Are his growls play/aggression? New owner needs help

Hi everyone
My son and I have had Chunk around a month now. He's great with us however jumps/bites/growls at visitors to our home. During this time he does not listen at all and friends/family are starting to judge him as a bad dog. I put it down to him being a pup and he's still learning.. as he's not even 14months yet. I've tried ignoring/distracting with toys but he just goes crazy and continues to growl and lunge. Please help

Hi &

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Hiya from me and Vinnie, you are doing the right thing he is still only a pup

Hi to you both

Hi and welcome from us and Suki. Have you tried keeping him on lead when guests come over until he has calmed down a bit? Also, he is likely excited by the doorbell and the guest. You can try to have someone come over and stay for 5 minutes or so and then leave and come back. Repeat this process a few times and it will help him get used to it.

Ah he's so excited to meet people. He is a pup but you can still train him. When he jumps up turn around and ignore him, no eye contact, nothing. When all 4 paws are on the floor praise and treat. Repeat.. Time and time again. Now the difficult thing here is that you need your visitors to do the same thing, so you'll need to train them too

Try teaching him the stay command and make him stay on his bead untill they r in and sat down x

Hi and welcome to the forum from me and the zoo xx

Welcome from Iza and me

Hello and welcome to the forum

Nikita & Shéara

Bed sorry xx

hia from me and sasha at his age he will be in his teenage years and you might have to go back to basic training with him

Hi and welcome from Oz and me

Hi everyone
Thank you so much for your advice. I'm going to try introducing Chunk to people on the lead and see how he goes. I'm so glad I joined this forum. I don't want to let him down

Best of luck and let us know how it goes

Hi Ren. Great advice about him being on a lead and also treating and attention only when all his feet are on the ground.
Pete

It's all down to training, he's not a bad dog bless him, but he's also no longer a puppy at 14 months but more of a teenager, so best to try and work with this sooner rather than later. Work with him on the basics - sit/stay/off/leave/to bed/wait etc in low distraction environments and then practise them when visitors come once he knows them - get visitors involved in his training too.

While he's still learning a lead to restrain would be sensible to prevent people from getting ambushed. Love his name

Hi! I'm new too :-) Ted can be like this but I usually get some treats as his tummy rules him haha and keep dropping bits next me on the floor and that seems to keep him occupied xx

Evening Staffy lovers
Thank you so much guys I love that I can get support here as sometimes the people closest to us are the most opinionated. I got Chunk to STAY whilst putting his dinner down today WOOOHOO!! Haha thanks Rachel I hated at first (chosen by my 17yr old son Ryan) but it's very appropriate as he's a lil fatty.. Chunk that is

Hi and welcome to the forum from Rocky and me

When you have visitors just try popping his lead on and getting him to sit, visitors then can give him a treat when he remains calm.

Hi Kathy and Rocky
He's great at first but after a little while starts to jump up and gets quite nasty. I try to distract him but then he growls and lunges forward to bite me. Then there is just no getting through to him. Is he getting jealous do you think?

Sounds like attention seeking. Do u tell him no? X

Hi Vicky
I think you're right. I distract him first, when that fails I tell him no. He just doesn't listen once he starts. Ive got scratches from his teeth all over today

I know this sounds silly and impossible but try to ignore the behaviour with my Lexi even no is a reward she hates being ignored and she will lay on her bed like a good girl coz she knows that gets rewarded with a call over and stroke xx

The only problem is he jumps up snapping and hangs off the visitors clothing once he's got hold in his teeth. Today he went out into the garden then started again so I picked him up. Once on my lap he dozed off

That's because you have him what he wanted. I would maybe separate him from visitors till they have been in a while and he is calm and then let him in. And try a water bottle and spray him when he does it. Try to preempt it x

One thing that worked with my Staff was turning my back on her and crossing my arms. Every time she jumped up I'd turn my back again, telling her to sit. It took a while, but it does seem to have worked. She still tries to jump but she seems to remember mid-move that she's not supposed too. Keep trying! One thing I've learnt is that Staffs are really intelligent and catch on very quickly. Good luck!