Hi everyone,i have two staffies,a bitch and a dog,both have been 'done'. I've had the bitch(Angel) since she was 8 weeks old,she's now 5 and the male(Marley) arrived here with us just 4 months ago at 20 months old,he's now 2! They get on fine now after scuffles from Marley for a week or so and he's now great around the house,excitable round guests but thats about it.The problem i'm having is walk time,he's a complete pain on the lead,he pulls to get at cars in the road whether they be coming toward us or going the opposite way,even moreso at night when they have their lights on,he tries to pull out of his harness when he thinks he's going one way and we go another,its like he's set on auto pilot and won't listen to what i'm saying.Has anyone got any advice at all on how i can help combat these issues?

i dont know if this will help, but my 9 month old staffie bitch lunges for cars when they go past out on walks.  she will growl quite viciously at them. 
Firstly, try and get your dogs attention, be it food, toys or cuddles and keep his eyes away from the car. 
Most of the time, i will stop if i see a car coming or i talk in a happy voice as it goes past so that she is listening to me rather than concentrating on the car.

Another idea was passed onto me, and that is to stand by a busy road with ur dog so that he gets used to the cars, and dont comfort him in any way??

Thanks Jenny,we live on a busy main road so when i take him out there's always loads of cars going past anyway,i know the lady that had him before had a car and used to take him to a field in the car,so i did think maybe he associated them with her somehow? Its such a pain because as i said we live on a very busy road so i can't get him out of the house without having to walk past them all and the pain of it is no matter what i say or do whilst we are out he ignores me,its like he can't hear or doesn't want to and will ignore any attempts to communicate! I don't think he's afraid of them i think he wants to get in them,lol!!
Thanks for your help,hope you make progress with your little one.:)

Hi Gina,

Getting him used to seeing lots of cars would normally be pretty standard advice for his reactions but as you're in the thick of traffic on leaving home obviously that ain't an option!

I think you firstly have to work out how to get his attention - as you say he ignores all attempts to communicate then it may take you a little time ;)   If he's got any hyped up interest in either toys or food then you could try withholding all toys or treats until out for your walks - then produce them as soon as you are about to meet the traffic.  This will take a lot of patience of course because he's now developed a learned behaviour and you have to "un-teach" it.   Getting attention is key to success in training anything so try and find some method ;)

Also, do you have to take them out together?  If you can walk them separately, is he any better or worse behaved on his own?  If he's better, then I'd stick to separate walks for a few weeks if that's at all practical.  If worse, can someone else accompany you and walk slightly ahead of you with the bitch and see if he'll focus on her rather than the traffic?

HTH, Regards Teri

Thanks Teri,there's some good tips there is shall give them a go,when we first got him my other half used to come with meto walk them,he'd take him and i'd take the bitch and the only problem we'd come across then is other dogs,he doesn't bare them well! But he was ok otherwise but he recently caught my other halfs knee whilst out in the garden going off on one of his mad 5 minutes and knocked him to the ground resulting in a visit to A&E,he's had trouble with the knee ever since and having arthritis already in his joints hasn't helped so i now walk them one at a time as my partner is not quite up to it yet,my lad could help i suppose although he finds it hard to hold Angel as for me she's ok but for others she will pull.
He will also try to 'escape' me whilst out too,if he wants to go in one direction but i go another he will pull back and try to wriggle out of his harness,i tried going with the flow once and let him go where he wanted we then ended up so far away i couldn't get him to turn round and come back home,i was almost in tears that day so i have been firm with him since but as i said he will not listen,what he wants goes in his mind!He loves his treats but again thats something else he will not pay attention to outside,even when at the vets if they offer him one he won't take it.
I daren't try taking them both on my own as if he was to go off on one of his madduns i wouldn't be able to cope with them both.
Perseverence is the key here i suppose,if i take treats and try hard enough to get his attention then maybe he will take them,i shall definately try anyway as its getting to the point now where i don't want to take him out anymore as its so stressful.
Thanks again.

Hi Gina,

If he likes his treats what I would do first is stop giving him ANY :)  Sure fire way to make them much more appealing when they do come out.  Also try and think of what his most irresistable one is - usually something like roast chicken, grilled beef or if he's had it before liver works well.  The main thing is to be strict that the only time he gets treats is when you are wanting his attention for training purposes - so mainly for walks.  This means family members have to be kept in check from giving him tit bits in between (hubbies and kids are notoriously difficult to control :P )

Hopefully over a short time you will notice that he is more likely to concentrate on you because something he holds in high value (the treat) is only accessible when he's fixated on you - which means he has to listen too!

No doubt someone else will be along at some point with other tips - there are a few Staffie owners on here and sometimes breed specific advice is worth its weight in gold ;)

Good luck, Teri :) 

I'll give the treat thing a go,he likes anything and i am the feeder in the house so i have no worries about anyoe else treating him without me knowing!!
I don't think he'd ever had treats before he came to us cos when we first gave him one he was reluctant to take it and when he did he took it so gently with the edge of his teeth and run off to his bed with it,he loves his treats now and all i have to say is 'treat time' and he comes running and sits down right in front of me and waits for one,he still takes then with the front of his teeth,so gently and runs off to his bed with them.We got him a bone the other day and he had no idea what to do with it,he got out of his bed went over to Angel's watched what she was doing with hers and then went back and copied her,he brought it back up that night!
Thanks again for the advice Teri,i shall keep you updated!