Biting puppy

[mandi_25_uk]

We have an 8 week old staffordshire bull terrier puppy. We have tried several ways to stop him nipping and biting but none of them are working. Has any one any advice for me please?

[Solarjunkie]

Hmmm.
Alternatively -
Speak to him in dog language, ie curl up & cry like a hurt puppy when he hurts you.
Give him lots of praise and attention when he is being frienldy and gentle.
"The Perfect Puppy" by Gwen Bailey is highly recommended.Good luck.

[Ice.Maiden]

We've got some Staffies, and they're beautiful, loyal dogs but always headstrong and "mad"!!! The one you have is still a baby, and will want to chew on things to help his mature teeth to come through. Has he got lots of toys? As he gets older, you'll need something like nylon bones, otherwise he'll just blitz everything. Ours can make easy work of a large Kong in about 20 minutes! Try not to feed titbits by hand unless your puppy takes them nicely. If you use a stern voice, he'll soon learn that if he's good, he'll be rewarded. He's still very young yet though - and all puppies chew and bite!

[divegirl]

Please ignore the answer given by the idiot called gravitate!

when he initiates play, if you see he is going to bite say 'AH AH AH' in a stern but calm voice [should soung like short sharp words]
If your pup nips at you use a high pitched 'squeak' to show him that you are hurt [this is what his litter mates would do]....then distract him with something that he is allowed to chew. If he persists.....walk away from him so that he begins to learn that this sort of behaviour gets him ignored. Also instead of using rough play with him, use the times that he is awake and alert to do your basic training with him.
NEVER NEVER hit a dog as punishment! Good luck with your baby.

Lisa xxx

[Booldawg]

Thats how puppies communicate with other litter members, by biting and nipping. No doubt he'll grow out of it but a firm 'No' or turning your back on him each time he does it will help him to realise its unacceptable behaviour. Dogs hate to be ignored and will sense your dis-pleasure. Staffies are particularly headstrong as a breed and its an excellent idea to take him to puppy training classes to socialise him with other dogs.

[kaztuz]

Star, our staffy is eight months old and she daily likes to start biting us playfully. She all of a sudden gets this look in her eyes and starts to make funny noises at you then just starts snapping. The thing that makes it worse is pointing at her. So we just ignore her and move our hands away. Yours is still very young and will be wanting to bite and chew anything and everything. Don't bother with those so called indestructible toys as they will last about half an hour. Solid rubber toys are usually the best and hyde is pretty good just messy, although your pup is probably too young for that yet.

[FKNelectro]

hes a young dog, so he'll want to chew things, aswell as being firm with him, get him lots of toys to chew on (a tug toy or a rope is always good) and maybe raw hide chews, or something like that.

[lisa2007]

hi my staffy pup did this too dnt worry she just grew out of it no need for smacking or telling off shes just playing although i admit it does hurt :)