Kind of an 'off' question

Ok, well I have an issue with my 7 month old pup i'd like to correct. His 'testosterone' levels are very evident at this point. I was trying to wait to have him 'snipped' until he was a year old, but lately he is getting the best of my patience, AND i am a very patient person lol. he does things now like blatant disregard for any of my commands whenever he wants especially outside in the back yard. If anyone is walking down the sidewalk to will take off to get some attention from them. This is VERY annoying lately bc I used to be able to give a command and keep his attention and people could just walk on by with or without their dogs without my dog trying to be center of attention.

This concerns me for more reasons than one, but the main reason is that he is so friendly I don't want him to ever approach someone who would steal him while not in my direct presence. He has never done obedience training as I have felt I would be capable if I had the tools and techniques. He is quite smart; he knows the basics, sit, shake, lay down, roll over, and "bang" which he flops over 'dead' on his back.

My pups' buddy/brother is the family cat which grew up with an ex-roomate's PBT. The roomates PBT and the cat always played and played rather rough but the PBT always knew his limits, understood that he was bigger, and would even lay down on the cats level to play. Marley (my pup) doesnt exactly 'know his limits' and often times plays rough with the cat. It is never a distructive type of playing, more just rambunctious playing and chewing similar to how he would play with his litter-mates when he was little. When he was little this wasnt a problem, but now as he is approaching 30 lbs, I feel it may be.

Another concern of mine is I 'got after him' with a rolled up newspaper a while back when he was younger before I started reading that this was a very ineffective way to get a point across with these little guys. Ever since he gets a little skid-dish when my voice is anything other than chipper, whether it is directed at him or not. I could be yelling upstairs for a house guest and he cowers a little. Any weird noises (opening a fresh trash bag, packaging 'pops', vacuum, ect) he behaves the same way. How can I regain our beloved little ones' trust and maybe discipline in a more effective manner when he doesnt behave? I just dont want him cowering when I move towards him to play or anything, so i'd like to fix that. Could the one time I did this be the cause of his wussy-ness? We have had him since he was a pup so he wasnt abused by previous owners, he gets a ridiculous amount of love and attention. I actually used to joke with the fiancee that Marley's legs didnt hit the ground until he was 5 months old.

He isn't scared of me in any other aspect unless my voice is raised, he comes and sits with me, we play, ect. So I do not think its a fear of me, maybe just a fear of discipline when he knows he's done something wrong bc of the newspaper incident.

Thanks again for the help and sorry for the long winded question,
Josh

Okay as for him starting to be disobedient and trying your patience, that is very common at his age as he is going through our equivalent of adolescence, and is testing the limits and boundaries. I know what you're going through cos my boy is 8 and a half months old and has been doing the same for the last month or so. It will settle down again as he gets older. I don't think neutering him will help much with it as I think it really is to do with the fact that he is just at that age, but I may be wrong. The rough playing, also, is just because he is a pup, he will eventually learn.

As for him cowering from you when you raise your voice, the only way to overcome that is lots of time and love. He can probably sense that he is wearing your patience thin at the moment and that is probably putting him on edge a bit.

There is a difference between your dog giving you respect as pack leader or being fearful of you if he only does it when you raise your voice then is he giving you respect, he does not know that your just shouting he is lowering his head , not giving eye contact, shivering ect as to tell you im no challenge.
If he is doing all these things around you all the time then he may be fearfull and you need to teach him its okay.
They are breed like no other and are little gladiators but have a soft side especially with there owners

His behaviour is nothing to do with his testosterone levels & this is one instance where I think that castration will have no effect whatsoever! He's just being a rebellious teenager! You need to go back to training basics & reinforce whatever training you've already done. Be consistent & calm but firm. Don't allow any liberties.

You're right that a rolled up newspaper won't work - it'll just make him want to tear up any newspapers he sees before you get them!

I agree with gem that if his cowering is only when you raise your voice then he is showing you that he accepts your leadership. Maybe you can stroke him if you, say, shout up the stairs at someone else? That way he will 'feel' that you're not shouting at him.

He sounds like a perfectly normal naughty pup to me. My boy was a nightmare! He finally started to get better behaved around the eight month mark, and now is a model citizen.
When i say badly behaved he used to have tantrums when out on walks and attack my trousers, so i nearly fell over. It made no difference shouting/smacked/turning my back on him. He was a naughty puppy!
If hes playing too rough with the cat its best to just remove him and give him a time out. This works well for a lot of things. He'll realise that everytime hes naughty he'll be removed from the action and learn to control his behaviour. Staffies are naturally people orientated dogs, there never going to ignore people, and always will want attention, especially at his young age.
Also a word about castration. A lot of people seem to think its the holy grail of dog behaviour and that by removing their dogs balls they'll suddenly become model citizens overnight or that an entire dog is a seething, angry mass of dog hormones.
My dog is 17 months, still intact and good as gold. We previously had a rottweiler who was also entire his whole life, and never had any untoward behaviour. (He was dog aggressive to white dogs but this was due to being attacked by a white bulldog >.<)
While its a good idea if your worried about testical cancer etc a lot of dogs are chopped far too early, which in turn, makes them grow upwards. I believe this is a big contributer to the oversized staffy 'problem.' I'm pleased your going to wait till your little guy is a year old.

It's like having a kid...!

Deverill wrote:It's like having a kid...!

Exactly! I don't think my daughters or son would be too happy if I tried to neuter/spay them to deal with it though ....

shontelle wrote:

Deverill wrote:It's like having a kid...!

Exactly! I don't think my daughters or son would be too happy if I tried to neuter/spay them to deal with it though ....

Now there's an interesting concept! >

Uh-oh, apologise to your children for me for giving you that idea Caryll!

Haha, they are like little kids though. The love, affection, care, the naughtiness! The list goes on!

Deverill wrote:Haha, they are like little kids though. The love, affection, uttering, the naughtiness! The list goes on!

My friend was round tuesday, She has 2 rottie and she said basically you have treat them like kids and put them straight on things like you would to a child especially teenagers

I got Dillon at 9mths, he is now 13mths. He's been getting 'done' for the last couple of months, but his manhood is still intact. He is def getting through the teenage period. Of course, he can still be stubborn etc. I know I've still got some work to do with his manners. But alot of it is typical Staffy behaviour - loves visitors, plays hard etc. He's got a new friend in the park a JRT pup, unfortunately the JRT gets fed up playing after a while. Yesterday he ran home to get away! There were 3 dogs on the park altogether, I do need to work on recall, but i knew Dillon would stay with his friends plus he keeps me in sight except if we see a dog. It didn't seem fair for him to be the only one on the his lead. At one point I couldn't see any dogs and I started to panic, shouted him and bless him he was right behind me! After a while though I had to take him home, because it just got so wearing having to keep him away from the JRT and the snacks! It was a good afternoon 3 dogs (all male) and kids running about and the parents chatting!