Why does my dog bark at random people?

Hi I am new to this site and to having a Staffie for many years. We 'rescued' Tyson form a relative who fed him rubbish, rarely walked him and he had no rules , just jumped all over the furniture and was basically left to do his own thing. There were always lots of people there and his owner described him to me as 'boisterous'. We have had him two weeks now and have gradually changed his food to Arden Grange (as recommended) which seems to have calmed him down, and our home is a calm environment and he seems generally very happy, he is getting lots of cuddles and had settled in well. He has about three hours walk (by which I mean runs) along the beach areas a day. He was fine at first greeting other dogs well even if they growled at him. I work from home and when customers come I have to put him in the kitchen or garden as he will jump up them and is distracting. I always give him a little treat and say ' good boy' when I let him back out. He sleeps in the kitchen with the door closed at night otherwise he will bark all night at every passing car or person if he has access to the lounge, so he is used to it and is quite happy with it then. Just recently he has started growling at me if I try to get him in the kitchen during the day, and it is aggressive. He has never been allowed on the furniture and at first he would comply if you said 'Down'. Now he has started ignoring that and it takes several attempts to get him to respond. He has also now stopped coming back when I call him when he is off the lead. I don't want to have to stop letting him run wild because I have to chase him. He was running after another dog on the beach and his owner was trying to get Tyson away from his dog. My husband got hold of Tys harness and was talking to him saying come on Ty and he turned his head and gave my husband a warning nip so that he let go and Ty could chase after the dog. The last few days when we have been out walking he has started growling at random dogs, who have not taken any interest in him on passing. We can walk past thirty dogs and then one particular one, even on the other side of the road, he will go mad barking and pulling in a very aggressive way. He has now taken to doing this with humans too. There is no rhyme or reason to it, just randomly takes offence to someone walking past or even just standing still as we walk past. It has happened with a group of Disabled people standing at a bus stop, an old lady with a walking stick (which I thought the stick may have disturbed him), numerous people who are just walking past and I am really beginning to worry. I am worried that he is confident now and this is his 'true' personality coming out? I thought maybe it is because he has never had guidelines and now he has that he has started growling about going in the kitchen but why the random aggression towards people who are innocently passing? There does not seem to be any reason, they could not be a threat, because they can be yards away or even the other side of the road? He has not been castrated and he is approx. 2 and a half years old. I know this is his teenage tantrum years and some people think that getting him done may improve this but on the RSPCA site it says that it should be done prior to aggressive behaviour and if that behaviour is already learned then it may not stop it? Help.... I want to be able to walk him with confidence that he will not show this behaviour. I don't want that 'look' you get as a Staffy owner that says keep that vicious animal away from me, but that is the impression that he is giving. He is a beautiful loving gentle dog. Any advice please? broken heart

Hi and welcome. Maybe something has scared him in the kitchen, show him that the kitchen is fine and there is nothing to worry about. Make him go to the kitchen without force, no hands. Just treats or what ever you using for training. When he gets in side prise him, leave the room and come back after 20sec or so. Don't enter if he barks or make any sound, go in when he's calm. Prise him again. Increase the time, work with him every day. Do you what he was like with other people and dogs before you got him? Maybe going back to basic. He doesn't know any rules so you have to teach him how to behave. I wouldn't let him off the lead, would get long lead and work on his recall with that. The long lead gives him a Chance to run around and for you Chance to have him in control if he's not behaving.

Great advice above. Looks like you need to go back to basics with the training and reset the rules. With patience and love you will get there. One other piece of advice, they feel tension through the lead when out. If you're calm this will make him feel more calm. Obviously there will be instances when he's going to react anyway but that's where your training comes in. Watch his body language and get him to focus on you. You can retrain  

Hey don't dispair there is a light at the end of this tunnel believe me, i've just come out the other side from a stint of bad behaviour from my boy. Mine just turned 2 years old and all hell broke loose, he became very dog aggressive all in the space of a week and for no reason at all. I know yours is a rescue so you don't know about his past but I just wanted to let you know that I have managed to come through the other side with a lot of trainng and going completely back to basics.

I took Axl to a dog trainer because I was devastated and had no idea what to do. The dog trainer told me that basically Axl was taking the micky and thought he could get away with the bad behaviour. We were told to go back to basics with training and to distract him when out with a ball. Every time we saw a dog coming and Axl started staring before he got to the growling stage we'd bounce the ball next to us and his attention would snap back to us again. Sounds so simple but it did work, he lost interest in the approaching dog and wanted his ball. After the dog passed without incident he got his ball for a little while.

Also, we did all the basic training over again every single day, even commands that he knew. I took him through the whole lot once a day and played "find it" with him afterwards.

All of this seems to have worked and after two weeks of the above training etc he is now walking past dogs without incident

Be consistent and go back to the very very basics and I'm sure you'll get there with him

We had the same issue when we got Dizzy and one of the things we taught him was to come in... so he sits behind you and you block the threat/issue which is what I do now if we are out and I don't have his ball with us.  

The other thing is to give them a time out if they snap or nip at you.  It gives you time to calm down and them the understanding that the behaviour is unacceptable.  The chances are not so much this is his 'true' personality more so this is what he has learned due to a lack of training and now he has settled these things are coming out more, with training you should be able to overcome them

As for the looks been there - Dizzy pulled that hard once when I was off balance that I face planted the floor and he ran to greet another dog whose owners only comment was I should keep him under control - I decided to see the funny side and work on the principle I don't have to live with them!

Good Luck x