Bit of advice needed!!! please

We recently got a 5 week old staffy pup. I realise this was too young but was difficult situation.Anyway he is now 9 weeks old and not sure how to train him. He is our first dog and only got a puppy because it was advised by a vet if we were getting a staffy with children. A lot of the time he will listen when told NO! He has stopped chewing carpet and nipping at our feet and ankles. When he has his harness on in the house he is quite calm and will sit on command. When he bites aswell he plays quite softly and if i yelp OWW!! he lets go either straight away or he will soften his grip to continue playing. He sometimes however has like a mad half an hour where he just will not listen to a word you say and when he bites he really hurts and will not let go.
I have had mixed advice about how to discipline him. Some say when he bites and will not let go put him in a timeout area. Others say to leave the room and others to just turn away from him and ignore him. Not sure on how to train him how to be with my children either. At the min i have been putting him on his harness to calm him down and then letting the children stroke him. Sometimes i'll put his lead on and get them to walk him around the house and teach him to sit for them. Is this ok?

Any advice would be grateful
Thank you

All of these ways are quite good. Which ever one works best stick with that and be as consistent as possible.

Yes, he left his mum far too early as you know. Sadly his social skills won't be at their best as a result. Once you are able to starting walking etc it would be a good idea to get as much socialisation around other friendly dogs as possible. Maybe even join puppy classes

Thank you for the advice. I have been thinking about puppy classes and I try and take him to my nannas once a week to see her dog just so he is getting some sort of socialising.

Hi, welcome to the forum.

amanda.bradley wrote:We recently got a 5 week old staffy pup. I realise this was too young but was difficult situation.

Ouch! That really is so very young - he won't have learned bite inhibition properly! That being the case, you've done very well to get him where he is now - he doesn't sound too bad at all for his age.

amanda.bradley wrote: A lot of the time he will listen when told NO! He has stopped chewing carpet and nipping at our feet and ankles. When he has his harness on in the house he is quite calm and will sit on command. When he bites aswell he plays quite softly and if i yelp OWW!! he lets go either straight away or he will soften his grip to continue playing.

For a 9 week old pup, he's doing brilliantly!

amanda.bradley wrote: He sometimes however has like a mad half an hour where he just will not listen to a word you say and when he bites he really hurts and will not let go.

They all have mad periods when they get so excited they lose control. But it will get better.

As to the right way to stop it, you've been told different ways because every pup is different & some will work on a particular dog where others won't work!

The good news is that as long as you're consistent he will get better!

Not so sure about the harness being put on indoors - he might think he's going out. Who sugested that?

amanda.bradley wrote:Thank you for the advice. I have been thinking about puppy classes and I try and take him to my nannas once a week to see her dog just so he is getting some sort of socialising.

That's great, just be careful until he is fully vacinated before letting him out and about, especially being so young as their immune system is nothing.

When possible you can even take him places were you can just carry him. I use to bring Logan to our town centre and just walk around with him in my arms with my friends. He met tonnes of people this way as everyone wants to see a cute puppy. I really think it helped him a lot

Caryll wrote:Not so sure about the harness being put on indoors - he might think he's going out. Who sugested that?

It was suggested on a couple of websites to keep him on a leash and a lead when in the house for training purposes. I only allow him to wear it for 10-15 mins a day.

I'd only use it for a specific purpose - for example if he kept jumping up at guests, or was aggressive towards them.

The nipping doesn't really need a lead on - the yelp, or time out should be enough.

Don't forget that pretty soon he'll be teething (in the next couple of weeks or so) and he's likely to get a bit more nippy. Try and have some things for him to chew on. A frozen carrot or frozen banana are very soothing on the gums. Or even a frozen damp towel!

Firstly, for a 9 week old puppy, he's doing very well, so well done to you both they all have that mad half hour, just that when he's a puppy he'll find it even harder to listen. Just continue doing what you're doing (yelping/saying 'ow') when he usually bites, only if it persists, put him in another room (safe one obviously). He'll get the hang of it, sounds like he already is doing amazingly, just need to carry on with it.

Feel free to introduce yourself here:

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

And we'd never say no to a few pictures

Pretty new to all this myself but what I can offer is my experience so far and echo advice already given. Sounds like you are doing a good job already
When we got Otis he would have a mad moment, jumping on the coach wouldn't listen to a word I said - So I just put him in the kitchen, behind a child gate with his toys to let him calm down. I would often hear him rolling round in his bed yapping away to himself. Just be consistent with the nipping it will come over time and don't be disheartened if you have a set back - we had a few with Otis and we decided that when it was bad to pop him the kitchen and leave him there for a few minutes.
Maybe consider a puppy class - watch a couple before you decided to see if you like them. We have just joined one and they do a 15 minute socialisation before class starts so it all helps.
Good luck with your puppy

Thank you all for the advice i'll try and get some pictures on here soon.

Ahhh, he's lovely in your avatar picture

In addition to the advice already given please look through the Important Links and For New Owners topics at the top of the forum. They are filled with great info.

Hiya everyone,
Just wanted to ask about Joey with my children. Any ideas on how to train him to be gentler with them or will that come with age? Should I take my two eldest to the training classes in a couple of weeks to learn aswell?

Thank you

Over time it def will improve, but it'll will improve even quicker if you kids are involved with the training.

I you can, allow them to give him his meals sometimes too, and have Joey sit down before they get the food

amanda.bradley wrote:Hiya everyone,
Just wanted to ask about Joey with my children. Any ideas on how to train him to be gentler with them or will that come with age? Should I take my two eldest to the training classes in a couple of weeks to learn aswell?

Thank you

How old are the children? Are they old enough to understand instructions & to carry them out? If so, then the "No" and turn away & ignore will work for them as well as for you. If not, then you will have to do it for them. Say "no" but instead of turning away, gently remove the pup from the room for a few seconds. It'll take a little while, but he'll get there.

By all means involve your children with the training, even if they're only watching. Again, if they're old enough let them do a bit of the training themselves!

Take them with you so they know what to do, and teach them what to do when he nips or does anything you don't want him to do. It will come with age, but only with training, so keep with what you're doing and get them involved with training, feeding, etc. if they're old enough . I'd also say they should stop any playing with him when he's getting a bit over-the-top so he can calm down again.

And agree with Mat about making Joey sit for his meals until he's told

Thanks everyone for the advice Joey's doing realy well at the minute. Just started toilet training and obedience classes so we'll see how that goes. He's also calmed down around my two older children. He is still play biting and seems to try playing with my youngest the most so still trying to sort that out but overall i'm soo proud of him for what he has achieved.

Brilliant! Thanks for the update.....now, about those photos............

Sorry I really want to upload some photos, especially as he's got so big now since last pic but I don't have a USB cable for my phone. I'll have to try and borrow one I'll try and get one on asap.

Great news, glad things are going well

It's great news everything is going well

amanda.bradley wrote:Thanks everyone for the advice Joey's doing realy well at the minute. Just started toilet training and obedience classes so we'll see how that goes. He's also calmed down around my two older children. He is still play biting and seems to try playing with my youngest the most so still trying to sort that out but overall i'm soo proud of him for what he has achieved.

Excellent news , patience my dear and of course dedication

And btw will you please hurry up with those pics

My pup has the crazies at the same time every night..... at first we thought it was because he needed a poop as he runs around as if its chasing him which can be quite entertaining! If he gets too unruly we all stand up and ignore him for a few minutes until he calms back down... he's doing so much better now and it is only two weeks since he joined us!

You can email pictures to yourself and then go into your email on your computer, open the picture and save it to your computer! Then you can upload it on here