Hyper Staffy Please Help

I am extremely worried about my parents 1yr old stuffy, he is overly hyper to the extent I now never visit with my 4yr old wee boy, there is just no calming him down at all, they have a huge back garden which he has wrecked and when anyone comes to the house he continually jumps all over them grabbing there arm/ hand with his mouth, he is'nt doing it in an aggressive way but I'm so worried that if this behaviour isn't stopped this is where it will lead, I myself have had 2 Staffs both trained with no problems, Any advice greatly appreciated

Hi and welcome
Could I ask what he is being fed and how much exercise he gets?

Why not come over and introduce yourself? https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/f7-new-member-introductions

Hi thanks for the reply, he gets fed Iams and the usual doggy treats, as I say my parents have a massive back garden so he is out there running about lots, he gets a long walk in the evening, my parents both work all day but he is not home alone my brother is there

I don't know much about dry food so not much help on that.
But he should be getting more exercise probably about 45 mins 3 times a day plus playtime inbetween. They need a lot of regular exercise and mental stimulation.
If this can be done I am sure you will see a huge improvement.  

I'm not too familiar with Iams range of dog food, but have heard it is not the best, some foods can cause a dog to be extremely hyper with all the additives they put in.
Here is a list of our recommended foods that you can have a look at: http://staffy-bull-terrier.com/dry_food
It might be worth a try swapping his food over and seeing how he goes, if you do decide to change remember to introduce the new food slowly with the old food over a week.
In regards to exercise, dogs in general, especially staffies have a lot of energy and need at least 2-3 walks a day for 5 minutes per month of age, plus some off lead play, he may be acting out this way as he is bored and gets so excited when people come over!
It may also be worth trying going back to basics with some training, here are some links to help:
This should help with the mouthing of arms etc: http://staffy-bull-terrier.com/stop_your_staffy_puppy_biting
and the jumping: http://staffy-bull-terrier.com/how_to_stop_your_staffie_jumping_up

Hi there, sorry to hear your parents' dog isn't behaving!

To start with, Iams is not a good food. It contains both maize and wheat which are both linked to hyperactivity & allergies in dogs. I would respectfully sugest that they change his food to a hypoallergenic one such as Wainwrights or fishmongers (Pets at Home) or James Wellbeloved.

Also, a one year old stafford should be getting two, or preferably three, walks a day of at least 40 minutes + off lead running around time and mental stimulation like seek and fetch at home. I would say that he isn't getting anywhere near enough of this. Running around in a garden just isn't good enough, I'm afraid.

Can you tell me what sort of training he has had, what have your parents done to stop him becoming totally ott with visitors? Does he only act this way with visitors or is he like it all the time?

I think ur right about the exercise I have told them this many times, he had basic training classes for a few months but then my mum found it hard to take him as he's a strong boy, My parents tell me he's great at home until visitors come which is now becoming very rare, I have been looking into neutering him but know this although might calm him down a bit will not change his behaviour,

I have another food to recommend as in the link below:

http://www.barkingheads.co.uk/product/grain-free-quackers

Neutering may not correct the issues your parents dog has and done at his age could make matters worse for them.

How often do your parents have visitors ? Rocky can be quite full on when we have people round as we don't get visitors that often and when he meets them he can be all over them. I could suggest asking your parnets to ask people round at any/every opportunity so the dog can get used to visitors being in the house.

One way of dealing with him jumping all over visitors is to put him on a led & keep him sitting still until everybody's settled & he has calmed down a bit. Then quietly walk him to each visitor, get him to sit & ask them to give him a treat, but only when he's sitting nicely.

Neutering often 'fixes' behavioural problems, especially if it's done before the dog is mentally & physically mature, so I wouldn't recommend this just yet.

Your parents will have to put in a lot of patient training to stop this behaviour, though.

I have this issue with nico, he is improving though. I get all visitors to ignore him until he is sitting nicely, if he jumps or barks visitors have to turn their back on him, stand up if be assert and ignore him until he settles down, once he's behaving in an acceptable way he can be petted, played with by visitors but I try and keep this very calm as he gets excited again easily. The length of time it takes for him to settle down when someone comes in now is about 5- 10 min, used to be over half an hour! The visitors HAVE to follow the same training methods as the owners though or this won't work, I've had to tell one of my friends that if she insists on letting him jump on her then she will have to stop visiting until we have him fully trained because she's just putting him back, tough love all round lol!