ive had my pup since he was 8weeks old,he was a bit aggressive from the strt but i put it down to him being a male staffy pup anyway i seemed to of got control of it,but 2 weeks ago he was stolen from me and was gone for 8days before i got him back,but now since ive got him back hes growling at my daughter when she goes near him if hes sitting or lieing down. when hes active and lively he plays wiv her,by nuzzling into her and licking her and when we get back from being out he will jump in her buggy to kiss her so i dont understand how he can want to play with her but also growl at her.has anybody got any ideas on what to do before i have to rehome him?

 

Dogs do not think like us, they think in pack mode
he is claiming his place in the pack as above your girl
He was gone for a week so in his mind he needs to refind his place in the pack
It is your job as pack leader to put a stop to this.
Keep a very sharp eye and never leave him alone with her
As soon as you see him doing this growl at your girl go over to him , make a claw like with your hand and jab it into the side of his neck and say ah ah in a firm but calm voice
he should back away from you, if he dont repeat and move forward untill he does back up
the claw stimulates what his mom would have done ( its like a bite to them) to correct him.

This is not puppy behaviour this is dominance and should not be tolerated.
Remember never leave your girl alone with him even when he is in the playing mood.

thanx kellie i will give that a try and hopefully it works.but when he does this and i go to tell him off he allready knows and goes straight to his bed.

Please go careful using any kind of physical correction with a dog displaying aggression. Such a confrontational approach could potentially escalate the situation further leading to somebody getting bitten.

I would consider the help of a behaviourist to witness the behaviour and try to establish its root cause, not all aggression is status related.

It sounds like he went through a bit of an ordeal, he could well be nervous as a result.

Take care.

I have to agree with Muze07. Do you actually know what happened to him while he was away? He could be traumatised in some way and feeling frightened and nervous and any kind of physical/confrontational treatment could actually exacerbate any fear he's feeling into all out aggression - fight or flight basically.

Has he been checked by the vet since his return to make sure that he has no physical injuries?

I'd be consulting a behaviourist too as quick as I could - your vet might have one at their practice or at the very least be able to recommend one.

In the meantime, don't leave your daughter with him unattended, don't let her be on the floor with him - she should be at a higher level than him and if he's lying sleeping or chilling out, tell her not to touch him cos he's sleepy - these are all things that you should be doing anyway with a young child and a young dog.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

thanx for your responses,i dont leave them in the room alone and i do try to keep her away from him when hes chilling,but i do also feel that i shouldnt have to be so nervouse about her going near him when hes sitting etc.ive got another staff and shes fine.
unfortunately, i was told that he was chained up (his neck was marked when i got him back so it must be true) and picked on by children like picking at his ears and god knows what else .i am looking into a behavourist cuz i really dont want to give up on him.he has an appointment with the vet so hopefully they might be able to offer me some advice.
i will let you no how it goes thanx again

Ahh, it sounds like he's had a bad experience and particularly with children. A behaviourist would be the best thing to re-introduce him to children and help him realise that he's not going to have a repeat of his bad experience.

It'll take time, but I'm pretty sure you'll be able to turn this around.

Poor boy and at such a young age too.

i really hope we can turn it around,ive been on the phone to a few behaviour therapists tonight and after realising who was trying to con me out of my money!!,think ive found one.
hes got a vet check monday because they couldnt get me in this week,if there is something physically wrong with him do you think i should still get him a behavourist anyway?

See what the vet says. It might not hurt to get a behaviourist out - even if it's to help you get over your nervousness with the way he's been reacting to your daughter. I know what you mean though - some of them are right rip offs. Did you ask the vets if they had anyone they could recommend?

We got a behaviourist out to see if we could get help with Cairo's nervousness - he's frightened of his own shadow - the best we got out of her for £95 was to rehome Neo, castrate Cairo, feed him potatoes and clicker train him! Still none the wiser about how to build his confidence up.

Let us know how you and he get on. I reckon he's young enough to get him over this trauma - time, love and patience.

Arrrh now i see the bigger picture and can understand more why this is happening
He has developed a fear of children. i also agree with you seeking help and him going for a vet check
I hope his confidence can be built back up and i wish you all the best with this.

:( what an awful situation. seems like ur wee lad had been through a right ordeal!! let us know how the vet and behavourist goes

xx

thanx everyone i just dont know what to do in the meantime really bacause i know hes nervous but i know he has to be told off for it aswell ,monday (vets) seems ages away! he had a slight limp when i got him back but it wasnt very noticeble in 1 of his front paws i cant work out which 1 it is but thats got worse in the last few days,so maybe that has a link to his behaviour but he doesnt growl at me my poor boy i supose i dont even no the half of what hes been through.
so the behavourist you saw alison was no good?they are expensive and its a shame if they turn out to be rubbish one told me on the phone kids shouldnt be around dogs because there only a nuisance,well i wont be useing her lol! what are potatoes meant to do another one i phoned quoted me £250!!

If his leg has gotten worse plz ring your vet back today and say he needs to be seen asap and explain why
If he is in pain this could be explaining a lot.

shell wrote:

thanx everyone i just dont know what to do in the meantime really bacause i know hes nervous but i know he has to be told off for it aswell ,monday (vets) seems ages away! he had a slight limp when i got him back but it wasnt very noticeble in 1 of his front paws i cant work out which 1 it is but thats got worse in the last few days,so maybe that has a link to his behaviour but he doesnt growl at me my poor boy i supose i dont even no the half of what hes been through. so the behavourist you saw alison was no good?they are expensive and its a shame if they turn out to be rubbish one told me on the phone kids shouldnt be around dogs because there only a nuisance,well i wont be useing her lol! what are potatoes meant to do another one i phoned quoted me £250!!

I'd get him to the vet to get that leg checked too. I know what you mean about not knowing which one it is. Cairo was limping at one point and we were convinced it was one leg (can't remember which one) but it was actually the opposite one.

His growling at the little one is probably to do with the trauma and bad time he's had with the children that were bad to him when he was missing. He's just frightened but that's not to say that I'm dismissing his growling because a frightened dog is probably worse than a truly aggressive dog. How old is your daughter? Is she old enough to understand that there were some children that were bad to him and so he's scared now, so when he's sleeping or lying down, not to disturb him, but maybe call him over for a pet - so that he knows what's coming and isn't taken by surprise.

If he does have a sore leg - it might have been caused by the children - more reason that he's going to be scared.

Get him checked fully at the vets - including his ears and eyes and mouth to make sure that there's nothing untoward there.

I think regarding the behaviourist - speak to them on the phone - you've already established that one you spoke to was crap. If you get one that's willing to talk on the phone for a while to discuss things and she sounds like she knows what she's taking about, you'll probably find that she was good.

The behaviourist we got out was talking about potatoes because of carbohydrates improving behaviour or something. We were to give him mashed potatoes in between his meals - something to do with his energy levels or something. She also wanted us to change him from JWB to some other "natural" complete food. She gave us a sample, we put a little bit in the dog's bowls with the JWB and both of them ended up with the scoots - Neo had projectile diarrhoea in the middle of the night - poor boy was really distressed, Cairo was hiding at the back of his crate in case it got him!!

But, I think the behaviourist we had was scared of the dogs - they do make a helluva noise when somebody comes in but they were both behind baby gates. She also spent most of the session speaking to us while Cairo was shut in the kitchen and Neo was shut in the bedroom - and she didn't look at both dogs together.

As I said before, as your vet. I didn't do that, but later found that they did have a behaviourist that they recommended.

Also, is he insured? You might find that his insurance covers the cost of a behaviourist as well.

well kellie i was debateing all day whether to ring the vets back and after i saw your message i rang them and they got me in this evening with him,hes been put on pain killers for 10 days if its no better then they will xray him,but he said theres nothing obviouse there,maybe hes jumped and landed on it funny.i got him to look in his ears,take his temperature etc but everything else is fine so thats good.
unfortunately my daughters not at an age where i can explain to her whats happened because shes only 17months,all i can say is no really when i dont want her to go near him.ive spoke to a couple of trainers and they said if he does have a physical injury i need to wait untill hes better before they can do anything.so now i'll have to wait untill hes finished his tablets and see how he is.poor neo and cairo i bet that put you off changing their food for life!theres not much point being a dog trainer if your scared of them is there lol! the vet gave me a list with phone numbers on of dog trainers so i will ring those and see what those ones are like over the phone.no hes not insured.

well done shell, im so glad you got him into the vets today
You never know he may be grumping cause he is in a little pain with his leg
And the pain killer will make him feel better so he may have a change of attitude
Lets hope this is the case and it all turns out well.

i really hope so too thanx.your dogs are gawjuss by the way.how do i put up pics of my 2?

really hope you manage 2 get your boy sorted
you need a photobucket account here's a link www.photobucket.com then upload your photos then copy & paste the 4th link under your photo into your post

thanx well hes calmed down a bit now,he was on painkillers for 10 days for a poorly leg and hes a still a bit wary of her but i think we're getting there now.but its 1 problem after another wiv them got a bitch aswll) as there both now destroying my house all good fun! (not!)