Bad behaviour has become a routine.

My staffy girl is 13 months old and generally pleasant. However it seems to have become routine that she has very bad behaviour on a morning. She sleeps in the kitchen and when we enter she goes outside to the toilet but when she comes back in she will bite, scratch, jump up and generally do anything she can that she is not allowed to do. We started trying to combat this by placing her in time out when she began to bark and bite but she this has now just become routine and she will bark at and bite me and my partner then run to her crate for the time out as if it is a game. I am finding it very difficult to combat this behaviour as she doesn’t respond to normal training methods. We have not had her from being a a puppy and adopted her from another family and we believe she hasn’t been given the proper training which we are trying to solve now.

Any suggestions about older staffy training would be highly appreciated thanks.

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Hello and welcome.
Congratulations, you have a staffy who has entered her “teenage tantrums” age (my Opium is almost 16 months old so I fully sympathize with you).

When you talk of biting, is it “play nipping” or full-on aggressive biting ? My house rule here is no teeth at any time, but my Opium is a hyper-active type who “nips” out of excitement. You need to use a very firm “NO” when she nips but compensate with a soft and bubbly praise when she gets it right.

It sounds like your morning routine has become a game so you need to ignore her when she barks and bites. As soon as she stops, even for an instant, praise. Then you can (also) ask her to do something specific, like sit quietly. She’s choosing the bark/bite game so you need to initiate another more appropriate game.

She’s looking for attention after having spent the night alone and for now, even timeout is attention for her. Even if she’s under your feet, ignore her firmly. If she’s jumping up, turn your back on her. She’ll continue to try at first but then she’ll look for new methods to get your attention. That’s where you can impose your game and conditions.

My Opium knows we won’t stroke her until she sits. But when she does, she gets heavy petting. She does need very regular reminders but it does improve day by day

Then I would suggest that you look into positive training canine clubs in your area. Instructors on site should be able to help with training, especially as they’ll have the advantage of seeing your girl in action with you.

Thank you very much for your advice I will try what you have suggested.

Do let us know how you get on, others might have ideas for you too

Hi there.

How long have you had her?

I would add that if the ignoring doesn't stop her, then walk out of the room & shut the door. Wait a minute & go back in, very calmly, & carry on with YOUR routine. If she starts again, repeat.

Staffords live for human attention & if you remove it, even for a short while, she'll start to cotton on.

Good luck, keep posting & let us know how you get on.

I can't add to what has been said as it's great advice & what we used with Katy. It was like living with the Tasmanian devil