Help

Hi all,
   I have a staffordshire of about 3 we rescued when she was about 6 mo.  She is extremely loyal and sweet to me, my wife, and our child but is horribly aggressive towards people she doesn't know, especially when thye are on our property.  I'm sure I'm not the first to struggle with the issue, but we are at the point where we may have to find a new home for the dog.  Our little girl is of an age where we have frequent visitors and visits will likely become more frequesnt over the next few years.  We are social people, who like to host and the dog just won't behave.  She has attacked our lab/shepard mix on a number of occasions but has never actually bitten a human.  But I have seen her snarl and threaten and have no doubt that she will bite in the wrong circumstance.  Even more troubling is the fact that she doesn't seem to remember people she sees frequently, my father in law for one, who feeds the dogs if we are out of town.  One day she likes him the next she looks like a hellhound ready to tear him up.  

   Please let me know if anyone can help.  We really love the dog but are under enourmous pressure from family and I'm quite frankly anxious myself about her behavior.

Hi & welcome.

Firstly, just a couple of quick questions...

Has she always been like this?
Is she normally quite a nervous dog, and if so, has she been that way since you got her?
What sort of exercise does she get?
What do you feed her?
What have you done so far to try and resolve these issues?
Has she had a recent health check at the vets?

Sorry about all the questions, but it might help to get a clearer picture. 

-Pretty sure she started acting this way once she settled in as a part of the pack...maybe 3-4 months after we got her.
-She isn't particularly nervous and is happy and playful until a "stranger is introduced".
-She gets very regular exercise and gets intense exercise with me 2 times a week. She runs circles around me while I do my sprint work. I don't think she could get a lot more exercise than she already does.
-We feed her the high quality Purina...True Instinct I think.
-We try to introduce her to people to get ahead of the aggression and she will seem to be fine at first...then 10 minutes later she will be barking an snarling at our guest.
-She makes regular trips to the vet and the pronblem is a couple of years old so I don't think its health related. She seems extremly fit and healthy.

Ho from ozzy and me, I'm sorry i cant help you as I havent come across this situation but I am sure you will get plenty of good advice. i really hope you can get this sorted

Hiya from me and Vinnie, sorry I have no experience of this either  

gilbert wrote:-Pretty sure she started acting this way once she settled in as a part of the pack...maybe 3-4 months after we got her.
-She isn't particularly nervous and is happy and playful until a "stranger is introduced".
-She gets very regular exercise and gets intense exercise with me 2 times a week.  She runs circles around me while I do my sprint work.  I don't think she could get a lot more exercise than she already does.
-We feed her the high quality Purina...True Instinct I think.
-We try to introduce her to people to get ahead of the aggression and she will seem to be fine at first...then 10 minutes later she will be barking an snarling at our guest.
-She makes regular trips to the vet and the pronblem is a couple of years old so I don't think its health related.  She seems extremly fit and healthy.    

Hi form me and the boys

What sort of routine do you have when strangers come to the house? i have a human aggressive dog, and routine helps him immensely, by that i mean he is kept on lead and lead in to meet people with a good space between him and them, lots of treats given from me and once calm the other people feed him treats to gain trust.

Hi and welcome to the forum from Rocky and me.

hia from me and sasha  ,sorry i cant help you,i hope with members advise you can get help with sorting her out thou  

Hi and welcome from me and Daisy  

Welcome to the forum, Gilbert. I'm sorry to hear that you are worried about your Staffie bitch.

Can I just ask a couple more questions?

- is she spayed?

- are you absolutely sure that her barking and snarling are aggressively meant, and not just not just a boisterous invitation to play? (you can normally tell by the body and facial expression - an aggressive dog when it snarls generally has its teeth quite close together and the top lip wrinkles upwards)

Hello and welcome to the forum from me and the kids

Welcome to the forum

This is not an area I have experience with, it is wonderful to see you looking for advice though and I'm sure our members with some knowledge in this area will be of help to you.

Ella's sugestion would be a good place to start. Just gently & calmly bring her into the room once your guests are settled. If necessary, keep her on a lead all the time until things start to improve.

Purina isn't, I'm afraid, a very good food. It has far too much in the way of wheat & corn. Wheat, especially, is known to cause behavioural problems with dogs. I'm not saying that's what's wrong, but it won't be helping. You would be better switching to a hypoallergenic food such as James Wellbeloved or Wainwrights, or even a fish based food such as fish4dogs or Fishmongers Finest.

Has she been spayed, and if so, when?

Welcome to the forum from Rocky and I

Hiya from me and Moo

Hi and welcome from Darcy and me

Hi and welcome from me and my two

Hi and welcome to the forum from me and the zoo xx