New Staffy Puppy Owner - HELP!

Hello everyone

We got our English Staffy when she was 8 weeks old. She is now aged 7 and 1/2 months.

I am having trouble and needing advice on how to approach it. I spend quite a bit of time with her but the issues I'm having:

1. she bites quite hard
2. she has an obsession with shoelaces and once grabs onto them, can also make you trip over
3. she jumps and knocks you over
4. she pulls so hard on walks that I'm worried she will strangle herself.

It is the first time we've owned a Staffy. We didn't encounter these problems with previous dogs so I'm hoping someone here can provide us with some advice.

Thank you

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Hello and welcome.
Congratulations on your new family member, they do change the family equilibrium don’t they !
I don’t know what other breed you’ve already had but staffies can be rather “rough and tumble” in their natural state, without meaning any offense.

To try to give ideas to your questions :

1. When and in what situation is she biting hard ? During play time or randomly to attract attention ? When she gets all excited when greeting you, for example ?
My Opium gets very excitable and then looks for something to bite onto - clothes/sleeves, arms, hands ... I put a hand on either side of her and when she bites to one side, I lightly pinch on her opposite side to sway her attention. I have also taught the STOP command which basically means “freeze, don’t move”. This gives a few seconds to distract her attention to ask for something else.
The aim is never to punish but always to look for a positive action. Therefore I can ask her to sit, or stay, or fetch a toy, etc. She then forgets her biting. But this depends on the reason and situation of your girl’s biting.

2. Shoelace obsession needs the use of a firm NO and then giving a substitute. Again, you can ask her to fetch a rope toy instead or to lie and stay. Often these obsessions are a way for her to attract your attention and create play with you - fun all the way.

3. Jumping is a definite no-no. It’s not nice for humans to have 20kgs of muscle catapulted onto them and for puppies, it’s not doing any good to their joints to be jumping. You need to be firm with the NO, eventually turn if she’s always jumping up in front of you. Never try to knock her down as that’s the start of a great game. Jumping is often during overexcitement so yet again, the Stop command can give you a few seconds break to ask something else. Training the Sit command in these situations can be helpful - you’ll have 4 paws and her butt on the ground  

4. My immediate thought would be to switch to a harness, I don’t like strangled dogs pulling on their collar as it does so much damage to their necks. Once you’ve trained manners in a harness, you can move back to collar.
I recommend a harness which runs a Y over the chest and between the front legs. I use Ruffwear front range harnesses but there are lots of cheaper and/or colourful alternatives on amazon and the likes.
For your pulling problem, you need to get her attention back to you and “retake the lead”. Most simple way to do this is each time she overtakes your leg, briskly change direction (180 degrees is best). Suddenly she’ll find herself behind you and wonder where you’re going. Don’t be tempted to pull her around but you might just need to “block” her movement in her direction to show her you’ve changed direction. Each time she follows you and is at your side, lots and lots of praise. She’ll soon find watching where you’re going more interesting then pulling ahead.
In the harness, you can also add a second lead to the ring on the front of the harness. You use this lead to stop the pulling movement to the front by unstabilizing the shoulders, rather than pulling on the neck.

There are common points in all of your 4 situations. You need to make sure you have absolute consistency in what you ask, how you ask and there can never be enough praise/reward. That it be a treat, giving the favourite toy, a good patting. Don’t hesitate to exaggerate so there’s no ambiguity between good and bad.
You also need to ensure that all family members abide to the same rules. It’s not fair for you to ask her to stop jumping if your OH allows/encourages it.
Despite what you might read, staffies are very intelligent and do understand quickly but whereas some breeds of working dog will blindly execute, a staffy will question what you ask  
Be consistent and you will see results quicker than you think.

What is you girl’s name ?
Any chance of a photo, even if just in your avatar ?

Hi from me & Katy Congratulations on your new family member, great choice of breed  I admit when we got Katy it was like living with a tasmanian devil
Nifty has given great advice & tips. Consistency in her training & regular routine is needed from the whole family.
Plenty of links on here to look through regarding training. But ask any question & we will help.
Oh & lots of photos welcome here

Ah yeah my boy is ten months now and he hasn't done these specific things exactly, but I totally hear where you're coming from: they're just big balls of enthusiasm with no boundaries at this age aren't they?!

He definitely got very pully a couple of months ago, and I got some great advice and we're making (slow) progress, so here's what helped us:

Use just one word or phrase- our is "YES!"- when pup does what you've asked. We also use a clicker, and a really tasty treat- he loves chicken and fridge raiders. We're all veggie in my house so daft as it sounds we hadn't given him these things before, but finding things that he goes wild for has really helped motivate him.

So if he's pulling in a random direction on a walk, I say "this way", then as soon as he's trotting along next to me again it's "yes", click, treat. We will drop the treat as advised once he's a bit further along, but I just have to show him the clicker sometimes and he falls in next to me. Magic! It's changed walks for us. And if he's pulling ahead I just stop dead until he's eased off and looks back for me.

Hope some of this is helpful, hang in there! x

Hey! Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new addition!

Nifty has given great advice, its all about patience and persistence, it's super important you all play by the same rules so your girl doesn't get confused about what's expected from her x