Jasper doing well now--- updated!

Hey guys, so it has been a while since the last update.

After multiple dog training classes and about 10,000 miles walking.... he had started to turn the corner a lot. He is very obedient (when in the same room as him) but he can be mischevious and will sometimes leg it upstairs and jump from bed to furniture to avoid being guided back down!!! (he has weed on the beds hence why he is not allowed up there). He has been to beginner and intermediate training classes for umpteen weeks and did very well.
He is very well socialised and is great with other dogs thus far (submissive to bigger dogs) and plays like a typical bull breed.!


He is still like a lightening bolt of energy, until about 9:30pm when we he will often  chill on the settee and cuddle like a dream dog! He is great with kids (always supervised) and with other adults although he is quite shy and takes some time to go and meet new people. He isn't a dog that will walk up to strangers on the field to be patted! He just legs it past them.
He chases joggers if he gets the chance   but not in an aggressive way, but because he wants to play with them!! same for cyclists. I am working on this...

For the most part he is a very loving, protective and loyal dog, however there are a couple of concerns we have about him, and i want to see if others have had the same, or that I am not being paranoid.

My girlfriend works 5 days and I am self employed and between me and family we ensure he is always let out and walked at least twice during days if we are working. We are looking into a dog walker to ease the strain a bit.

Sometimes, and to be fair it is usually when he has not been out for a good few hours, or if he has only been on small walks, but in certain very rare situations, he can almost 'turn' and give a really aggressive snarl and almost look like he is going to bite me!! I shout NO and make him sit or tell him to calm down and he suddenly chills out and all is ok again..


Today, I was walking him this afternoon, he had been let out this morning as I was in but then he was in his crate for a few hours after lunch. I took him for a walk at 4 and threw his frisbee as usual. If you can get him legging it for 10 minutes at the start the rest of the walk is easy street. I dont need a lead with him, he is great with people and other dogs and never strays more than 20 metres away without looking back for reassurance.

I threw a stick for him, he brought it back and dropped it at my feet. I went to pick it up (quickly as you have to be fast or treat him to distract) and missed bending down. He lunged at my face probably because I got in his space totally by accident and freaked him out, then backed off, started growling (no, it wasnt a friendly growl) and when I moved my arm out of the way he jumped up and bit it, (not a proper bite, but a hard 'mouth'. hard enough to cause a swelling on my arm and hard enough to feel the power of his jaw and for my arm to hurt a bit.But it didnt break the skin luckily!!)

I shouted at him NO and made him sit down straight away. He knew he was in big trouble and did exactly as he was told, even going so far as to fetch about 20 further sticks and drop them at my feet and obediently go and sit back a little way). The walk continued uneventfully.

Now, I happen to know that if he had met another dog and legged it round for ten minutes, the situation would have never occurred, his energy levels literally are so high sometimes they seem to get the better of him..


But I am wanting advice on how to tackle it.

Avoid the situation being one, but it has only happened twice in maybe 4 months.

Have other people had this sort of thing?? What is the best way to deal with it? I cant see more than two options. NO, then ignore him...

Any advice appreciated

Anyone?!

Do you have him on a long training lead when out for walks?

I heard the other day about a dog getting "A good kicking " by a jogger in a park because the dog got in his way on a path. I'm sure you wouldn't want this to happen to your dog. If he is on a training lead you still have control of him and he has some freedom to run around.

A good NO is a good way to discourage the unwanted behaviour and turning your back on him too. Have you considered some training classes for him ?

As for the bed wetting just go back to basics for a while: going outside with him every hour to see if he needs to toilet. If he does have an accident indoors do not show any concern just clean it up and let him outside.

What are you feeding him ?

Kathy wrote:Do you have him on a long training lead when out for walks?

I heard the other day about a dog getting "A good kicking " by a jogger in a park because the dog got in his way on a path. I'm sure you wouldn't want this to happen to your dog. If he is on a training lead you still have control of him and he has some freedom to run around.

A good NO is a good way to discourage the unwanted behaviour and turning your back on him too. Have you considered some training classes for him ?

As for the bed wetting just go back to basics for a while: going outside with him every hour to see if he needs to toilet. If he does have an accident indoors do not show any concern just clean it up and let him outside.

What are you feeding him ?

Thanks, erm no he is on a normal lead but he goes off the lead as soon as we are in the park. He doesn't encounter many joggers where we walk (woodland etc) but he only runs after them occasionally to say hello

Yes, dont the No and turning away. turning away usually works but the other night he just turned on my boots and started trying to rip the tongue off!! NO was not having any effect, he was clearly in the mad zone.
Turning your back on him does have good effect when we are not on a walk.

Not sure where you get bed wetting from? He never ever wets his own bed but has once wet mine when he went exploring upstairs.

We have been to 3 seperate 8 bweek block training classes. He was very good and is generally very obedient and well trained, more so than many other dogs we meet.

It is more his aggressive behaviour out of the blue occasionally that bothers me. It could be due to excess energy as it doesnt happen if he has been on big walks

Sounds like you're doing all the right things.
At this age they are a ball of energy.
Toots has her moments too and when she gets over-excited I try and distract her.
If she's going loopy playing with her toys I stop her and do some training, maybe a down and stay.
I find it diffuses the situation.
They will test us but they will grow out of it.
Take heart!

What food and treats do you give him?

Thanks guys

Laughing dog - dry mixer food
Butchers choice or similar meat chunks with gravy

For treats -

bits of ham
Cheese chunks
mini 'gravy' flavored dog bone treats
Those meaty strips (flavored) from supermarket


I wonder if one of these ingredients has something to do with it, or food he has consumed sometimes? he does get leftovers like bolognese and stuff.
There doesn't seem to be a pattern but maybe food could be involved.

I cant see why he would be brilliant 99.9% of the time and then seemingly a different dog for that .01%

Your problems could be his food. I don't know anything about laughing dog but I do know butchers is crap. Full of additives to make your dog lick it's bowl clean. A lot of people feed raw but we use JWB ocean fish, she gets no table scraps and only natural treats and we have one of the calmest pups I've ever seen.
We don't give ours anything if we don't know the ingredients, like the gravy bones.
We were like you with our last dog and he could be a real nutter at times!
I think it's the equivalent of giving them Mars bars on top of McDonald's!!
Pete

^ I agree, neither Butchers nor Laughing Dog are good foods. I mean, they're not nearly as bad as stuff like Baker's, which is basically poison, but they could be the cause of some hyperactivity IMO.

I feed Bo on Lily's Kitchen wet and whilst it's expensive it gives him all the nutrients he needs (no need for mixers or anything else). In the house and playing out Bo is totally calm and has never even growled let alone bit. He gets excited when people fuss over him (or when he's at the vets, oddly enough) but that's just being a dog. If your dog is showing aggression towards you it needs to stop and for me food would be step 1 in addressing this.

Check out dog foods here http://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/

EDIT: Also, read up on how to tell if a dog food is good or bad, e.g. the horrors of 'meat derivatives' and 'bulking agents', and what to look for in a good food.

Another useful site we found.
http://www.dog-food-review.co.uk/pet_food_review.htm#.VA4BWctwbqA

Blimey!
Thanks for the info guys.
A veritable minefield it seems!!! Our last dog had pedigree chum with a mixer and was the most stable and loving dog I have ever met!! but to be fair he was older and with that age comes maturity.

I will dig into the material and try and find a good alternative!! In the meantime I will cutout as much as possible!

Does anyone here use a raw meat diet? (butchers meat )

or alternatively a dry food diet?

Sorry, only just seen this thread. I agree with previous posts, change the diet in the first instance, it really can be a Blue Smartie situation.

I don't feed raw but here's a link to the section here that will give you some hints to start with:-
https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/f125-staffordshire-bull-terrier-raw-food-diets

From my limited knowledge I will agree above. I noticed a difference in Nita after a week of changing her diet from (I assume the crap she was being given) to some decent dry food (JWB and Eukanuba). She is more alert, her growling when over excited is nowhere near as bad and she looks healthier in herself and her coat. No human foods and good quality treats too. I thought it was going to be so much more expensive but actually over time its costing me less.

I saw a chap in Sainsburys buy some 50p dog food the other day. The poor bloody dog.

Well he is now on some mega expensive dog food from one of those site... £2.50 a tin ??! Going to try and find a cheaper supply. Also a high quality dry food as a mixer.

He seems a bit calmer, we shall see how it goes. The jury is out as they say! He is such a loving dog I hope this sorts it out.

Wow! That is expensive. We feed dry, and even at it's most expensive, it only costs us about £1:20 per day.
Personally I don't like wet food. If you look on the tin it will say something like 70% moisture. You'll probably find he doesn't drink much from now on because of this.
Pete

Lynn&Pete wrote:Wow! That is expensive. We feed dry, and even at it's most expensive, it only costs us about £1:20 per day.
Personally I don't like wet food. If you look on the tin it will say something like 70% moisture. You'll probably find he doesn't drink much from now on because of this.
Pete

Indeed. He has had a mix of dry and wet from when he was about 6 months. He does love this new dry complete food though!! he might end up just having that as although its £40 for a huge sack I reckon that would be 40 days food at minimum!!

Maybe give him some fish as a treat now and then

How much do you feed him? We still weigh every meal.

Can I ask how old he is and if you had him from the time he left his mother or if he had another owner in the past?

He is fed once in the morning and once at night. It is not weighed but equates to half a tin and equal mixer each meal.
He expends a LOT of energy when out and is in good shape so I think his food amount is spot on.

He has definately been less hyer since on food watch!! Hopefully he has turned the corner.

Nosipho - He is 11 1/2 months old. I got him as a puppy @ 13 weeks old but he had been rehomed several times already because he was too much of a handful I think for the first owner (who had a flat allegedly) who clearly didnt know how much work a puppy is, then the next owner had a young child and small house and already had one dog and they rehomed him to me allegedly on behalf of their friend.

I dont know how long he was with his mum for, maybe not quite long enough..!!! but he is getting there I can say happily!

Bit of a weird update today....!!
Just been wheeling a cement mixer across the garden to put it in the shed out of the rain. Jasper tends to not be great when I am moving things around for example he once got really growly when I started pushing my sons empty pram round the back of the house, and he backed up following the pram. I am not sure if he felt threatened by it as with hindsight it was following him!.. Anyway that was ages ago.

I was moving the mixer like you would wheel a wheelbarrow across the lawn but walking backwards. Jasper didn't like it and told me but instead of growling at the mixer (which I wouldnt have minded as much) he was growling at me and jumping up and snapping at my arms and then my leg. I know it would have carried on or got worse than air snaps had I not left the mixer and walked away. It was like he was a different dog as mentioned before.

He came inside after me not long after and did exactly as he was told. I am not sure exactly what to do to be honest. I am recording any bizarre incidents like this, but it concerns me that some of his wiring is not correct....!!

He is clearly not happy in that type of situation, whether he is jealous of the mixer or something who knows

Going to take him to the vets to see if he has got any thyroid issues etc as a first stop

Well, my dog Jasper ended up at the emergency vets yesterday and today

He had been poorly for a couple of days and was totally off form, just laid in his basket not even getting up to move when strangers came in the house (usually he barks for a while till he trusts them), he was eating a bit but was very wobbly on his feet and seemed to almost fall over on several occasions


Long story short they identified a lymph node swelling and think it most likely that an infection has been brewing , possibly for some time.
The vet said it is quite possible that could have caused random behaviour on the odd occasion and they injected him with some anti inflammatories and also antibiotics.

We have got to take him to our vets tomorrow for follow up antibiotics and hopefully he will be fully fixed.

He has been on top form tonight since we got home (about 4 hours after getting back he seeemed to come to life again!) so we shall see.

They said their thoughts were a deep infection but if he doesn't recover fast (which he has so far) then it could be a tumour but I am confident he is sorted.

Well happy, my poor little boy was so sorry for himself the last few days, so gentle and needy!!! I was having to give him water with a syringe put it that way. Will update but things are looking up!!

happy to be home!

OMG.. you and poor Jasper have really been through it.

Sounds like he's on the mend. Like you say, this might well be the cause of his odd episodes. Smashing picture 

Do keep us updated.

Thanks Ian!!

He likes to think he is a scarf and drape himself round my neck and just stay there for ages lol

I think he is a very good dog and I put his little recent blip down to being poorly!
At the end of the day he is a teenage dog and they still test the boundaries sometimes. But he does this very very rarely now to be honest. Just got my fingers crossed it is just an infection that has been brewing.

If only dogs could talk, particularly staffies and staffy crosses who probably have a higher tolerance than a lot of other breeds.

Poor little chap!

oh, and my poor wallet, luckily he is insured but it has still cost me £100, would have been 300 plus!!

Will keep this thread updated. thanks for your comments mate

I wish they could tell us when they are unwell, like you say, they have a high pain threshold and just keep on going until they physically can't bless them.

I've had the family on the sofa watching a movie tonight and even though Flo was hot and uncomfortable she just had to sit in the middle of us 

Wishing you all well 

Haha. That sounds familiar!!! Flo sounds quite a character!
Yes, have a merry xmas and happy new year folks

So glad Jasper is on the mend, I know how awful it is having a sick pooch. Nita sends a big sloppy lick to him.