Difficult Staffy Puppy From a Bad Breeder

Hey All,

Before we picked our little Tex up how the breeder was talking started to raise some red flags with us. She mentioned she had separated them from their mum at 4 weeks because their mum was tired and getting bitten by the pup's teeth. She had been feeding them puppy milk, she tried to force us to pick the pups up as soon as possible and she gave them their vaccines late.

We still went ahead with collecting him at 8 weeks because we wondered what kind of life he might have otherwise.
When we arrive she throws him at us, he was shaking and so scared, vomiting out of fear.

When we got him home it was obvious he had 0 bite inhibition, our legs and arms were in shreds. He was basically feral. He's 14 weeks now and it's been extremely hard and tiring training and working with him but he's made huge improvements.

However, he still has some issues with biting (We have tried everything). Some of it I know is teething and play but some of it can seem aggressive. An example he jumped up on the sofa today (He's not allowed) I went to get him down he growls and barks aggressively none stop then bites me hard 3 times breaking the skin and making me bleed. This happens every time he manages to jump on the sofa.

Any advice on how to deal with this would be appreciated, is it something I should be worried about at 14 weeks? It's the only time I've seen him display any kind of aggression? We just want the best for him.

Many thanks!

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Hi from me & Katy, welcome to our forum I feel your pain with Tex, Katy was advertised as a 6 week old pup when I spoke to the owner her uncle had bred them, taken Katy away at 5wks & after a week she advertised her There was no way I was leaving her there in a basement flat with her 2yr old kid slapping her!!
Previous history done, it was like living with a Tasmanian Devil all teeth! I would redirect his biting to a toy when he starts to bite you, I must say the art of yelping like a sibling only made Katy worse!
I can promise you he's not being aggressive, puppies don't know aggression he's just trying the boundaries! If he gets on the sofa tell him in a firm voice NO, pick him up & put him on the floor & repeat. He will get the idea, staffies are intelligent
We would love to see pics of him

Hello and welcome.
Good on you for taking your boy under your wing.
Your boy clearly has lots of character so as Jen says, he’s testing.

Just wondering if you are able to present him to other dogs and if so, how is his behavior ?
My breeder friend had to remove mum from a litter at 2 weeks old due to chronic mastitis so she fed puppy milk with kibble. However, the pups also interacted with the other adult dogs so they learnt dog manners that way. Perhaps your boy missed this stage of life ?