Over submissive Staffie

Hi everyone, new to this site and wanted to join as you all seem very supportive to each! My husband and I are the proud new owners of Tilly (since Saturday). She is a beautiful 18 week old brindle Staffie, is KC bred from a reputable local breeder. Since we've had her, she has gone through the night in her crate and is even pottying outside where we have a spot for her. she walks well on her leash when she has her little strolls, and is forming lovely house habits, definitely a little character who is happy to sit and sleep for hours at our feet. Not to sound ungrateful, I know she is a very good puppy, the thing is, when we visited at her old home, (she lived with her pack - her grandma, mother, aunt, uncle and brother and sister) she was bouncy and mad along with her other siblings and we had a job calming her down. Since, however we have had her, I notice she has lost confidence, she gets excited but as you approach her to pet her, she sits submissively and lowers her head. She sometimes starts to shake when she feels a little overwhelmed with strangers or is in a new situation. We mainly ignore it as we don't want to reinforce her fears. I always thought we'd have a battle to calm her down not encourage her to be social. I am worried if we can't get her confidence up she'll grow into an insecure adult and we may have issues. Could it be just everything is new to her still and she will get more confident as the weeks go on? We are taking her to puppy school from Saturday so hoping this will help too and the teacher will help I'm sure. Sorry to rant, just after reassurance I guess

Hello and welcome.

Tilly sounds lovely and i'm sure you will find she is still settling in, after having all those relatives around her she's probably wondering where all the noise as gone.
Give her time and i'm sure she will be fine and grow into a confident girl. I bet in a months time you are posting that you can't control your excitable pup..lol.
Good luck and soome pics would be great.

Thank you for you comments, I'm sure you're right Tried to put up a photo but don't know how, any idea?

When you go to pet her stroke her under her chin/massage her chest this will bring her head upward and condition the mind to follow so she sits up straight no lowers her head. introduce her to calm people/being calm youself and dogs nothing to excited and soon enough you'll have a confidant little pup running around.
uploading picture.
Get yoursefl a photobucket accunt upload your pictures on there. If you hover the mouse over the picture you want a drop list will appear copy the IMG code and paste it into the topic box on here, if you open up two pages on your internet explorer one for this site and one for the photobucket site you can then copy and paste many photos into one topic post on her.

Thanks Claire, she sits up well and then she loses confidence. She is fine when we stroke her under the chin and she loves her full body massages, falls asleep! Will keep you posted.

Re photo, i've got her photo on photobucket and copied the img but don't see where to post it on here? thanks for your help.

Tilly looks a dear little girl

I would think puppy school would help her alot...

Thanks Vanessa, she is really really good bless her, it's us that are worrying about things I only really have this issue with her and the fact that she is starting to yelp if she is crated and we are busy around her, this we ignore, again, hope we are doing the right things, I think we had the harder time getting used to a routine, still almost there now and then I guess its keeping it consistent no matter what cheek she gives us xx

Have you tried rescue remedy drops.. they are good for allsorts of things.. might calm her abit...

Thanks, will keep it in mind, I'm hoping she'll realise it doesn't get her anywhere so she might as well play with her toy instead loll !

Aww.. the little darling. I wouldn't worry about her being a bit uncertain out in the big world all on her own. You might want to look up some information about calming signals to help her feel confident (it would also help you understand what she's communicating better).

This is a decent intro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj7BWxC6iVs

awww she's lovely! harvey our staff is also a very submissive dog, full of confidence but just seems to like being submissive, i'm sure she is just settling in at the minute

Milly was really submissive but is getting better I think some are just more confident than others she has been mixing with other dogs since she was young but it has taken her time to gain some confidence.

Beautiful! She looks just like my dog Tali did when she was a puppy (see below photos)





As others have said puppy school will help her a lot and will make her see meeting new people and dogs as a positive experience. As you know she is a submissive girl then tell new people to bend down (this makes you less threatening) and call her to them with an outstretched hand. As Claire said get them to stroke her from under the chin and neck (a hand looming over the head can make some dogs nervous).

At this stage in her life she is learning loads and taking tons in so lots of positive socialisation and interaction with different age humans and dogs will help you no end. With a nervous/submissive dog you must monitor this carefully and make sure nothing frightens her whilst she is meeting and greeting. This is where puppy schools/classes become invaluable as they dogs are so focused on playing with one another they can come out of their shells a bit more and learn at the same time.

aww thank you for all your comments and advice. If we do encounter a scary time, I am just moving forward and not making a big deal, is this right or should I be doing something else, I don't want to reinforce her fear by giving her comfort, won't she think it's ok to be frightened? Ooh, so many questions, sorry lol.

Although, I have to say, she is currently chasing a fly around the lounge and if you saw her now, you'd think I was telling big fibs Will let you know how we get on.


Lc, she does look like yours, Tilly and Tali lol

jenpjersey wrote: If we do encounter a scary time, I am just moving forward and not making a big deal, is this right or should I be doing something else, I don't want to reinforce her fear by giving her comfort, won't she think it's ok to be frightened?

If you can't avoid a stressful situation, then yes it's better to act as if it's the most normal thing in the world. Talk to her all the time in a nice calm & cheerful voice. Take treats out on walks with you & offer her one if there's something she isn't sure of. Or even a squeeky toy to take her mind off it.

She looks gorgeous, and I'd rather have a slightly submissive dog than the dominant little b**ger I've got!

MissRogue wrote:When you go to pet her stroke her under her chin/massage her chest this will bring her head upward and condition the mind to follow so she sits up straight no lowers her head. introduce her to calm people/being calm youself and dogs nothing to excited and soon enough you'll have a confidant little pup running around.
uploading picture.
Get yoursefl a photobucket accunt upload your pictures on there. If you hover the mouse over the picture you want a drop list will appear copy the IMG code and paste it into the topic box on here, if you open up two pages on your internet explorer one for this site and one for the photobucket site you can then copy and paste many photos into one topic post on her.

very well writen, i hope this advice has really helped her up seem to have a very honest way of rasing you dogs and best of luck with Taz it really takes time and just a quick one when Beau would become agressive twards other dogs i would just say with the situation and not remove the dog untill beau had calmed. as soon as those ears prop up issue a correction and he should relax again, repete over and over again the agression faded with beau every time we did this it look less time and now she is dog friendly best of luck

Shes lovely give her time to settle

My jazz was exactly the same for around 2 weeks when we 1st took her away from the litter.
What i did was lay on the floor in the living room with her, calling her name and when she would come and greet me i would reward her with a treat etc then as she progresses and gets more confident go up to ur knees and then eventually standing up and always stroking under the chin to start with,as the other guys have said a big hand above your head would be quite intimidating!!! hope this helps

Hi guys,

We are getting better I think, she shook like a good un at the vets but then so did my cats when they were alive
Yesterday was a good day, we went to the beach for the first time from the vets (didn't want to take her straight home). She is getting better with us, doesn't shake now, I approach her from the side and wait for her to come to me which she does. Happy to have her chest and chin stroked now. We sat 4 times on the run in training yesterday and brought the ball back twice and she even got herself in and out of the car after much persuading and gesturing from me. She sat next to me on the back seat (I think I was a great form of entertainment for the men in their van watching, they were creased up! I'm worried she is starting to associate her crate with us leaving so this afternoon, I am typing this from the side of it and bless her, she is chilling inside! I think after a few times of puppy class and being out and about she will grow some more. Thanks again for all you support guys, sometimes it helps just to voice it with someone ><