I am considerably getting more worried as time goes on my 9wk old staff bitch is very vocal barking and biting us for no apparent reason.We have tried the loud firm no for the past week not even a small sign its starting to work she seems to be getting worse Help me please im a born worry head and keep thinking as she was the only pup left is she the one no-one wanted because of this im scared for my kids in case she turns into an adult with the same attitude :(

Trackie29, if its any consolation, my first leo was like this right up till she was about 16 weeks old. Had me in tears sometimes because I thought she would end up being an aggresive dog. My older girl hated her, still does lol, (thats Missie my 11yr old dog) so much so that after one particularly bad day where she did nothing but snap and try to bite me and growling horridly at me, I got up and took Missie for a walk to cool off. On the way to the park we met a lady walking her lab puppy and before I knew it Missie went for her! I'm sure she thought 'oh a puppy, I'm gonna protect my mom' I was shocked as she has never shown any aggression to any dog before, or since I might add, that I cried all the way to my friends house. Anyway, with a lot of patience and sticking to the 'No' or 'no bite' refusing to play or fuss her if she carried on, she soon became the sloppiest girl that she is, now she's 15 months. Hasn't got an aggressive bone in her body and believe me the new pup has given her course to snap but she's never once snapped at the pup. It only took a week after that day and taking her to training classes and socialising her well helped because she realised I was her best friend, with all the treats for being a 'good girl' and I trust her completely with my grand-daughter who is 7 months, though I would never ever leave a child alone with any dog that goes without saying.
sorry if I've just rambled on and not been much help. Hope you can get things sorted soon,

Dee

Trackie, I think you need to stop worrying so much!! you've had the puppy, what, a week? Theres no quick fix with a dog its a lot of hardwork and will take a while but you WILL get there in the end. I very much doubt that there is anything wrong with your pup other than being very excitable and strong willed!!
I don't wish to come across as being nasty coz honestly i'm not, but you seem to be missing out on one of the main reasons for having a dog....PLEASURE!! I think you may find if you relax a little and appear to be in more control of the situation then the pup will pick up on that but if the dog can sense that your not being very strong then shes going to think well i'm the boss then. Please chill out a bit, it'll all come in good time :)

Thanks what breed is your leo?

Sorry, leo is short for leonberger

Dee

Trackie

please let us reassure you this is perfectly normal behaviour for a Staff pup. I dont think Giorgia stopped biting until about 5-6 months old and the barking and generally being vocal is part of their nature. I know that they can seem aggressive, Giorgia used to go mad about 10 mins before bedtime she would rush around and the biting got worse. If we felt it was too aggressive,we would stand up and walk away from her and turn our backs to her until she stopped. we still do this now if her playing gets too much. I have to say that Staffs are a complete breed on their own, being so vocal and so excitable, I dont think that changes with age either, Giorgia is 15months old now and is still the same but there is not a nasty bone in her body

Not sure whereabouts you are, but if you are really worried, why not arrange for someone to come and see you interract with your pup? It shouldn't be expensive :)

I believe same as the others, that this is normal, but I know that may not stop you worrying!!

Try: www.puppyschool.co.uk for someone in your area, (and you will also need to enrol in a good class for socialisation). Puppyschool peeps have been trained hands on by Gwen Bailey who is  a very respected trainer, behaviourist and author. Try also, if not, www.apdt.co.uk

Then someone can hopefully come and reassure you, and give you help if you need it :)

Lindsay
x

Hi i have been reading your problems and trying to help you by letting you know what I try when my puppy bites,I get good and bad days yesterday evening was particularly bad,my dog is not a staff but in the end I think they are almost the same,my pup is a newfoundland cross bernese mountain dog (not sure if i told you that before) and at 14 wks is already as big as an adult labrador so we have to be strong and try and solve the problem she is going to be enormous,went to WH Smith today and brought a Gwen Bailey book called puppy school it covers topics on biting and how to distract them and how to intrduce the pupy into a household with children only got a little way into book but felt i had to let you know this seems like a real good read and full of useful tips and suggestions well worth £12.99 sorry I dont mean my dog is similar to a staff but that all dogs in the end are basically the same a bit like children,she also does some other books a bit cheaper but reading it is making so much sense,hope this helps and good luck. 

Another great book is Gewn Bailey's 'Perfect Puppy' - I'm sure it's full of great advice - not that I've had a chance to use it yet as it's 4 weeks til we get our puppy.  I figure following one good book and sticking to the same routines, etc, etc will work...........well I hope so anyway.  I bought the book originally as people were mentioning it a lot on this site - so there must be loads of people on here who have tried the methods described...

Thanks ive read gwen baileys perfect puppy three times over done everything the way she advises to do it but i think i got a stubborn little cow on my hands :)

What is probably happening is you(as in you & your family)are not being totally consistent with the way you treat your puppy, this is not meant as a critism just an observation over many years of families with "nippy"puppy problems, you have to be 100% consistent that means every member of of the family 24/7 one member forgets & tells off or gives attention & you can be back to square one & don't forget puppies have a very short attention & retention span so what one person does 20 minutes later is forgotten so react a differen way & the next person along will reap the result of say telling off the puppy

It can & is difficult for fairly new or novice owners or those who have never had a puppy that goes though the nippy stage(not all puppies do)so keep telling everyone ignore & walk away when the puppy nips & eventually the penny will drop & the lesson will be learnt a kind way by the puppy

We are cosistant with her but its very hard for the youngest child to just walk away when a staffy has her teeth stuck in his foot :( i have had puppies go through this before but not this fierce  a way we put her out the room for 1 minute also after telling her no then let her in and same again i hope we will get there as my husband says she is going to turn out this way  ihope not

Dont give her the time out room,pups have such short attention spans that by the time you pick her up and put her in another room she will have no idea why she's there.

Like i said on your other thread on this same subject,do not respond at all to her nips,you must tell this to your children,if your pup nips and then your kids flail their arms about and perhaps run away your pup may see this as a game.None of these idea's will work if only half of your family are follwing them.

I'm fresh out of idea's :( Hopefully she will grow out of it soon. i've still got a couple of pin prick scars on my hands from when my dogs were pups

Im confused you mention the perfect puppy to read which on page 113 i think it says put puppy out of room if biting becomes to much then your saying not to do it as the have short memory think i will try perservere im sure or (i hope) she get out of it

You must do what is right for you and your pup but you must be consistent. I read lots of books and tried lots of different tips, some of which work and some of which dont but until you really know your pup, which you cant do at 9 weeks, it is very difficult to know what will work until you try. You have to learn to pick the bones out of advice and books as I am sure you will have realised by now that many books and tips are contradictory. If you try them all you will most certainly be inconsistent.

What I do think is important is that you remember that this site is an information exchange based on all sorts of experience and even if you do things your way and dont take the advice offered, you can take so much reassurance from what the other posters are saying as they will have a wealth of experience with young pups and will have been there and done it before. Try and lean on us when it gets difficult as you seem to be getting in a state and your little one will pick up on this. You must take time and try to enjoy your pup and in turn you will be getting to know him more and understanding what makes him tick. Mine is nine months and was exactly the same as yours is and it only occurred to me a few weeks ago that what makes him tick is his eagerness to please. In turn I realised the absolute key to his behaviour is to ingnore him completely when he misbehaves, he hates this!, and go all out when he is good.

PM me if you need to as it always helps to share experiences.

Good Luck xxx

Trackie,

As MoonMaiden has pointed out - and has been pointed out to you before :rolleyes: - there is most probably a lack of consistency in how you are attempting to train your puppy.  Incidentally, it was also previously suggested to you that instead of removing the puppy from the situation, you LEAVE the puppy - a quicker and more effective way of stopping it's over zealous play *without* appearing to reward it.

In just 10 days you have opened no less than NINE separate threads - 7 relating to what you seem to perceive as multiple problems with your very recently acquired very young puppy, one relating to changing it off the original diet and another somewhere in between criticising advice offered that wasn't even for you!

Perhaps instead of reading the Perfect Puppy (yet again) and multiple postings on CD, you should now implement some of the information you've been provided with through your own research and repeated suggestions - quite frankly I don't know how on earth you've had time to actually try any of it so far.   Teri

Not going to give advice, but Trackie, you seem to me to be a constant worrier, and seem a very uptight and panicky person, apologies if you are not, but this is how you are coming over.  If this is the case, your puppy will be picking up on this. 

And a question, as your children are quite young, I am assuming they go to bed around 7/7.30 ish, how does the puppy behave once the children are out of the picture?

She calms down a bit when they are in bed and you are right i am a worrier big time but dont need replies like teri added to this post there isnt a need to be rude just a little panicked i need of advice AGAIN :) thanks

Trackie, Teri was not rude, she was straight and to the point, and to be honest, she only voiced what I was thinking

>She calms down a bit when they are in bed

Here is part of the problem.  A busy household with young lively children is not the ideal situation for any puppy to be in.  They are playthings which sqeak when played with, therefore making them more attractive. Have you actually tried training the children as well as the puppy?  It seems to be that all this rough and tumble going on is heightening the puppies excitability.  The puppy does not know right from wrong, but children do. And yes children can be taught not to squeal, mine did!!  They were taught to sit still very quietly while I removed the puppy from toes, clothes and fingers etc.  Puppy soon realised that these 'toys' no longer squeaked and therefore no longer held any interest.  Try giving the kids time out in another room instead of the puppy.

I am assuming the children are also at school during the day, how does the puppy behave while the children are not in the house.  And how on earth are you going to control the situation during the school holidays.

Your anxiety is more than likely worsening the situation as puppy will be picking up on this, and so will your children!!!! 

Puppys need a calm relaxed atmosphere.  They need time to adjust to new surroundings and to settle in to a quiet family life.  Treat the cause, not the symptom.

>dont need replies like teri added to this post there isnt a need to be rude <

Frankly trackie you've been damn lucky to continue to get my advice considering your previous obnoxious and personal remarks directed at me - but fear not I won't subject you to any more of my attempts to assist :P   Let's just hope for your sake that you don't wear everyone else down to.

Teri i am deeply sorry if i seem to offend you but it seems you are targeting an argument with me i told you befor i was very glad and thankful for all your advice and if i knew how to send a personal message i may have just asked you these questions without wearing anyone down i dont mean to be pestering anybody and apologise sinserly if i have i will not bother anyone anymore on here as it seems i have got everyone p****d off with me thanks anyway :)

Got to agree with Teri here... how long have you had this pup, no more than a couple of weeks at best.

I have to say here, i have only had TWO puppies, as i do prefer adult dogs.

The first, Dill (lurcher) was a P.I.T.A.... never slept, always wrecking something, and i spent the first six months saying NO, and leaving the room when he bit me, (which was all the time).

Ok so at nearly three, he still steals anything he can, but thats just him... he DOESNT wreck things, he DOESNT bite and he is a lovely cuddle boy now.

My new puppy is a collie x spaniel x gsd.... all busy hard working breeds, but he is a JOY compared to the lurcher.

Consistency is everything, and im afraid whilst SOME people appear to be able to train a pup not to play bite, bark furiously, or cr*p under the bed every night in a mere 2 days, the rest of us mere mortals must put weeks and MONTHS of hard work into training a pup.

If your pup was MY pup  i would stick him back on a raw diet, pick a method for the biting (i tend to yell OW which has worked iwth all but one pup i know and she was a terrier), possibly leaving the room with yours, give him more things to do ie chewing big bones, kongs full of frozen stuff etc, and chill out a bit!

Em

I am just anxious as i have never owned a staff and am concerned that is all i thought that was what this forum was for advice does it matter how many threads i have opened i could open another 20 if need be i was very grateful for your advice as for changing the diet i wasn't doing it it was just a question in relation to pc she is still on it and doing well To me im taking your post this time very abrubt why enter the post if you dont like me posting so many didnt know there was a limit to how many we can add :)

I wasn't levelling critizm but you do need to all  be consistent & obviously the youngest child isn't able to be consistent hence the advice to never leave the puppy & child without adult supervision so you can stop the nipping starting or at least cut it short, this might be hard but is the way to go if you really wnat to teach the puppy that nipping is not acceptable

When your young child screams it will encourage the puppy to go on nipping as it gets a reaction that the puppy will see as play, if you watch puppies playing they squeal & growl in play & your puppy hasn't learnt that people are not playmates for rough play that hurts yet

Oh it's certainly a forum for advice and you've had plenty of it - don't think anyone can argue with that.  As for how many threads you choose to open - that's between you and Admin but personally I don't see the point in multiple threads which are by and large about the same issue under varying degrees of over-dramatic headings  "Night time saga!!!!!!!!" /  "Crying all the time!!!!!! Help" / "Help!!!!!!" etc etc etc.   All you're doing is having the same questions answered by different members with the same fundamental solutions or variations thereof and either implementing all of it at the same time thereby confusing things further or paying not a blind bit of heed to any of it.  It's impossible to keep track - there's just too much going on basically   If you'd stuck to one thread on your cage "saga" and a separate one on your "biting" dilemma then anyone answering you would be able to read through the info you'd provided and other solutions proffered from start to finish - which FYI would be of a benefit to you too.

However if you think my earlier post was abrupt then you're way off the mark - it was controlled, believe me, I edited half of it out before I pressed "post" ;)

Everyone as usual has been trying to help you - but you've had this puppy for two weeks - not very long is it?  Did you do any research on the breed before you booked your puppy?  Did you visit various breeders and litters and chat to lots of other Staff owners?  Have you thought of asking the actual breeder of your puppy for helpful tips and tricks on how to cope with the early stages of puppyhood?  Did your breeder not assure you that he/she was only a phone call, email or car ride away if there was even the tiniest problem?

See how easy it is just to rattle off questions?   The difference is when I ask questions I'm actually interested in the answers.  Teri

Perhaps you are not suited to a Staff pup,or the pup to you.The chain you are in needs to be broken as you sound pretty desperate.We had an Irish Setter pup once that bit so hard we still have the gouge marks, and Irish Setters although zany are not considered aggressive.

Im confused you mention the perfect puppy to read]

Trackie i NEVER mentioned 'the perfect puppy". P'haps youve got me mixed up with someone else? :)

I still stick by what i said,do NOT remove the puppy,you must be the one to walk away and ignore it,and you must,must must teach your children how to react around this dog,because unfortunately they seem to be the ones holding you back,there is inconsistency somewhere?? You can teach the 5 year old how to react when nipped by the pup,i did it with my kids as have many others :)

Sorry got you mixed up with someone else i do apologise :)

Hi Trackie, ;-)

One thing I think that concerned me reading the posts is both you and your husband seem to think she is going to be a " nightmare adult". I think if you both feel like that just now you need to stop and rethink, the puppy is just that a puppy. She will turn how you let her turn out. So will gentle training and reassurance she will grow into a well adjusted adult refocus this negativity. It appears you have written her off already.  Sorry if it isnt like that.  You seem to have been so unprepared for puppyhood to be honest and are now shocked by the commitment and work.  Everything you are experiencing is 100% normal.  

Probably a bit late to tell you this now but to be honest your busy household is one of the reason very few people place young puppies with families with very young kids. The commitment needed it 10 times greater because you are almost training your kids at the sametime. Commitment understandably few people have with very young children. If they commitment is there it will work out fine. 12 months time you can look back and laugh.:-)

I used to have a rule, when a puppy was running around , my daughter was sitting , and when she was running around the puppy was in a safe place away from her. Puppies bed or kitchen.