Fear in a Staffordshire Bull Terrier !

Hi all,
I'm new to this list but require help in understanding the behaviour of my dog. I have a seven year old Staffy named Murphy who appears to be fretting and displaying signs of fear of me. My wife went on holiday last Thurs along with my two adult daughters, leaving my 22 year old son and me in the house. My son is at work all day and I've taken the week off work to look after the dog. Problem is he won't come down stairs in the morning without coaxing, he'll go outside for a wee then run back in the house and sculk off to the bedroom. If I go near him he starts shaking with fear then starts loving me but won't come downstairs. I walk him regularly on long country walks and he's fine while outside but immediately we come home he's back upstairs out of my way. It's as if I've beat the living daylights out of him and makes me feel really awful. When my son comes home around 6pm he comes downstairs, eats, plays, lies down in front of the fire and is normal for the rest of the evening and shows no sign of being scared of me. I have been through this behaviour several times over the years and it comes and goes but seems to happen when my wife leaves for a holiday with her elderly mother once each year............and I dread it !!!!!!!!
My wife is usually first up in the morning, feeds him, he has a snooze next to her for a while and then is usually his normally friendly self. Could it be his routine is just interrupted ?
Regards,
Craig in Lancashire.

Yes, I think it's his routine being interrupted that's causing this. He obviously associates your wife with you & as you're not together, he's fretting. When your son comes home there are two of you again, so he feels better.

I take it when your wife comes home he settles again straight away?

Hi, Thanks for that. Fortunately my wife returns this Friday and yes he usually returns to normal right away. Just wondered if it was common in Staffy's or whether I was the cause of his behaviour. It don't half make you feel bad though !

deff freting for the wife mine fretts first thing in the morning when the wife and kids go out to work and school but settles down quickly

Nice one.....................Makes me feel a whole lot better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Just need the wife back home and she might have to cancel next years holiday.........lol !

Oh bless his little heart! Yea it totally seems to be a change in his routine which is causing his upset. Dont worry u are not the cause its just that staffys are people dogs and often become quite attatched to a particular person ore a particular routine. Alot of staffs develop separation anxiety because of of this. Its always a good idea from a pup to try and avoid this happeneing eg. different people feeding them and walking them etc so they dont get to attatched to one thing. Obviously this is not always possible. I would say to keep acting as normal as poss, try not to wrap him up in cotton wool or treat him to much or he will end up thinking he is being rewarded for the behaviour he is displaying....which u obviouly dont want. Just try to reassure him and act normal. He'll be fine.... x

ye and you can go and visit the mother in law lol

How do I upload a picture of my dog ? I notice several of you have pictures posted of your Staffy's.

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use photo bucket download to there and then add to your post the link above will show you how to do it

Nice one 'bigwazza'...............

wow hes a stunner lovely pic

Cheers............Alway's think he looks like a runt when compared with other Staffy's, seems to look small. Your Memphis looks a big lad !

I expect u will find that it actually other staffs that are too big and ur dog is more to standard. Staffs always seem to end up being bred too big by byb. Espeacially blues (dont listen memphis, youre lush and the exception) as they are bred for purley colour and nothing else so end up being strange looking staffs and not to standard at all...

He certainly ain't too big, not that I'm bothered. He's just another member of the family and remarkably fit and lean for his age. There's certainly no fat on our Murphy............lol

Yea thats what i ment....he looks just right! And u can see he's in great condition....

He does look gorgeous - doesn't look particularly small, though - how tall is he?

Bit slow getting back Caryll, he's approx sixteen inches at Withers. Had to look that up to find exactly how to measure his height. Never done it before. As you can see he's just part of the family even though he has a pedigree.

A stafford's height according to the breed standard should be 14" - 16", so he's actually top size & not small at all!!

Trouble is, a lot of people are trying to breed them bigger thinking they'll be more impressive! Many times I've been asked to mate my EBT boy to some stranger's stafford bitch "to improve the height & weight" of the pups! Needless to say, i've declined!

Looks like my Murphy is normal then, at least someone in the family is !!!!
I was out in the country with him yesterday when this lad came by cycling with an American Bulldog running hell for leather alongside. Suspect he was attempting to build the dogs muscles or something, though it was big enough already in my opinion.
Your Dempsey looks a fine specimen. Is he named after the great fighter Jack Dempsey..............?

Yes, he is. The coincidence is that we'd thought of his name before the breeder told us his registered name which is Frachadem Thrilla in Manila after the Ali fight!

Dempsey doesn't like American Bulldogs! There's one round here that he regularly goes for! Thick, or what? The dogs twice his size!

Wow..........Very strange coincidence. I have a video of a friend of mine on youtube by the name of Mick Murphy, I met him in Ireland some years back. Mick is 76 years old now but was one time 'All Ireland' Cycling champion and on one of the video clips he talks about 'The night of the long count', a famous boxing match between Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney in America.

Yes, although I wish Dempsey had a little more sense smudged in with it!

He's by far the boldest dog I've ever had. Right from a pup nothing phased him. As soon as we got him home he began exploring, there was no hesitancy whatsoever. We think it's because he was hand-fed from birth for 3 days and was handled so much by the whole of the breeder's family and was definitely the favourite there! He will stand his ground against anything except a motorised bycicle - he really doesn't like those, although he won't run away from it, he will stop & watch it go past with his tail further down than usual.