Can someone please give me advice on how to teach a dog self control.  I have a very excitable female staffy, who becomes quite manic when she knows we are going for a walk/out in the car.  She starts to cry, pace about, panting, yawning, she really can get herself in quite a state.  At the momemt I am walking her at a very slow pace, stopping when she forges ahead, waiting for her to come back to the heel position, then telling her to "lets go".  It is driving me crazy I am sure my neighbours think I have lost the plot.  I have been doing this for a week now, and have seen little improvement.  I just thought if I could calm everything down, no going to the park and playing ball, no rough and tumble.  I am trying to stay very calm and cool, but I could do with some expert advice.  Keep in mind that this dog is obedience trained and has been socialised well.  All I want is for her to be calmer when we are going out, it is getting to the point that I don't want to take her.  Sooooo can anyone please help!!!!!

Cheers

Please no food suggestions as she is not interested at all, she is only focused on getting to that park to play.

Just keep with what you are doing - you've already seen an improvement and the rate will pick up as she gets to learn what she is doing is pleasing you and bringing the result she wants.  However, walking slowly is VERY hard for some dogs - a trot is more like their normal pace, - so in order to make it easier maybe you could actually increase the pace a little so she finds it easier?  Another trick is to practise (maybe in a car park) with LOTS of changes of direction, both left and right, increase the speed, decrease the speed and even walk backwards so she has to keep with you and pay attention, when you're doing this make sure your arm is ridgid and not 'giving' - it might even be worth securing the lead to a belt around your waist.......

I know what you mean , Staffys can be VERY exciteable.... cant offer much advice , sorry but as Digger says, carry on although it may be a slow process.
Gus is excited when we say the word "walk" but he is manageable but the pulling on the lead when out is something that has not lessened - he just wants to be everywhere NOW - although he will walk in the Ring which I always find rather strange ? :rolleyes:
Lel

The stafford is a very hard dog to train to 'walk' nicely as they get easily distratced and like to know what everything is and what is does. You may hagve a ringcraft club near you that may help you to establish better control of your dog when walking it. If you buy a proper leather lead and practice walking round the block and at random points along the way stop walking until your pup heels and then when YOU are satisfied that he or she has stopped and heeled for you then say 'walk on' and start walking again. Don't be afraid to give them a gentle tug on thier lead to 'check them'. Try to walk your dog through a busy street where there are a few people to get them used to all the noise and sounds as taking a six month puppy onto a high street can be daunting for them. Be prepared to get stopped a lot of the time as people seem to love Stafford puppies. Give praise to your dog when they start to walk how you want them to and they will sonn associate good walking with a cuddle or a treat. Good luck and let me know how you get on!!!

ONe of my best tips for this type of dog is to never ever let the dog off unless the lead is loose.

So for example, you get to the park and the dog is pulling - you use your word for loose lead (heel, close or whatever) and even just one pace with a loose lead earns an immediate "Yes!" and release. The running free is the reward and a powerful one. Over time you may be able to ask the dog to walk 2, 3 4, 5 etc paces and in time this will spread more to walking generally (but it will take time and patience i am afraid :) ).

Practice this as often as possible, even recalling the dog to you on the walk for practice.

I also suggest you consider a harness such as the Walkezee (which seems to be gaining popularity and has quite a few fans)  in "A to Z " situations, simply because it is very hard to be training properly all the way to the park. An anti pulll harness will take the strain away and mean the dog isn't learning to pull on his collar ;)

Lindsay

Thats staffies :-)  there excitable its part of there nature i bet it jumps to great all your guests to, iv decided to not train bruno as indepth as to heal  on a command, i have a long 2 meter nylon leader and leather collar for training, i wrap the lead round my hand a few times so its then about 70 cm `s long (short lead)  and he walks next to me, i let him sniff where he wants but call him back with "come on" and he 90 % of the time takes up possition next to my leg walking with me.

He normaly pulls for the first 2 / 3 mins of a walk but then decides he misses me :-)

he sitting at the curb before crossing the road has gone down well iv been on night shifts so there no one around when i take him out in the morning he now does it as soon as i stop with no prompting 98% of the time unless something gets his attention.  Dont orget your staffy is having his first look at the big world he needs to sniff / learn and experiance some fun not just commands.

Hi

As you say your dog gets quite excited when she knows you are going for a walk, I'd start calming things down before you even put on a lead.

If she gets excited when you get the lead, tell her to sit for her lead to be put on and if she doesn't, put the lead away and go do somethign else then try again in a few minutes.  It may take  a few tries but your dog will soon learn that to get her lead on she'll have to sit and wait.

Once you get the lead on calmly work on getting out of the door calmly.  If she tries to barge through, shut the door before she makes it out and then try again.  Self control has to start at the very basic level of everything you do with your dog and your dog has to learn to respect you and understand what you will tolerate and what you won't.  There can be no half measures with excitable dogs until they do learn self control.  The walk itself should become more managable when your dog realises you are incharge and the quickest way to get what she wants - her walk - is by being better behaved.

Good luck

Thank you all for  your comments, they were great!!!!!!

I know this is going to take a little bit of time and patience to achieve the result, calm dog, but she is a beautiful dog and well worth the effort.

Wish me luck!!!

CHEERS

We have a SBT at our obedience classes who just missed being picked for the Southern obedience team for Crufts last year so her standard of training is, as you can imagine, high.

She has to remain under control to do what ever exercise she is doing but as soon as it is finished she is rewarded with a pull on a tug-toy - just for a few seconds then it is put away again till the next time she earns a reward.

Just guessing but that wouldn't be Marney Wells would it, Christine? :)

She has done working trials with her staffie.

Lindsay

Would not Marney be in West team as she lives in Wilts?