TRAINING-LEAD-LINE-50ft-LONG-RED-/360211572238?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Dogs&hash=item53de48660e

For the pulling, hold the end of the lead with one hand as normal, then hold the middle of the lead with the other hand and have him walk with his nose next to your knee.

Make sure the lead is long enough to do this, so he's not being pulled upwards.

I find this usually gets them walking by your side within a few minutes - others might have different thoughts.

Hi and welcome to the forum from Rocky and me.

Do you use a harness when out for walks or just attached the lead to the collar?

Would also recommend a long training lead I still use one on Rocky for some walks when hubby is with me. Good for recall training too. It will give him some freedome and give you peace of mind when you need to control closely.

Great i will try long lead and see how this will work , now im using lead but not long just normal size

Good advice from Working dog above.

Agree with the training line, I use a similar one which is 30ft long.

We now also have a ,'special squeaky tennis ball' and treats for our walk and we are in a nice routine of me throwing the ball, hum bringing ur bk, drops it holds his paw up for a treat.

I've gone from a 30ft line to 12ft double ended lead which ge runs around with trailing behind him.
Have to admit tho, I sound fantastically demented with my baby voice at him for recall, works tho x

Cool i will try all advices for sure hope they will help coz he is getting older and i know is harder later

Hi and welcome from me and Moo She can be a mare onlead, off she is different dog.

Hi and welcome from us and Suki. I agree with the long lead. For pulling turn around and go the opposite direction when he pulls. Takes some time to get anywhere but it does work. You can also have him sit and wait before introducing to other dogs.

Hi there and welcome. The long line is great advice, that way he gets the freedom to roam about and you can reel him back in if he won't come back when you call. For the pulling, I highly recommend the Gentle Leader. It is a halti head collar and is absolutely fantastic. My boy is huge and incredibly strong and I found it difficult to manage his pulling on walks. I bought the Gentle leader and haven't looked back. I'm on my phone so can't provide a link, but if you Google 'Gentle Leader', It will come up.

can't offer any more advice , follow as above , plenty encouragement and treats and you will start moving forward

Great advice given. I used a halti head collar with Bella for a while and it really helped with her pulling.

Working dog wrote:

For the pulling, hold the end of the lead with one hand as normal, then hold the middle of the lead with the other hand and have him walk with his nose next to your knee.

Make sure the lead is long enough to do this, so he's not being pulled upwards.

I find this usually gets them walking by your side within a few minutes - others might have different thoughts.

Will just add - I took a large German Shepherd in on foster on Thursday and he was a handful on the lead - pulling hard and criss-crossing in front of you constantly, wanting to run and go in all directions at once.

I did what I outlined above, and have stuck with it for five walks.

This morning, he left the house at walking pace instead of trying to sprint out the door, and walked perfectly beside me on a slack lead for a good few miles. His nose didn't come much further forward than my knee and all of the hassle of walking him has been removed.

As a reward, near the end of the walk, I let him onto a long lead line and encouraged him to play.

They can learn very quickly once they know what it is you want them to do.

Thank U so much for all advices i will try them ASAP and share results with U all

good advice above

Callie is much easier to walk on a harness, with the D-ring in front. Ours is Easy Walk. I know some people prefer the head halti.

I am just trying to wean off the harness and walk on a leash and I am also doing what workingdog recommends.

i have a 2 year old staffy and a 16 week old staffy cross and i have trouble walking both of them out together as they both pull have tried to take them out seperate but it works fine then they start to pull have a halti but they try to get it off any ideas on how to walk the both of them together please as it a night mare xx

Jenny Misty Russell wrote:i have a 2 year old staffy and a 16 week old staffy cross and i have trouble walking both of them out together as they both pull have tried to take them out seperate but it works fine then they start to pull have a halti but they try to get it off any ideas on how to walk the both of them together please as it a night mare xx

Here's what I do when I walk two dogs - which is becoming quite often at the rescue:
If they both pull and don't know lead etiquette, I put one onto a standard lead and walk as described above.
The other goes onto a six to eight foot lead and, so, gets to walk slightly ahead.
Both dogs are encouraged to stay to the same side.
Having one on a longer lead removes the problems when they cross over in front of you - the one on the shorter lead can't, as he's busy walking nose to knee. The one on the longer lead can do a bit of crossing over, but is far enough ahead not to cause you to stumble.
Just how I do it - others might have other ideas.

Hello and welcome from me & Tyson. The long line method is excelelnt for recall and I also used a Halti/Gentle Leader and it worked really well for me.

we've learned in puppy training class to teach her WAIT, so every two or three steps, whether pulling or not, let some slack on the lead and give it a short, quick, sharp horizontal tug the length of her body and as you do it say WAIT (we got a 2 meter one for this) it doesn't hurt, just gets her attention, and if you do it every 2 or 3 steps, she'll start checking in with you instead of pulling ahead. then the next day or so try every 5 or 6 steps, then when that's working (i.e., less pulling), do every 10 steps and then every block until there's little to no pulling. Jellybean has been doing really well with this, much less pulling but still not perfect, but we've only been at it a few days. It's sort of like Jstaff's suggestion of stopping when she pulls, but without the changing direction and then changing back. That wasn't working so well for us but it did help as well. She seems to respond better to the short, sharp tug on the lead.

we also step on the lead when she meets someone or a dog and gets all jumpy and excited, until she settles down and then she is allowed to say hello properly. if she jumps again, we step on it again.

the long line is great, when she runs off you just step on it or grab it. we were also told to only praise with good girl (or boy) when she comes back/recall and when she toilets outside. Go MENTAL with praise and treats for those two things. everything else can get treats and maybe a good sit/down/paw whatever, but the good girl praise is reserved for recall and toileting

Agree with the advice, more so from working dog re the pulling. Pixee is good at heel, sometimes if she gets excited she will start to walk ahead, I dont mind so long as the lead is still stack, which often it is now, but the min she pulls, what I tend to do is stop dead, say sit, I walk to her side and repeat the heel comment, dont have a problem again then. They are very clever dogs.

thank u all for your advice and thank u Girly i shall give that a try and see how it goes i am really greatfull for all your ideas. Many thanks from me, my misty and my ace xx

Girly wrote:... let some slack on the lead and give it a short, quick, sharp horizontal tug the length of her body...

Would absolutely not be doing this to any dog in my care.

Girly wrote: let some slack on the lead and give it a short, quick, sharp horizontal tug the length of her body

we also step on the lead when she meets someone or a dog and gets all jumpy and excited, until she settles down and then she is allowed to say hello properly. if she jumps again, we step on it again.

I'm afraid I wouldn't do either of those. Very old fashioned way of training.

yeah we weren't doing that for the first few months and I was quite against it to be honest. but she was still pulling like crazy with the stop and circle/turn the other way method. we tried a harness as well and then she just wouldn't walk.

we went to this guy as loads of people in our area (Highgate, etc) recommended him very highly and so far, she is doing MUCH better with recall and with walking, and she doesn't seem any less happy. she gets treats and praise as well, but she knows where her boundaries are and has to think about them to get the reward.

might be old fashioned, but it's working and doesn't always need to be done i.e., once she learns (which has been pretty quick), she's good to go... so I don't think we will go back to any other way. just my opinion though

My big problem with putting your foot on the lead is that it will cause trauma to the neck vertibrae. Maybe there will be no lasting damage, but it will be, at the very least, very uncomfortable for your dog & possibly very painful - no wonder they stop prancing up & down!

Your decision, obviously, but really, if the guy can't train any other way I would question his qualifications to train.

fair enough and i don't want to hurt her but i don't want her hurting anyone either by jumping and what not. the dog enforcement officers in Islington even follow these methods and have told us at one of their voluntary Dog Days in the Park events to either stand on the lead or just push her off really really hard when she jumps for example. but with that, she can just land really hard and i don't like that at all. it's just another way of holding her still - at the other training classes we went to, they said to hold her collar until she calms down.

the "wait" thing isn't to throttle or choke her, it's not meant to hurt her, it is just a quick little tug and more than anything just jingles the ID tag on her collar and gets her attention. it's like stopping if she's pulling but she doesn't even get to the point of pulling because I'm just stopping in advance so she can think about what i'm doing and want her to do.

i don't know know, his qualifications seem quite good, all sorts of awards and sponsorships... might not be the best option, but it is at least an option to train this way

I still don't like it & I wouldn't use those methods, but as I said, it's your decision.

Awards & sponsorships mean nothing - he should have professional qualifications.

he does, of course


anyway, DJX, hope whatever you choose works for you and your dog and that he gets easier to manage so having him as a pet is as rewarding as it can be for you both!

caryll u keep on saying that u wouldnt use girlys method as it old fashion but to be fair i have asked peoples advice but u havent given any u just keep saying it old fashion so how would u walk 2 dogs that pull at the same time then

would like to say a big thank u to Girly as i have started using the method she had said and my 2 year old is starting to pick the idea up very quickly and she is starting to walk by my side but has the odd slip up bit with my 16 week old he will walk but then tries to have a go at seeing if he can push his luck but it will take time and i have all the time in the world as they are my babies and mean the world to me so THANK YOU VERY MUCH GIRLY. <3