9 months old and still a puppy but much heavyer?

I was just wondering what age your staffy was when you noticed him or her settling down a lot. At the moment Billy is 9 months old but he gets exited to see everyone and jumps up to say hello. He is getting a bit too heavy for this and I’m doing my best to stop this happening. At the moment he is an overgrown puppy lol. Lots of fun but also makes me worried about letting him off the lead in the parks we go to. He runs and chases every dog he see’s, not barking or growling, he just wants them to play but I’m worried one day he will run up to the wrong dog and might end up having a shock. I don’t think Billy knows other dogs bite, I think he believes there all like him. I’m also cautious of little dogs incase he jumps on the backs and hurts them in all his excitement. Does anyone else have these problems? And is it normal behavior for a staffy?

It's perfectly normal for an untrained Staff. Are there any training classes near you? If so, it'll be useful not only for training but socialisation.

He probably needs you to calm him down a little (he won't do it himself!). One way is, when he gets over excited, put him on the lead (if he isn't already) and walk backwards making him come towards you. When you have his attention make him sit in front of you, facing you, and give him CALM praise.

In the meantime, keep him on a lead near strange dogs & only let him play if you're sure the other dog/owner is ok with it.

If he jumps up at someone tell them to turn their back on him & totally ignore him till he gets down. Once he's down, CALM praise. Tell everyone not to touch him till he's either sitting or at least on all 4 paws.

Down teaching the down command ideally begins while your dog is still a puppy. during puppy hood your dog frequently will lie down, as this position is one of the dogs most natural positions, invest some time, and keep close watch over your puppy. each time he begins to lie repeat in a low but convincing tone the word down, if for the first day of training, you concur majority of the dogs sitting with your commands and continue with reinforcement and moderate praise your pup should conquer the down command in no time.

shane wrote:Down teaching the down command ideally begins while your dog is still a puppy. during puppy hood your dog frequently will lie down, as this position is one of the dogs most natural positions, invest some time, and keep close watch over your puppy. each time he begins to lie repeat in a low but convincing tone the word down, if for the first day of training, you concur majority of the dogs sitting with your commands and continue with reinforcement and moderate praise your pup should conquer the down command in no time.

Good advice!

Hiya...well first off i think staffie start to calm down (slightly?? lol ) at around 1 yr to 18 months or so. My Ty is just 1 and we were just starting to see a change in him untill we got are puppy lol now he's worse then ever again lol bless!
Secondly yes your right at 9 months he is still a puppy BUT.... he must learn that certain behaviour is not exceptable eg) jumping up at ppl, chasing other dogs when you've called him 2 u etc...
Jumping up is easy (sort of) just completley ignore him and turn away from him & dont look at him untill all 4 feet are firmly on the floor then lots of praise and treat (make sure that everyone who comes to ur house does this 2). I have the same problam as u with the running to chase other dogs thing. I have to keep Ty on a lead now unless there is no one else around for his own saftey, as u said we no are dogs arnt aggressive but we dont no other peoples dogs and why they are leashed etc. Ty ran up to a spanial thing a couple of months ago (who was on its lead) the spanial was extremley agressive and bit Ty ankle then Ty went for him it was awful the other owner was doing her best to separtate but u no what staffs are like once they get some thing in their head. Lucky i got to them quickly and dragged Ty away but to be honest it was me in the wrong! The other lady had her dog leashed and i didnt have mine under control :-(
If i were u i would invest in a long training lead and lots of cheese! Everytime he comes back to u treat him and make a big fuss,when ur calling him and if he doesnt seem to interested run shouting and screaming and wave ur arms in the opposite direction ( it never fails to get their attention) Never shout at him when he comes back (even if it was after the 100th time calling) as u always want him to think it great coming back to u and never negative. It this works then uve done better than me lol but if he's still to fixed on other dogs then i think u may have to seriously think about kepping him on lead round other dogs for HIS sake!! Just wondered....is he a rescue as my Ty is and i think the reason he has no manners when greeting other dogs stems back to the fact he had no socialisation as a young pup, he was kept inside till 5/6 months old.

Billy went to trainign School and got the Bronze award, he does sit and lie and stays till I call him, he does the lot it's just when he gets exited all of that goes out the window and he acts like he cant hear me.

Kaiser still jumps up now and he is nearly two doesnt really run up to ther dogs he waits for them to come and see him and if he has his ball he just isnt interested in other dogs

All Pups tends to br excitible, This is perfectly normal. I to have a nine month old staffy pup, Shes trained now and all is good. I think with pups its important to establish whos boss straight away, As dogs are pack animals they work best with a leader. I think you need to pick key words and reinforse them all the time and also be persistant. If you spend some one to one time with your dog and reward good behaviour this will be grat for your dog and they will pick things up in no time. On the other hand DO NOT tolerate bad behaviour. Your Dog will respect you and listen to you alot more if you are not a walkover! Staffys are intelligent dogs and pick things up easily. Sometimes its not the dog that needs training but the person who needs to realise what way a dog thinks. You should probably just keep your dog on the lead untill it matures and you no your dog respects you enough to listen to your commands ant all times. COME HERE AND STAY being to of the vitally important commands you need to ensure your dog fully understands firstly. GOOD LUCK

=D> you must have done this before or else your a natural

lol You could say that.

my kuma is all of the above but as a found her diet was making her hyper ! far to much suger in the food . but she has settled alot still jumps up to greet most folk and off the lead is almost a no no she just runs like mad for everyone jumping up wanting to play