My staff doesnt like other dogs help!

posted this in the wronh forum and had no responses so will try in in


Just as the title says, we got cairo at the weekend, he is ace around the house, so well behaved but everytime he see's another dog he has to have a good old grumble about it. he is around 18month old and a rescue dog, he is so so placid around the house but this is the one thing i have to deal with so any hints and tips would be greatly appreciated

How long have you had Cairo? And have you any idea about the background, being a rescue. I think sometimes not all dogs get on. Does he do anything else than grumble because ordinarily mine is fine with other dogs but occasionaly when they are over boistrus she'll have a grumble too.

When out walking take high value treats with you ie something he rarely gets that he can't resist and when approaching a dog use the command watch me so he learns to look at you and gets the treat, practise the command at home first, then when you see a dog instead of him getting distracted he has a command to obey. he'll soon learn when he walks past dogs there are no drama's and he gets a great treat

we didnt get any real history, he was found abandoned tied to a bench i think, he has been in foster home for last while and is just so well behaved apart from this one thing. he has asnap if the other dog comes to close and comes in very close to my legs, almost like he is protecting me. he is a perfect dog apart from this one issue. problem i have is he isnt very interested in treats, he can take them or leave them but i will persist with the treats. When there is no other dog about he will sit on command, but as soon as there is another dog about he gets a selective hearing thing lol

try some chicken or beef with garlic salt on they generally can't resist it

They all get selective hearing!

Make sure you persist, and keep trying to socialise him. Are you lead walking? Its such a new enviroment for him, he needs time to adapt x

yeah lead walking until i have built up trust, for me and the dog! have never owned a bull breed before ( collies and labs previously ) so its a steep learning curve lol. he gets off the lead in the local feild and is great, loves retrieving the ball and loves having a good run, but i just dont feel confident enough in him as yet to let him off lead while other dogs are around

Your doing the right thing. Keep him on lead until you both have trust bond. As I said its realy early days, like days!!

Bullie breeds are a handfull and you really need to be strong and dominent without showing weakness, they do pick and play on it!

It will be a steep learning curve but a fun one too, Cairo is young enough to train and you'll be fine, Moo was a loon when I got her but with a lot of training she is really (most of the time) very calm and well behaved. They really do as a breed loe to learn and please. Cairo will too but he's as much in a new enviroment as you

Marty wrote:When out walking take high value treats with you ie something he rarely gets that he can't resist and when approaching a dog use the command watch me so he learns to look at you and gets the treat, practise the command at home first, then when you see a dog instead of him getting distracted he has a command to obey. he'll soon learn when he walks past dogs there are no drama's and he gets a great treat

That's a good one to teach & can be useful in all sorts of situations. If your dog isn't food oriented then try taking a favourite toy with you, but make sure that toy is only ever used for walks, so that it remains special.

cairo wrote:yeah lead walking until i have built up trust, for me and the dog! have never owned a bull breed before ( collies and labs previously ) so its a steep learning curve lol. he gets off the lead in the local feild and is great, loves retrieving the ball and loves having a good run, but i just dont feel confident enough in him as yet to let him off lead while other dogs are around

Exactly the right thing to do. He's still settling in & may well feel protective of the people who are now so nice to him (you!).

However, you must be prepared to accept that some staffords never get on with other dogs, and you will develop a 'dog radar' which will alert you to when other dogs are around. With dogs like this you can usually build up a 'control distance' - ie a distance between you & your dog where you know he will respond to you. Bandit used to have a control distance of about 50', so if he was within that distance I could either call him back or tell him to stay & I could put the lead back on. Dempsey is slowly building up a distance, but his is much closer - at the moment I'd say about 15'. Not far, I know, but much better than he was!

Marty's tip 'watch me' is excellent advice. I use that a lot and it works every time. You have to be totally focused on your dog at the time and completely ignoring everything else around you as 'watch me' works both ways.

Caryll's 'dog radar' is something else you will no doubt learn all about until it becomes second nature to you. I sometimes feel like a 'Star Trek' characture as I am always scanning the horizon for dogs, people, or any other forms of life.

just had his night walk and about 100ft from the house checked there was no dogs about ( people and cats seems fine ) and clicked him off leash and he walked at heel all the way back, feels like a very small victory ! boomer ball is a must as well as he has destroyed 2 balls this week, and once he gets a small chink in the ball he doesnt want to take it back he wants to destroy it !

cairo wrote:he has destroyed 2 balls this week, and once he gets a small chink in the ball he doesnt want to take it back he wants to destroy it !

Bandit was a real b****r for this! If we walked anywhere near a football pitch or basketball court we had to put him on a lead or he'd get the ball! One grab and you'd hear a psssssssssst as the air was let out!

Same as that, and my local parks have footy matches every sat and sun, lead it is, unless she'll be on the pitch with the 'pssssssssssst' noise!

Ihave the same problem with my boy and I really have tried every thing the only time he is okay is when its a female and shes on heat. He doesnt growl or lunge and is very obedient offlead but if another dog came too close in his comfort zone its had it and there would be nothing I could say to stop him.So I have a long lunge line he can mooch around on when we walk in public parks ect and loose dogs do pick up on the fact he is not freindly not many trouble us. When I have the opertunity to let him off in a secure area I do, I certinely dont feel he has lost out on anything its just the way he is and thats that and sometimes you have to admit defeat im afraid.
But as your dog he is brill with my old girl and people and children, soft as anything and so loving a big baby

Like Caryll said not all dogs are food motivated.
But don't give up on the food reward, Blue was the same when I first got him. I think he got so worked up that food was the last thing on his mind......but after a few months he started to be food motivated outside the house. Not sure if it's because he feels more relaxed outside with me as the bond between us has grown.
I also started to do obidence traing in the back garden instead of in the house. It is allot easier to give treats as sometimes it's not possible to throw a ball when a dog passes

thanks for all your help so far folks, some great tips there, had his morning walk, 3 dogs no growl ! put him into the sit and tell him good he is, he watches the other dogs but no growls or lunges so far so good !

Well done Cairo

Nice one.....keep up the god work

Well done, thats great to see an improvment so quickly he must already be forging a bond with you!

I've got the same trouble with Holsten ,he's very DA but through no fault of his or mine ,but a * who had a fully grown intact staff cross off lead with no collar on ,it attacked Holsten when he was 6 mnths old ,on leash ,but the other dog hit us from behind while i was talking to another dog walker ,it was very nasty ,i was injured during the attack ,quite a few stiches in my arm and hands ,if he'd had a collar on it would of been easy to control him ,luckily Holsten did'nt even have a puncture wound .Holsten won't even think twice about going for a strange dog now ,i have to go to alot of trouble to find open spaces with no dogs so i can let him of leash to exercise him ,but i do because i love him ,at home and with my other dog he is absolutely faultless ,even when we introduced him to my mates new puppy he was like a mother to it ,its just dogs outside his comfort zone he will not tolerate .We spent hundreds on two different trainers who said they could fix him ,both highly recommended by my vet ,to no avail ,it,s just something i have to live with because of a * .

I had the same thing with my youngest bitch Tali. I brought her up perfectly, took her to meet about 20 other dogs for playtime every day, took her to three different training sessions etc. One day these bloody smackheads who live in our block had their extremely dog aggressive/people aggressive/life aggressive staff cross out. Its a very confused and nasty dog, entirely not the dogs fault but the druggy who owns her kicks and drags her around like a punchbag.

Tali being a puppy thought it was going to come over and play with her until it latched it's teeth onto her leg. I had a lame puppy for 2 weeks and now a DA dog for life all because of people who cant put their bloody dog on a lead!! She was only 4 months old at the time....

well a breakthrough this evening, dog approached he sat down, didnt move ( on lead ) , so far so good! my dog radar failed me though when he was off the lead playing ball, i didnt notice the other dog in the dark, and he spotted it before i did and ran about 10 steps , i shouted his name , pretty loudly as i think i panicked a little, and he ran straight back and sat at my heel ! feel like a proud father lol

Wel done ,you got no problems with that dog m8

Nice one, well done Cairo and good on you x

a small victory but a victory none the less, the pride i felt when he came straight back makes me even more determined to get past this minor issue

Briliant stuff Cairo, just goes to show how good you are with dogs. You are obviously doing something right!

i would like to take the credit, but the credit really goes to the wee man! wee cairo is very very quick on the uptake

Nosipho, I feel so sorry for you. Those scum wasters and their poor dog. They don't realise and don't care how their actions affect others. I just always think that we have 2 societies: the normals and the scum wasters.

Well done both of you =D>

Well done to you both!

Thankfully, I don't really have much experience in this, but a lot of people here have some great advice, and it sounds like it's working a treat!

cairo wrote:i would like to take the credit, but the credit really goes to the wee man! wee cairo is very very quick on the uptake

Im so glad for you and hes settled right in with you. I love a happy ending, nice one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

had him in parks all weekend, both my kids play football for different teams, and he has been great, no issues at all. then this morning out for a walk and met the same 2 staffs i met last week, not on the lead, the blue one came straight over to him, no reaction, so far so good, then it growled and thats when cairo reacted. makes it tough trying to train your dog when other people cant control theirs.

Tell me about it Cairo ,get it all time round my ,even so much as a woman last week screaming her head off like a lunatic because i asked her to put her dog on lead as she was approaching us ,she thought it was her god given right to walk her dog off lead ,wherever she wanted ,whenever she wanted ,even though she was on public land .Bloody ridiculous!!!

i will walk him offf the lead in the fields above my house, but i can see both entrances to these fields so can control the situation, if another dog comes in he comes back on the lead straight away. has anyone tried these dog socialization classes? are they worth it ?

I took Samson to puppy socialisation classes and he's turned out very dog friendly, but don't know about older dog classes