i have a 5 month old staff and he is scared of everything. as he gets older will this change because this is my first dog and thought staffs aren't scared of anything. he chases cats but as soon as he gets there he just jumps about.

1. You have to socialise him, how is he supposed to know how to react to different things/situations :( When he gets older his attitudes might well change, but that is down to you, all those years of breeding good temprements can easily be undone by irresponsible owners
2. Why are you letting him chase around after cats? What do you want him to do instead of jumping around? Just be thankful he hasnt learnt to attack them. Go and enrol in some training classes and get him trained and socialised properly before learns chasing things is fun and runs out into traffic or damages an eye attacking the local cats!

although im not sure about what you actually want him to do when he gets to the cat lol Staffs mature at around 2 years old and thats when the "tanasity" (sp) for which the breed is so renound will begin to show.

Just be sure to keep him well socialised!!

Andy

Hello,

I too am not to sure what you expect him to do and where is he chasing cats in the garden and whp's are they. I have an 11 month old Stafford bitch and two elderly cats and because she knows it's not acceptable to me she leaves them alone. And they her (luckily). She is still a puppy and still learning like a child they need to know what is and what isn't acceptable/house rules and stick to them.

When you say your pup is scared of everything what do you mean can you be more specific?

Mine has been out and about in my arms before she had her jabs and to puppy classes (playing) in fact she's been everywhere I am allowed to take her (and some I'm not when she was tiny)

I would suggest you start to intorduce your pup slwoly to different things the last thing you want is a fully grown Stafford dog who's a nervous wreck.

Karen

from now on i will not let him chase cats. he is very socialised he does not attack but a few dogs have tried to attack him. i think he is a bit to playful but this will probably change as he gets older. also when he's off the lead he always runs to people and its really starting to annoy me. is there anyway i can stop this?

Hello. My 2 dogs were the same. Gia wanted to cuddle everyone and Athos was suspicious, but never, never, never ever attacked, he just wanted to know who the person was. The problem was because they are bullmastiffs it scared the hell out of people to have giant dogs running towards them...The only way for me was to put them on the lead if I saw someone coming and used the halti. Because the Park behind my house is very quiet it was ok to have them off the lead most of the time, and by the time Gia was 2 she was ok and could be let off the lead in the big busy park with lots of people and other dogs but Athos was still mostly on the lead and halti.
Val xxxx :D

Deleted due to duplication

hi skanka
my 2 yr old staff is also scared of a few things like the hoover,the ironing board and the mop,she also doesn't like it when it rains.Don't react to these things,either make them into a game or ignore it don't comfort him or you will just be telling him its good to act that way.As the other posts suggest get him out,take him onto the high street where theres lots of traffic,confussion,different noises,lots of people,ignore some comments you might hear people saying,as we hear people telling there children to get away from that dog and pulling their children away.Take him onto the field to play with other dogs but becareful.It might be useful if you know anyone else with a staff that lives close to you and take him for walks with them as they will be used to the ruff and tumble.If not....
you could get in contact with you local stafford club to find out if anyone lives close by,then you can compare with them, get helpful tips ect
if you have anymore problem drop me an email
cheers vicky

Hello.
You should not allow you dog to chase a cat. Do you expect him to kill the cat?? One of my cats was killed by this dog in the park, I could hear my dogs going mad at the end of the garden - my house backs to a park, and I went to investigate because I had a bad feeling. I found my cat dead, the dog owner left as quickly as she could but I saw her and recognised her dog, the owner is the type that likes the dogs to be tough and doesn't care if they kill other animals. We put posters all over the park asking dog owners to keep their dog on the lead if their dog hate cats, as there are so many around. Now this woman leaves the park as soon as she sees me coming, what upset me too was she never tried to talk to contact me about my dead cat, he had a collar with address on and she just left him there dying. Please don't encourage your dog to chase cats.
Val xxxx