hi could anyone help me please we have a 10 week old staffy pup and all she seems to do is bite my wife hands when playing or just when my wife strokes her last night she broke the skin she just jump at her hand and bit she bites me some time but not as hard as she does to my wife we know she is only a puppy but last night while i was out the puppy would do nothing my wife told her to do when my wife put her in her crate all she did was bark so my wife told her to get in bed and the pup went to bite her also a friend as told us that staffs lock there jaw and theres no way of getting them of my wife is considering finding her a new home which is upsetting me and my wife plus we have cats so can anyone tell me what we could try would a muzzle work i really dont want to give her away
thanks dave

hi guest
this is just normal staffie pup play,if she bites tap her on the nose and say NO,or put her on the floor and ignore her,or scream like her litter mates would do if she hurt them,don't lock her in her create as she will learn that its a bad place (if your intending to use it for toilet training),she will chase the cats as mine did but once she gets  a few swipes from the cat she'll leave them alone,i have four cat and my staff is two now and they all get on fine.Just stick with it thier to young yet to get lock jaw(:
vicky

Hi,
This is normal puppy behaviour. Do a search on this forum about "Puppy biting" to prove it. Get a copy of "The Perfect Puppy" by Gwen Bailey, and you won't go far wrong!
Good luck!

I'd also advise you to get a copy of 'The Perfect Puppy' and make sure both you and your wife read it.

Who feeds the pup? Maybe you should let your wife take over for a while and makes the pup 'sit' before giving her her meal. Little things like this will teach her her 'pack ranking'.

Staffi's are reknowned for chewing and biting so you will have to give her something to focus this behavior on - lots of chews and hard toys like kongs. Don't give up on her at the first hurdle as she will develope into the best friend you could hope for with the right love and support.

At the minute I have a 10 week Great Dane and she has the sharpest puppy teeth but even my 2 year old can say 'Dizzy no!' and stop playing when she mouths him.

Another suggestion would be to register and keep us updated - there's lots of staffy people on here and they are always really helpful and very friendly :)

Please try and avoid getting too physical with your pup while trying to teach her you don't appreciate her sharp little teeth - it's not how another dog would do it, so why should we think it will work when we do it?  A litter mate would simply squeal and walk away, refusing to play any more, and adult dog *may* use force, but there will have been a lot more body language that it's hard for us to use effectively before hand, and in my experience 'talking dog' is a far more effective way of getting the message over.  Always give ONE method time to work - if you do one thing and it doesn't work after one or two tries, don't give up, the more methods you use, the longer it will take as your pup won't be able to predict what reaction she's going to get - which is the core of teaching anything - the pup learns 'if I do A, then B happens'......

This is absolutely normal behaviour . It is called mouthing and will lessen when the baby teeth start to fall out.
I am surprised you say that the puppy wouldnt do aything that your wife asked- its 10 weeks old for gods sake?!! :(
Do you expect ANY breed to be trained to command at this age???
I am really shocked that you are thinking of rehoming at such a young age and with no real effort put in . How long have you had the pup ?
I have a Staffy who is now 14 months old and he went through the biting phase and my last staffy also did the same at that age . It is not ust staffies that mouthe either!!
It is NORMAL , it will cease ( keep saying NO) and it doesnt mean you have an aggressive dog by the way. Sometimes when you shout at the pup while he is doing it , it can cause him to become overexcited which will explain why he may sometimes jump or lunge at you. He is only a baby and you need to either put him down in his basket or ignore him for very short periods ( like 5 minutes - no longer) .
Plase what ever you  do -
DO NOT  MUZZLE A 10 WEEK OLD PUPPY :(

Dogs only require muzzling in extreme circunstances and this DOES NOT warrant it :(

As for lockjaw thats absolute garbage - did ou do any research into the breed before you chose pup??

Just wanted to add - if this is a genuine post then please join the board ( it is free)and we can talk and offer advice . There are a number of Staffy owners who can offer advice :)