when i take my staffies out for walk tilly the mum of the 2 loves her ball chases it for ages but barney has taken to just running in to her on the way back with the ball biteing at her so she drops it he then grabs the ball brings it back gives it to me as if to say aren't i a clever boy even if i take 2 balls he does the same thing seems a shame for tilly not to take one at all cheers sam

Greetings,
Sounds as if Barney is not respecting Tilly's "dominant" position as the older dog. You should seriously think of stepping in and reinforcing that she is to be respected as the mature dog. This situation can easily deteriorate so that he could be biting/pushing her around at her in other areas of life. Especially when you are not around.

Support her position & clearly favor her over him. Either throw the ball & keep him on leash... or if he does follow commands off leash, tell him to "stop it" when he begins to harrass her. If he's pushing her around at other times & interfering... make him second again. Feed her first. Put him on a sit/stay by you until she is finished eating.

When you come home... pay attention to her first & if he interferes... eject him quietly & quickly, if you don't want to manage the sit/stay. If they're both allowed on the bed, he gets to stay on the floor for a while while you pay attention to her. Seriously, this can escalate & since she is older and not as strong, you have to enforce her position in the heirarchy.

Hope this helps as a start.
good luck,
toodles

I'm wondering if we should be interfering, I'm sure if she was upset by his behaviour she would let him know. Unless you have an aggression problem I think you should let the dogs sort out their pecking order for themselves. Ignore me if you like as I have no knowledge of your dogs and you will know the situating, just the way I look at things. Jackie H

She posted.... I just answered with my opinion :D Free to take it as she likes, or not. She didn't say how old the mother is either --if she's in any shape to enforce her own will upon son....but I just don't like males to act like bullies. mho though :D
toodles

Not getting at you, just my opinion thats all. Sure the breed may be very different to mine, but with my breed the males are never able to dominate the bitches at least in my experence. Jackie H

:D :D :D -- I just know with the terriers that I've had, sometimes a little push from the owner is necessary just because the males can be such blockheads at times.

I had a month long "visit" by 18 month old male fox terrier that just wouldn't listen or respond when the "girls" were making a point. I had to step in just because he outweighed them by about 6 pounds and was using his weight to push them around. They'd even gang up on him, but he would be a bully. The situation stressed Chienne so much that she had a seizure several time while he was there & right after he left.
She only gets them when under extreme doggy stress or heat...very rarely now.

My mom had to reinforce the dominance of her elderly doxie over her two year old male schnauzer too. These things, they happen, & it's no biggie to help out the situation. Just nip it in the bud if it begins to progress. It's when dogs are treated absolutely equally that the dangerous fights result (in my opinion & experience)

Your right Jackie, the boys look all strong, even posture, but when the girls tell em, boy do they listen eh! :D

thanks for your help do feed tilly first shes very fit and shes a big girl always do things with her first hes very good in every other respect. tilly just a real softie with him but when she says no she means it with him just doesnt seem to do it about this oh and shes 3 years old cheers sam

So she just doesn't care that much about the ball game to enforce :D :D :D
toodles

I have a staff, adn she is great with other dogs. She has a best friend female staffie, about 6 months younger than her, and they meet up at the park at least twice a week. Cleo likes to chase the ball, but Florence (her friend) is ball crazy. When we throw anything, cleo just lets florence go and get it then barges her,etc all the way back - it's the game they play. Cleo would rather get the ball off florence and then have her chase her than bothering to get the ball. They have always played like this...
hope this helps, as long as she isn't growling or showing displeasure i would say that they are both happy with the game