i knew it was too good to be true

hi all, my 10 week old staff has now started to dig holes in the garden, trying to chew the corners of the sofa and the wooden side boards,she has loads of toys,kongs,bones ect but doesnt use them,when she starts to do these things we put her in her crate as a time out, but i really need to solve this as i dont like giving her a time out.

Why don't you try directing her to a toy instead of whatever she's chewing, also try not to give her time our in her crate because her crate needs to be a positive space for them and not for punishment.

Sounds stupid but when loki is doing something I don't want him to I now just say 'wee wees' and we go outside and it completely distracts him!!

yes the crate punishment i might give a miss, i normally only put her there if we cant see to her or if she gets really hyper, when i say a firm no she understands and goes to her bed for a bit, i do give her toys to distract but after a couple of seconds she doesnt care about them.

Yes distracton is good but the skirting boards and such like, rub vicks vapour rub on there they dont like it hence no chewing

ive got long skirting boards, i would need a ton of vicks vapour rub.......

How much exercise does she get and what is she fed ??

she is only 10 weeks so i cant take her out for walks yet, i have had her first vaccination last tuesday, the second one is due on tursday the 9th then after a week i can take her out, so really not much excercise to be honest, we play with her a bit, and she goes out in the garden but real walks nothing yet.

You will see an improvement once she has proper excercise

thats what i thought, plus in my estate i have a large secluded area where i can just let her run as it is all fenced and no ball games are allowed and no one goes there anyway, went to a massive park yesterday and it was a shame that i had to leave tessa home.

I used to take loki with me everywhere when he was young to see new sights and things etc.

what even without full vaccinations?

Yep, I just used to carry him, shops that let him in, on the bus etc, I also took him to see other dogs that were fully vaccinated as well.

i was going to do that, its not hard with a 4 year old son,a 6 month daughter, buggy ect.

I have a 4 year old, it's not easy to balance both!! I used a baby sling, and attached loki to a lead and wrapped the lead around my hand. For days where it was particularly taxing!!

Have you started getting her used to the lead? Also indoor training and mental games will help tire her out and should improve behaviour.

Here is a link with some indoor games.Training basic commands also works well. Just keep the sessions short and try to end on a positive note.

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

did you do any research before getting pup?

no i just bought the first pup i could get and the cheapest and hoped for the best...........

so you went out a bought a dog from back yard breeder!! wind up merchant

Actually i was winding you up, i'm trying to solve a problem not create other problems, the pup is perfect when i am around or my son isnt around, no one can predict that our son would tease the pup, im just trying to find a way to solve it or limit it.

and of course i did research, spent months before actually getting the pup, but no research can predict certain events.

Eli winds loki up and loki winds Eli up all the time, they both get told off for it, loki goes to his bed and is ignored if he's being annoying and picking elis toys up he knows he's not allowed, and eli gets sent to the naughty step if he's teasing the dog, and has to apologise to me and give loki a stroke. Kids and puppies!!! We must be mad ahaha

I would crate her in a different part of the house when you're at work. There's 2 days a week when we're both at work, she's left in the cage for about 4 hours until lunch time when I come home for an hour. She's fed, watered and a wander around the block or play in the garden. She's then put back in for about another 4 hours.
I think putting her in another room would be similar to this.
I'm not suggesting this as a permanent solution but until the pup and kid learn the boundaries it could help.
The pup needs 15 or 16 hours sleep/rest, you decide when those hours are.
Pete

If you want to use a crate to train the puppy, don't also use it as punishment. You don't want to associate a place you WANT them to be in, in a negative way.
We are also following the praise not punishment method of training. If she is doing something wrong, (HUGE CHEWER which she has pretty much stopped now apart from her toys and nibbling on us when she is teething) we get her doing the correct thing, then praise her. We think she is doing really well, especially for a dog that has been sick on and off for the few 4 months of her life.