mouthing at 10 months

hi all

so iv posted alot about my little diva. wev had some issues and being a single pup in litter mouthing has been persistant in our issues.

at 10 months and just over 20kg she still mouths its like a switch she gets too excited and bam the mouth goes. we tried everything, the yelp when she bites, the turn away, the put her in hall til she calms, the distracting her woth a toy or treat, making her sit and wait then treating, pet corrector spray allsorts!!!!! they all had very short lived results.

on top of that on a walk she will suddenly attack the lead and growl and spin and stopping this is not easy bit the noise makes her sound like a total dragon.

i dont know what else to do but i feel its getting out of hand as we have young visitors and while she has been very good its not relaxing and im always very uptight wen they are here. i was told to try the training discs, has anyone used these?????

she seems so hyper all the time despite the walks she gets, i cant even allow her off lead anymore as she wants to jump everyone :-( i want this to work soooo much and im doing everything i can. i NEVER thought for a minute what impact being the only pup would be.

she seems to have become untrainable she is horrendous on lead now too.

would speying her calm any of the behaviour down, we arent breeding anyway so we r going to do it

Hiya! She sounds like my foster boy... So she was only the pup in the litter, but she did have mum with her? Did you teach her bite inhibition when she was little? How old was she when you took her in, and did she get normal socialisation and interactions as a pup? When you say the methods that you have used are short lived, why are they? Does she just start to ignore them?

wev had her since 8weeks old and before tht she lived with her mum, sister from the first litter and another dog in house. she went to puppy socialisation and everything she absolutely loves people and dogs but wants to be too forceful. she seems to just ignore us after a while of something working.
she has always been very whiny but i take her to my sisters to get used to the kidsand shes always a bit mouthy with my niece only but she wants to run about and eat food (well steal food off u i should say).
we r just havin a hard time calming her

Please have a read through the link below, you may find something useful:

http://staffy-bull-terrier.com/stop_your_staffy_puppy_biting

I found the yelp and ignore method works well   

Yep the yelp method works - also try putting a Kong in her mouth, they just need that feeling of something in their mouth be it an arm or a Kong!! Our 2 now go and race to pick a Kong up before they greet us   

rico24 wrote:wev had her since 8weeks old and before tht she lived with her mum, sister from the first litter and another dog in house. she went to puppy socialisation and everything she absolutely loves people and dogs but wants to be too forceful. she seems to just ignore us after a while of something working.
she has always been very whiny but i take her to my sisters to get used to the kidsand shes always a bit mouthy with my niece only but she wants to run about and eat food (well steal food off u i should say).
we r just havin a hard time calming her

Okay, so she should have learnt some bite inhabition from the other dogs in the house. Typical of bull breeds to be too forceful, they just don't know their own strength sometimes! Have you kept staffords before? Are you being totally consistent in your training with her, using the same method every single time she carries out the unwanted action?

Dogs will often carry out actions if they get something positive from it, if they get nothing from it or something negative from it.. they won't carry out the action. The yelp and ignored method that others have stated works brilliantly, but if she's getting over excited the yelping may excite her further, in which case i'd replace the yelp with a walk away and ignore. Remove all interaction for at least 5 minutes, and timing is key, it needs to be instant or she would have already moved on. Again, the food stealing is massively rewarding for her, so she is going to continue doing it. Max does this, he gets a big NO and ignored whenever he steals food, and we don't leave any about, he hasn't stolen anything for about 2 weeks now. I kong feed him all of his meals to give him mental stimulation as he gets bored very easily and will then find trouble for him..

Max also mouths and nips when he gets overexcited so we keep ALL interactions with him very calm and don't interact until he's sitting and waiting. If visitors come he goes into his crate with a bone and watches them for 5/10 minutes and then comes out to say hello when he's used to them being there, other wise he'll jump up and nip. Sounds like she just can't control her impulses! Even if we throw sticks into the river for Biscuit, Max will get overexcited and start barking and "playfully" lunging and snapping at you.. We just don't allow him to get overexcited and keep him calmly stimulated with training and kongs. And on that note have you tried jo's idea of giving him a kong when greeting to put the mouthing onto something else?

It sounds like you are doing all the right things. It does take some patience and consistancy to see results. How much exercise is she getting and how old is she? Also what is she fed on?

Rachel and Rico24 you are both describing my boy to a tee and he is 5!
Even now I have to keep a tennis ball outside the front door to put in
his mouth when I come home and open the door.  This is the only way
I can stop his excitement being taken out on me.
Training discs were a total waste of money, it only works a couple of times
and then stops distracting them.
I don't know if its true, but I was told by my trainer that biting the lead
was caused by anxiety and my boy certainly has problems with anxiety and excitement and I go to great lengths to keep him calm.  When he's
calm he is a perfect gentleman.
It helps to keep yourself calm too as by being uptight you pass this on to your dog.  Hard I know, as many a time I have wished the floor would open up and swallow me when Harry has been a pain in the you know what  
It does get better, honestly!