help!!

hi i recently brought my 6month old staffy ive had him now for bout 3weeks and the first week he was wonderful listened to me telling him what to do and what not to do but now he barks and snaps at me which is worrying me because i have a 2year old son i love chucky (the pup) and sometimes his lovely but just lately i can control him biting and i need help asap ive tried giving him bones to chew on and ive even gone and brought a cage for when he is naughty but however he refuses to go in cage he barks and jumps at me

when does he bark and snap you?

like what are you doing?

thats just how puppies are

you must tell him a very firm no, turn around and ignore him, staffies hate to be ignored, go about your business but do not look at him or talk to him, do not punish him with his cage,

it should work, also someone else will be along with some more advice
patience and preservation

yea like lynne but if you teasing him he will bark and snap

and a cage shouldnt be used as a punishment

My normal comment. Do you take pup to dog classes??

i got told that a cage should be used as punishment thats why i went and brought 1 and just to say his not always in there he sleeps in his dog bed in the living room and no i dont take him to pup classes thats why i joined here all i wanted to know was how to calm him down from snapping

why is he shapping for? are you taking something off him, is someone teasing him or hes just doing it for no reason?

if you talking something off him then you tell him no if he carry on ut place him in a naurghty spot for 10 mins, if you teasing him to snap and bark then dont do it if he doing for no reason place him in a naurghty spot tell no but make sure you do that all the time! dont let him get away it one min then tell him oiff the next becasue you will confuse him!

haddy wrote:and a cage shouldnt be used as a punishment

Please don't use the cage as punishment. It should be a good quiet place that they are happy to be in.

My best advice really would be go to dog classes they will be a great support network. As well as giving you the tools you need to train your dog and also the socialisation.

his just doing it for no reason i do tell him no and sit and stay but he wont listen i duno if its cause he werent trained propa as a pup or what cause like i said ive only had him for 3weeks and i dont really know much bout his background cause the boy basically dropped him off took money and left chucky had nothing when he came to me just a tatty lead which looked like it had been picked up of the street no food no food bowls nothing so ive got to train him all over again i just needed people who know the breed to help me basically i cant afford dog classes that why i joined here so i could get the help i need

Ok. Well you've come to the right place. This forum is full of lovely people. Hope it goes well. I'm sure we'll all help if we can

Do you know how old he is?

Obviously the older he is, the more set in his ways he'll be. BUT, that doesn't mean that you can't train him with consistency & firm kindness. Never allow one thing today & then not allow it tomorrow. Set your ground rules & stick to them.

If your dog jumps up/snaps/growls etc, give a firm, low & drawn out "Noooo!" and turn away from him. No contact whatsoever, don't even look at him. If he tries to claim your attention, just do exactly the same thing. When he is quiet and calm, you can give him quiet praise and maybe a treat.

If you are using a crate, use it only for his comfort and safety. Make it a nice place for him to be. It shouldn't be used as a place of punishment, but it can be used as a place for everyone to have a bit of 'time out', once he is happy to be in it. If he won't do as he's told & he gets really over excited, calmly lead him to his crate, quietly put him inside & shut the door. Praise him quietly & leave the room. Once he's calm again, let him out & give him a treat & calm praise.

Watch what is heppening around him & you when he snaps or barks. Something is triggering the response, and once you know what it is you can either tackle the cause or avoid it.

Most training classes are not very expensive, and can be a real help, not only for your dog, but for you as well. Have a look around & just enquire - if they are too expensive, just ask if you can sit & watch for a couple of lessons to see if there's anything they are doing that could be helpful to you.

Caryll wrote:Do you know how old he is?

Obviously the older he is, the more set in his ways he'll be. BUT, that doesn't mean that you can't train him with consistency & firm kindness. Never allow one thing today & then not allow it tomorrow. Set your ground rules & stick to them.

If your dog jumps up/snaps/growls etc, give a firm, low & drawn out "Noooo!" and turn away from him. No contact whatsoever, don't even look at him. If he tries to claim your attention, just do exactly the same thing. When he is quiet and calm, you can give him quiet praise and maybe a treat.

If you are using a crate, use it only for his comfort and safety. Make it a nice place for him to be. It shouldn't be used as a place of punishment, but it can be used as a place for everyone to have a bit of 'time out', once he is happy to be in it. If he won't do as he's told & he gets really over excited, calmly lead him to his crate, quietly put him inside & shut the door. Praise him quietly & leave the room. Once he's calm again, let him out & give him a treat & calm praise.

Watch what is heppening around him & you when he snaps or barks. Something is triggering the response, and once you know what it is you can either tackle the cause or avoid it.

Most training classes are not very expensive, and can be a real help, not only for your dog, but for you as well. Have a look around & just enquire - if they are too expensive, just ask if you can sit & watch for a couple of lessons to see if there's anything they are doing that could be helpful to you.

Very well said. Your dog may also be trying to iniate play as well. This breed is extremly active so they require an abundance of exercise. Are you taking your dog for at least 2 walks of 45 minutes or so. Does he have a chance to run around off lead. I ask because if yoru are not exercising him this could also cause the behaviour. Suki is a wonderfull dog but if she hasn't been exercised she can be a handfull.

Hi, the pup could be just pushing the boundaries due to his age. Sophie is eight months old next week and like the old saying 'when she is good she is adorable, but we are the first to admit when she is bad she can be a little cow. Doesn't stop us loving her any less, it just means we have to be consistent and persevere with her.

Sophie can be wonderful but can be a cross between a toddler and a teenager with all those raging hormones.

We are working with a dog trainer/behaviourist. His advice when Sophie gets out of control is to totally ignore her. Walk out of the room if necessary but he says to grab at her to put her in her crate could lead to possilbe confrontation.

We are using the clicker method for her training. What we do when she throws a wobbly is to totally ignore her and walk out of the room. When she starts to calm down we use the clicker and do some simple training with her, just the sit, stay, leave etc.

According to our trainier, dogs panic when they get outside their comfort zone and can resort to fight or flight. Therefore, when this happens we bring in something she is familiar with, like the sit, stay etc which we have found is very effective to return her to 'normality'.

She doesn't get the treats lightly though. We are not going to treat her for being naughty. We make her work quite hard for them and are pretty precise, it just takes the attention away from her being naughty and focuses on something more positive.

Sorry for the quick ramble, but my bath is running

Hope that helps and gives you a bit of encouragement.

All great advice. Boundaries, consistency, praise and patience are the way forward with this breed. And please supervise very closely any interaction between your son and your pup. Staffies LOVE children and are very good with them but accidents can and do happen, especially as they are both so young.

Dogs of this age are going through their 'teenage' stage and can be hard work but they are soooo worth it in the end. Just hang in there, and if you have concerns about ANYTHING, we're here to help.

I wish I could add some more greast advise but from what I have read here you will be off to a good start that is for sure. You have to make sure he understands that you are the leader of the pack but do it in a good way you do not want to be a bully to him you just need to be the leader. Our little boy Stanley is only 13 weeks old and he requires ALLOT of play time and excise just to get him to relax, I can notice when he is tired so I let him have a nap or relax on the couch with me. But when he gets up in the mornings for example I take him to the toilet first then it is time for a bit of play about 30 mins and then we get breaky for him, after that it is playing and excises and I always like to add a bit of time for training every day at least 2 times a day.

Stanley is allot younger than your dog and he bits and carries on a bit of course, but I never let him start or finish any play time otheriwse he will always try it on and you dont want that happening to friends or families, hard to beleive it but there are people out there that don't like dogs .

I hope this helps you a little bit but like others have said it would be best if you could get into some kind of training program, it might be hard to pay now but it will pay off ten fold in the long term.


Dave