Snappy Staffy Pup 8 weeks old

So we got a little 8 week old girl 5 days ago. Not shy at all very friendly and playful, very clever too already can fetch a toy! One problem is biting. When she plays she bites and she does it really hard. Yelping like a puppy not helping at all either is saying no. She attaches herself onto your finger,elbow,sock,cheek anything she can get and pulls. She also snaps, like threatens to bite you and she’ll nip your face too if you get it close to her when she’s excited. She’s not doing it in a vicious way I don’t think I think she’s just trying to play but it really hurts! She is starting to get more used to her toys now, first day we got her she wouldn’t even look at a toy just chased us and wanted to chew all around her now she will pick up a toy and play for a bit on her own. The thing is that we have a cat, 10 month old neutered male and he is very cuddly and always tries to like cuddle her when she’s asleep. Thing is that when she’s awake she tries to chase him and bite his tail. We’re afraid she’ll really hurt him if she catches a hold of him like she does to us sometimes.

Oh that brings back painful memories, Katy was like a snapping turtle always biting some part of us Yelping didn't work here either, in fact it wound her up even more! I would suggest trying to replace your body part with a toy if you can, or we did the get up & leave the room without acknowledging her. Leave it a minute & go back in, if she bites again get up & leave. There's nothing a staffy hates more than to be ignored by their humans As for your cat has he got a safe high place he can get to when she's getting too rough? One swipe from him & she might learn her lesson

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The cat has his room upstairs to which the pup can’t get into. He also likes jumping up on top of her crate and watch her from the top but anytime he’s watching her and sees her sniffling he tries to go over to her and gently paw at her but she straight away starts snapping her jaws. She is doing it playfully but really hard and if she got him on the face it would injure him. Just don’t want her to hurt the cat and then him not to trust her again and be vicious towards her as at the moment he always tries to sniff and lick her when she’s asleep, all he wants is to love her we are trying to replace us with a toy it’s slightly working but not much. It doesn’t mean she’s aggressive though does it? Like will she stop being rough soon?

Hello and welcome.

Ah yes, my Opium was (and still is a bit of) a biter too. As you say, it’s not necessarily vicious but over excitement.  

For the general biting, distract her attention with a toy, any toy. It will also require some anticipation from you but you can generally tell when they’re going to bite.
Then you can move onto distraction by asking for something first : give a paw, sit, anything. The biting can often be a way of getting attention and/or contact. My Opium knows I won’t stroke her until she sits “quietly”. Then I’ll put a hand on each side of her so she doesn’t know which side to bite until she calms down a bit.

The snapping in your face is something different and a definite no-no. That requires the firm NO and ignoring her, like Jenc says (turning or briefly leaving the room). Don’t try to “punish” by putting her elsewhere, it’s you who should leave.

As for the cat, as long as he's bold enough not to run away, your staffy will quickly find he’s no fun and move onto something else. Opium was raised with 2 great cats who weren’t afraid so then it comes down to telling your staffy not to bite/eat the cat (tail, ears or the rest).
If your cat starts to run away, staffy will find great fun in the new game called chase.

No she's not being aggressive at all, pups don't know how to be! She's testing her boundaries to see what she can get away with! Your cat will put her in her place if she goes to far but sounds like he is very loving so will be tolerant of her as she's a pup. All of a sudden you will realise you haven't been bitten for a while & won't remember when it actually stopped!! I would still try leaving the room for now to discourage her biting.

She is gorgeous by the way

Lovely lovely photos of them both

Given the size of the cat compared to the staffy, I’d be more concerned that the cat gives a big claw swipe onto the staffy’s nose (or in their face) ... cats can be very clever when it comes to provoking and then slipping out of the side door.

And after all, it’s only been 5 days !

Exactly that’s why I don’t want any confrontation, if she snaps at him and actually hurts him he will try to hurt her back. He is not a scared cat that will go away and ignore the problem he constantly tries to come over to her to play, like any time she’s asleep he carefully jumps up beside her and sniffs and licks her ears even rubs his head off her head like he does to us for affection but the second she wakes up she tries pull at him and he gets pissed off and goes outside. Just hope they will be okay together

Try to encourage your cat’s interaction with her whilst she’s asleep, it’s good that he’s interested. When she’s awake, you can also try to play with her to distract whilst calling the cat over but that’s much much easier said than done.

Staffies are very receptive to the tone of your voice so don’t hesitate to exaggerate praise with much motivation and cheeriness, in contrast to the firm voice to tell her when her action is unacceptable. Same when she’s not respecting the cat.

Can you and your OH maybe sit side by side, each with cat or dog on the lap for cuddles ?

Yeah we have tried to do that when the cat comes over to sniff her I calm her down and let her she’ll sit down for a minute and relax and watch the cat come over but when he gets close enough she tries to nip straight away. She gets upset when the cat leaves the house tho so she has some feeling for him anyway when we sit with them beside each other on our lap the cats get a bit jealous or uncomfortable and leaves after a few minutes but it’s just early days I hope that’s all. Just wanted to join a forum with some people of experience to see if maybe anyone has any tips, I only ever had chihuahuas so way different kind of a dog so still new to the parenting process

Ah yes, my sister has chihuahuas and they’re very different to staffies, sizewise to start with
Staffies are really great because they really are the clown of the moment. You’ll have alot of fun.

As you say, it probably is early days but sounds like you’re starting off very well. The rest will sort itself out as you all learn to live together

They don’t bite as much either and are a bit calmer I think

I think you’ll find staffies are much more communicative, not barking but their various little noises that they make in order to interact with you. It is rather funny sometimes !

Omg I love the pup in your avatar pic! The eyebrows yeah Luna is really quiet for now anyway, she gives out to you when you point finger at her giving out tho, hates having finger pointed at her

The puppy is Opium, black and tan
Almost a year old already

He is absolutely stunning ! I mean the other baby in the pic is gorgeous too but Opium has such cute lil eyebrows

Welcome to the forum any questions just shout

Hey lunathestaffy - just wondering how the situation between Luna and your cat was going ?
Are they the best of friends yet ?

Depends on what day she has learned to leave him alone in the house more, however when he comes back from outside she basically sticks her nose into his poor bum and follows him around the house with her nose basically in there until I tell her to stop they’re really funny together. She’s still too rough with him at times especially in the garden, she jumps and pounces on him and she’s 12kg-he is 4... most of the time she will listen and leave him alone though, but can’t get her to ignore him as he likes teasing her. I will try to put up a link of them playing,have some videos up on Instagram !

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9o7LH9g6Y7/?igshid=pctjqyxugw7u

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9ClclNgIOP/?igshid=1i8o12pz60u9n

Not sure if you can view them without Instagram though

Yes yes ! I can see the videos and love the photo too
How lovely to see them together.

My girls also tend to behind my cats ... running flat out

Thank you so much for the update

Yeah only problem is that she loves him and wants to be at least touching him anytime he’s in the room and he values his space more, he often sleeps on the couch and she’ll jump up and try to cuddle him but she just flops down on top of his back or side etc so he gets mad and goes away, and she’s left there sitting up upset coz all she wanted was a cuddle

Only been a few months though, surely once she calms down a bit he will want to cuddle her more and stuff.

The cat thins he is the owner of the dog too tho you see, when she’s out the back he watches her, I’ve caught him on multiple occasions throwing her down food or treats off the counter, he just pushes them off to her and then sits there looking all proud with himself

Great videos, they are getting on really well

Yeah, I’m shocked at how gentle the cat is with her, he never has his claws out even when Luna is being very rough and annoying

Your cat is worth his weight in gold

Yes,he really is he’s a very calm and affectionate cat he is well able to cause harm, he brings back a dead bird or mouse daily to show off his hunting skins but he knows he shouldn’t be mean to his family