Sorry - another bitey one. Sparky hasn't "mouthed" any of us for quite a while now, and is fine with passers by at the park, ignoring most of them now, but tonight he got very excited when we met my neighbour outside. Before I had chance to tell her how to react to him, she made a big fuss about seeing him, lots of whooping, loud voice, etc. He was jumping up at her and all I could here was the "snap snap" of his teeth. His teeth didn't touch her, his tail was wagging, no aggressive signs, but it bothered me a bit as she could have been a child.
Just looking for a word of reassurance, really.
Thanks
Tracy

How old is Sparky? (Sorry if you've said before and I've forgotten - it happens! :o ) I have one (aged 4!) who still simply must hold something when he's excited! As long as it's gentle (the control will come) there's not a problem.
:)

It is VERY frustrating when you are trying to teach your dog to behave in a certain way and people say "Oh , its ok....." and go on to make a big fuss when you really dont want them to!!
I used to find this a lot with Gus . Staffys can be very exciteable with people anyway and he used to jump up for a big fuss when he was younger . (Actually he still would if he could ;) ) and people would say this and allow him to jump up because he was small and cute :rolleyes: .
Doesnt happen quite so much now because they realise how heavy and strong he would be if he did . Now you just see them gulp when he comes running over :)
Lel

oh tell me about it! am trying to get my 15 wk old cavalier not to expect everyone to greet her and alo not to jump up - and you take her somewhere and more people than not stop and before you can get a word in edgeways are petting your pup only when she gets round to jumping up, after having sat nicely for a few seconds. aaaaagh! if only pup-training were on the curriculum, i;m sure that would have been far more useful than half the things i was made to learn at school! ;)

Tracy youre doing a great job with Sparky so dont worry about one blip. Gothboys pals love Morse jumping at them - or they did when he was smaller and now hes a hip height dog its not so funny as I predicted, so theyre not encouraging it anymore. Funnily enough Morse has never jumped at a small child even at Sparkys age, so your fears may never materialise. :)