Help! When ever he is excited he is very nippy!

I rescued my beautiful 8 month 4 weeks ago from a family who kept him in the garden ( full of rubbish) most of the time, gave him one walk in 3 months shall I go on?!
He loves attention and wants to be with me constantly, but he won't listen to me much, I have taught him to be good on the lead, to sit, stay and play with toys but he has now started to leave his toys and either go for my hands or feet, he won't listen to no, I have tried the yelping thing and that spurs him to go for me a little more and thinks I am playing. He is also food aggressive as I know the people before didn't always feed him as when they run out of food they wouldn't always get some ready for his next feed! Shocking I know!

Welcome good on you for rescuing him from a bad home.

Well, he's in his teenage phase so he's probably pushing boundaries, trying to mess with you while he's still settling into the new home. Instead of yelping, just say 'no' in a firm voice, and turn your back on him. If he continues, put him in another room for just a couple of minutes. Staffs love people, so depriving them of attention and affection is a good way to teach them not to do what you don't want them to do. It might take a while, especially since he's a bit older and not had the best start in life, but you'll both get there in the end

As for the food possessiveness...what I did with Loki was, when he was eating something he got possessive over, I'd walk past him and sprinkle some nice treats next to him as I walk by. Eventually he learnt that I wasn't coming to take his food from him and became slowly more comfortable with me getting close to him. Then we got to a point where I could hold out my hand to give him a treat and he'd take it and no longer growl, and etc. Once he was comfortable with all of that, I got him to leave whatever it was, pick it up and then immediately give it back to him along with another super-yummy treat. It took quite a while for us to get to that point, but that's what I did anyway

Also, feel free to introduce yourself and Bolt to us here:

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/f7-new-member-introductions

Welcome from us and Suki. Tara's advice is very good. Just be patient and consistant.

The nipping can be hard at times but there is a light at the end of the tunnel & it does get better with patience & persistence

I know exactly what youre going through... Alfie went through this stage.

I also found yelping and a stern "no" didnt work so I have been shutting him in my bedroom for a few minutes when he takes things too far. He hates this because he knows I am there but cant see me. I have seen a massive difference since doing this - it takes a lot of time and patience though so stay positive

Well dont on the rescue by the way!

Welcome to the forum from me and the Monster

Great advice above, nothing really to add. Try out a few of the techniques and you'll see an improvement