A few concerns

Hi all!

I have a staff pup of 17 weeks. I just have a few queries/concerns about a few things and was wondering if anyone can give me advice or some reassurance.

Firstly is he's started snapping a lot. I know he's teething etc and that this is normal but he's recently started to lunge at me snapping like a wee crocodile when i correct his mouthing. I tell him NO BITE firmly when he mouths and remove him from the sofa/chair etc as this usually happens when he's chilling on the sofa with me. He will then lunge at me and i have to block him with my leg etc. If for any reason i have to grab his collar (usually to take something off him he shouldn't have) he will instantly twist his head round and bite, sometime catching the inside of my wrist/arm. I'm just continuing with the 'no bite' and hope that he will grow out of this - is this just normal behaviour and is there anything else i should be doing?

Another thing is walking. I read that a puppy should have a 5min walk for every month. I started walking him at 10 weeks and he's great when out. He was getting a 15/20 min walk twice a day but this didnt seem to do anything to burn his energy. For the past few weeks ive been taking him to a nearby reservior/nature reserve which has a great path for walking round. He's been off leash here for a few weeks now and is doing brilliantly with recall and is meeting lots of different dogs on a daily basis. The walk round takes about 30 mins or so and that added to the walk there and back is about 40/50 mins. I do this once a day and he then gets a shorter walk in the evening. I'm just a bit concerned that this is too much for his age and what the possible consequences would be?

Sorry for the long post, any advice/suggestions are more than welcome.

Thanks

TBH honest you sound to be doing things right - they go through phases and its up to you to train them out of it, but this does take patience and time.

As for the walks, it has been a long time since I had a pup but I will always go with, if the dog is off lead they can take there time to do things so no I wouldn't say you where over doing it. Xx

loki is 11 weeks and he does the same with snapping, he snapped at my friends staffy earlier and he was very told off by her ahaha...xx

"Oh" those little nips they can hurt like hell, I use to think Lucy was evil-always snapping, then all of a sudden it stopped! ((What a relief)) I thought it would never end.
Keep persevering with the training- there will be light at the end of the tunnel.  

Bane used to be terrible with snapping, but we had a similar experience to Sue...it was as if one day it just clicked and he stopped.
He still turns into a bit of a crocodile when he tries to get other dogs to play but never at us anymore.
You could try and get him used to you holding his collar, by spending a few minutes each day of giving him a treat and then touching his collar, just so he learns that it isn't always a bad thing.

As for the walking, if he is going at his own pace it shouldn't be a problem, we have been taking Bane to the park since he was about 15 weeks old for anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour. Because he has his long lead he is able to just mill around at his own pace, sniffing and rolling as he goes!

when we 1st got chester i thought he was half crocodile! we ignorned made fist (so couldnt bite fingers) walked away yelped as a sibling would and any licking not biting (remember their baby teeth hurt more)was praised until it sunk in, some take longer than others any play that resorted in biting was stopped by walking away! chew toys kongs etc keep them occupied, not so sure on walking be wary chester now has dislocated knee caps (heiredatory) but i dont think long walks helped aggrevated them! tug of war should only be played with your dog if u feel its fun and not challenge (my son is NOT allowed tug of war games with chester)

I currently have a 21 week old SBT male. He is a chomping machine. We had a little break in between him loosing his front teeth to now his back teeth. He chomps and snaps at our faces and hands. He makes awful crocodile snapping sounds. He chomps our big dog constantly, leaving bloody teething marks all over her legs and neck. We tell him no, yell ouch and shove him away or off the couch. I also use a squirt bottle with water and squirt him in the face and tell him no. It works very well to get my point across. Its sounding all too common to not be a phase they go through.

It's definitely a phase ALL pups go through not just SBT's

a water spray gun works really well. to the point i usually only need to show it to my 2 now and they behave!

Little update 4 weeks on. Things have improved a lot and the mouthing is getting better every week that passes (tho still not gone yet).

He's a brilliant wee dog and is no bother 90% of the time lol i'm happy to ride out the storm during the trying 10%

thanks to everyone for the advice x

So happy to hear that! I'm excited to get through the phase where they think they're a croc! Housebreaking is all downhill from there

Great news..   

Glad to hear your having progress xx