Hi there, this is my first post on here and am hoping that someone can help. I have a 11month staffie he is a good dog and is house trained, sits and all that. But there is a few things that I would like to change. One is recall when Im out walking him and I let him off the lead he is off to the nearest person, dog or just runs far in front. So now I just have him on the flexi lead so the recall thing isnt a big problem. The one thing that I would really like to change is when he sees someone he just goes mad he gets all excited  and jumps up at them. Even if they have a dog he just thinks person first dog second. When a friend comes round he does the same thing he just jumps up at them and gets all excited. He sometimes nips  as well but not aggresively just playfully. He hasnt a vicious bone in his body and is a lovely dog. I just want him to stop jumping up at people. I say to him down, sit, off all the commands he knows but when he is excited he dont really listen but when im on my own with him indoors he is completly fine.

He's still a pup and at that age as with many teenagers he will rebel a little, you say left, and he'll go right kind of thing. :-)

You sound to be doing a really good job with him, if he is trained and obediant at home alone with you, then you have done a good job, his age is an awful lot to do with his behaviour.

At home his over excitment is easy to control, when peole come to visit pop him straight on lead and keep him close, ask them not to make a fuss of him when they firstly come in, get him to sit next to you on lead give him the sit and quiet command as Staffs can be quite vocal when excited too as you have probably gathered. :-D  After 10 mins let your visitors give him a pat if he is still excitable keep him sat next to you on lead, once he is calm let him off, if he jumps up and gets excited put him back on lead and wait a few more minutes, continue to do this all the time until he is calm.

If you do this for a few weeks, he will eventually learn to be calm with visitors, and to obey your sit and quiet commands.

The flexilead and long line are great for his recall training, again with age he will loose interest in greeting everyone he comes across, just continue with the excellent training you are giving him, it is the worst age right now for disobediance so just keep up with it and have patience and by the time he is 2 you will have a happy, obediant dog. :-) 

Hi
Training the dog I find is easy peasy...it's training the humans that visit that's the problem  If you can get EVERY human that encounters him to ignore him - no eye contact, no touch, no verbals - he will soon think that they are boring and start to lose his excitement.  HOWEVER, getting people to behave like this is trying beyond belief.  You ask them/tell them what to do;  you explain why and they STILL go 'oh but he/she is only a puppy'in an excited voice.  Grrrrrrrrrr!  Train your humans and your dog will be a cinch!  :-D   

The only time he is vocal is when someone is at the door and goes in the hall way and sits there barking a little.. i just pat him on the back and say good boy and then answer the door. And as soon as the person comes in well he sits there behind the gate in the hall way all excited tail going wriggling all over the floor and as soon as my friend or anyone comes through the gate thats it he jumps up at them as if to go look at me look at me pay attention to me. It does drive me up the wall sometimes and i do think he is just a puppy anyone he sees indoors or out he will get excited over.  I said to my friend just ignore him cross your arms and have your back to him.. after about 20 seconds the dog just sat there and i told my friend praise him and he did.. well you can imagine what happend the dog got all excited again.. I guess its partly my fault as well as i just give up after a little while.. but that is my fault though.
Is it usualy for a puppy to pick everything up outside and try and eat it ? at the moment he has calmed abit on that.. he just goes for bread and sticks which he tends to try and eat instead of carry. If i say leave or grab the stick and say leave he will do after a couple of times.. with the bread.. fat chance so i try and get it out of his mouth before he has eaten it all

Is it usualy for a puppy to pick everything up outside and try and eat it ?

Some pups and dogs will do this some won't, there are many reasons for it, from lack of things in the diet, to just doing it for fun and habit.

Easy to stop though, just use the drop command, carry some dog biscuits a little cheese or some nibble, tell him drop and give him a treat in return, it is always better to swap than take, especially if your dog finds a dead rat or bad meat or something else undesireable, if he gets used to you just taking he may try to wolf it down instead. :-)

Ok cool.. thanks for the advice so will try it all..

Have to say that the behaviour you described is normal staff behaviour,they are a very excitable breed any human they see they want attention off.I read once that if you want a quiet reserved dog that knows its place and waits to be asked to join in then a stafford is not for you.I personally think they can be trained to a certain degree but they crave human attention they will launch themselves at people even when they've been trained to be more controlled.I had problems with my staffs recall but after some good advice from people on here i use a long line as for the jumping the thing my dog hates is if we ignore her so if he jumps just turn around and walk away,it worked for us and shes only 16 weeks you need the co-operation of your visitors for it to work. Good luck.x

Does seem to be a stafford trait with some - just too exciteable and loveable despite what the press tries to portray :)

Yeah he is a wonderful dog and love him to bits.. I never let him off the lead when i take him to the park i just have him on the flexilead. The reason for that is a the recall thing and also I have been told that there has been a few dog attacks around there and that i dont want him to do is to get in a fight and become agressive.
With the jumping up bit i have been told that he is just a puppy and will do that till he hits a certain age and will do it less.  I do warn people when they want to stroke him that he will jump up. Sometimes he will do the opposite and just go straight on his back.

I'd be quite strict about it - nobody strokes him or gives him attention until he is absolutely calm and more or less ignoring them - then and only then can they call him and pet him.    My Staffy dog was the same as yours and that's the approach I should have taken when he was young - otherwise he's going to be on the lead all the time - which is a shame if he's good with other dogs as mine is.

The only time i let him off the lead is when Im with a friend and his dog. Which is a Jack Russell. And we go to a different park  which is a massive field and you can see if anyone is coming. Both dogs get on fine but then after a little while my friends dog gets abit tierd as he is a few years older than mine.  And thats when both dogs are put back on the lead as thats roughly when Shadow ( My dog ) wants to play and that and my friends dog gets abit moody.. lol

Hi John
Now I understand a little bit more!!! -)  If the only time you let your dog off leash is with this one other jack russell, the poor little chap is probably missing company of his own kind and so every time he sees another dog in the distance then of course he's going to want to rush over and say hello!  In effect what you are doing is heightening the value of canine company by making it such a scarce commodity.  Someone on this board once posted an analogy:  imagine you are on a strange planet living with this family of aliens.  They look after you and feed you and give you affection but they don't speak your language and (to you!) they sometimes have some very strange ideas.  Then one day out on a walk you see another person of your own kind speaking your own language!  Too right you're going to want to go over and say hi!  :-D

So, you need to strike a balance between allowing your guy to interact and socialise with dogs of all types and sizes whilst trying to build your control over him until such time as you've established that the other dogs are friendly and the owners are happy for your chappie to go and play.