Bella's Barking

Hi all,

Bella is now 10 months. Last few weeks she has started to find her voice. Although I do think she is scared of it when she does it as if she doesn't know where it came from!! haha

She is not challanging any other dogs and when/if she gets close enough to the dog she is absolutely fine with it or runs back to hide behind Bruno. I'm not sure if I should be correcting her or just let her be as it clearly isn't aggression. I'm wondering if it's just a puppy phase.

As she tends to be off lead at these times, telling her to stop doesn't do much to stop her. If she was on lead a quick hey will work.

I want to give her freedom to get socialised and let her figure out what she should and shouldn't do but as she is a staffy people do tend to get the wrong impression when they see her having a bark.

Thanks

They do tend to sound quite over the top when their barks let out!

If you are supervising and see that all is okay, I wouldn't correct it as barking is just their way of communication, if you see it getting out of hand then of course a quick separation will do the trick.

I do understand what you mean by people getting the wrong impression though! If you feel worried about this you could always buy a really long training lead that gives Bella the freedom, and you control just in case. But definitely sounds like normal staffy exploration and play to me!

Hi Maria,

She thinks she is hard until another dog approaches then she goes all scared but when she does get up close and personal she is absolutely fine.

The hardest thing socialising her is that we have Bruno who isn't great with other dogs so it's harder to take Bella over to other dogs and focus on Bruno not growling.
They have a dog walker and she get's great feedback on how she is.

She has been off lead for so much of her life and most of the walks I do are forrests I like her to be off and she has a good recall so I like to let her off as much as possible but we are trying a bit of lead training just now so she's doing ok at that also.

Thanks

Sounds as though she is just exploring boundaries, I can't offer too much advice in regards to having both of them though, as I've only ever had 1 at a time, especially that Bruno isn't great with other dogs. Hopefully someone should be along soon with better advice!

Yeah, I think she is. All part of puppy-hood!

Bruno is a rescue and has always had issues with other dogs. The dog walker has no problems with him and he's off all the time. He just likes his own (and Bella's) company. The issues usually tend to be when my wife is walking him as she is a bit of a worrier with him and I think he picks up on that.
I find as long as I have a ball to keep him occupied he's fine.
It's just a case of managing the meet and greet. At the end of the day we can't expect dogs to get on with every other dog they meet. We just need to manage the situation.

Your wife being a bit nervous could be the problem! They definitely pick up on our feelings so he might be reacting to this, I can understand why she may feel this way, but maybe distracting Bruno the way you do could do the trick to take her mind off the situation as well Brunos!

Definitely right though, they don't like all dogs, just like us humans

Unfortunately the times where he has been the worst with other dogs she has been on her own. It's totally understandable.
The ball works a treat. Dogs can be around and sometimes even try get the ball first and he doesn't react. He's so much better off lead than he is on. Unfortunately he can't be off lead all the time.

At the end of the day, as I keep saying to my wife, he is out 5 days a week with all sorts of dogs when he is out with the walker and he doesn't "go for dogs" he just doesn't like a lot of them.

It's the one's that come into his space more than the one's that are ten metres away minding their own.

I certainly wouldn't like it if someone came up to me and was in my face jumping about so why expect a dog to be comfortabel with it.

I'm drawn to your Rocky's eyes! Evertime I look at the picture I have a chuckle. Are his ears like that cos he's on his back or is he a cross?

Sounds as though you are both doing as best you can to deal with it! And being very cautious either way knowing what he is like, fantastic work!

  Ah yes my dear crazy Rocky, he is on his back here, hence the funny ears, we just came in from a walk and he refused to move until I pulled out a treat, he then rolled over straight away, his eyes lit right up!

Yes could be she is picking up nervous vibes, and definitely she is testing her boundries. Do you ever use the sit and watch me command, with tasty treats? It does help to focus them on you and not whats going on around. Perhaps an idea to walk them separately for a bit. 

Hi Inez,

I dont think she is picking up any vibes from Bruno. She always starts the barking as he plays ball with me. She runs a bit over then stops and has a wee bark. If the dog approaches she will go say hello or run back over.
I think she is just testing boundaries.

I do a bit of clicker training with treats with her but not done a lot of it whilst other dogs about.

The one thing with Bella I have realised recently is the lack of clicker recall training. Because we have two and Bruno's recall is good she tends to follow him back. On the rare occasion he comes and she doesn't I tend to just ignore her and as soon as I turn my back she comes running.

I have thought about walking them seperately recently but wasn't sure if that would have a negative affect on them when being walked together?

Hi Maria,

Yeah. We're doing as much as we can and at times we do think he would be better off with other owners but we would all be devastated if he was to go.

Rocky looks like a cracker. Slightly possessed in that picture but a cracker! haha

Is the Staffy a popular breed in Sydney?

Yes I see your point on walking separately, just wondered if for a while it would be one on one training with her until she has "Got It" so to speak. Good luck and keep us updated.  

The B's wrote:Hi Maria,

Yeah. We're doing as much as we can and at times we do think he would be better off with other owners but we would all be devastated if he was to go.

Rocky looks like a cracker. Slightly possessed in that picture but a cracker! haha

Is the Staffy a popular breed in Sydney?

Oh don't ever think that they would be better off with others! You both clearly love them and do all you can for them both!!! I'm sure they love you just the same, and I understand why you feel this way, sometimes it can be stressful, but we have all been there, all had problems, felt like pulling our hair out, but that is why we are here to help as much as we can!!

And thank you, he does look a bit funny there but he is the biggest softy! and yes, the breed is quite popular here!

Hi Inez,

I actually think it would be a good idea to walk them seperate. My wife might also benefit from it a bit more as if she only has one to walk then it will make meet and greet's easier to manage and it will help her confidence.

I do the morning walk with them both and that's a good hour and a bit and the dog walker has them both as well so it's not as if they would be getting walked seperately all the time.

I'll give it a try I think.

Hi Maria,

As you say, owning a staffie is like a rollercoaster, lots of up's and down's but it's worth it all when I see Bruno cuddling up with Freya watching telly and sitting in her room at night making sure she is safe.

All these lovely times outweight the small % of times where he is grumpy so and so.

I'm not really concerned about Bella as we've had her since she was born so we will bring her up right and make sure she is ok. With a rescue you never know what has happened before you get them.

My big brother has recently moved to Sydney and is thinking about getting a dog. Think he wants to get a Labbie or something like that tho. Trying to convince him to get a staffy!