Staffyluv

Thanks guys - I am so incredibly proud of him. He was like a nut when we first got there yesterday morning, wanting to play with everyone and I thought 'this is not going to go well'. But then I decided that it was going to go well and we walked off to another section away from his doggy friends and we did a few heels, sits etc. I could see when they were all gathering around (I already knew we were up first), so we went back, stood at the edge of the ground and waited to be called in to start. From the moment we stood there together (I had so many butterflies) and he was looking up at me, I just knew it was going to be OK. He did every command he was asked and waited between each command for the next one. I was so proud of him when the assessor said 'very well done', that I thought I was going to cry. Lots of our group (who had been watching) all clapped as we came off. We had to wait a while for the other dogs to their assessments and then we had a group long stay to do. We got lots of claps and cheers when we were called up as first, had our photo taken for the club newsletter.. Zig was so tired that we came home and he slept all afternoon.

Thanks for that link corvus, I am going to check out iBooks and see if it is listed there yet as I would really like to read that. Sounds like lots of us have been having good progress.. I love that photo of Justice, he looks so proud of himself.. I did start a thread for Zig as I was so proud of him today - we had our beginners obedience assessment and we came first a a group of about 16 dogs.. The lad really did me proud. He did heel, sit, drop, stay, wait, left and right turns, more sits in between heels and a drop during heeling. Then we finished off with a long stay and he was so good. From a dog that I was told, would never handle obedience to a dog that loves and thrives in the environment.. Don't get me wrong, we still have loads of work to do but for him to come first at his first attempt was such a great feeling and just the boost I needed - I actually feel like I must be doing it right for a change, instead of constantly questioning what I am doing wrong.. The hard work is worth it. He is even walking on a loose lead most of the time - no where near the pulling he was doing.

Oh yeah, I forgot about weight bearing bones - we don't use them at all.. I did give Zig a couple of marrow bones but the way he crunched at them, I was worried about him breaking teeth. So we use ribs and brisket bones.

To me (and I am sure someone more experienced will correct me if I am wrong) but that seems like a lot of offal = depending on how often you are giving it to her. Zig is mainly raw fed. He is 27kg staffy cross (looks more like an amstaff) and he gets: Breakfast: a chook carcass or half a cup of kibble with a tin of sardines in oil or a few chook necks or a turkey neck or a rack of ribs with about 3 or 4 ribs on it from a lamb. Dinner is 100-150g roo meat or beef meat or a barf patty. Other stuff he gets is his kong with 1/4 cup kibble and some cottage cheese (maybe once a week). An egg a couple of times a week - the whole thing, shell and all - raw. Training treats these days is usually some devon and or cheese. When it is really hot, he gets a chook stock ice block. Edited to add - I don't give him any offal (because he doesn't like it).

The assessment went very well Corvus - he came first in the beginners.. I am so proud of him, he did everything spot on when he was asked.. We even blitzed the left hand turns.. So proud I made a whole thread about it here in training

I just had to share - I am so proud of him and all the hard work we have done.. He came first in the beginners class at his first assessment today. Zig Obedience 1st Place 7.4.12 by Jodie Moore Photos, on Flickr

I am confused over this - there seems to be so many more people that only train for a few minutes at a time. Zig is still sitting at my side at 15-20 minutes looking at me and seems to want to keep going. This session is every morning at the park, with loads of distraction (because that has always been our problem, working under distraction). This morning was awesome but only about 10 minutes long as I didn't want to overwork him, I am hoping he does the same in his assessment in about 45 minutes.. He heeled, normal, slow and fast pace, he sat and waited to recall, he dropped and stayed in drop.. I really want him to do well and now I am worried that doing 20 minutes this morning is going to throw him in his assessment.

I would also like to read the one on frustration if you can locate it please. Aissielover, 20 minutes is nothing for him. At the behaviourist sessionsit used to go for 2 hours and I couldn't work out why he used to play up all the time.. Then after talking on here about it and so many saying that was way too long, I dropped him back and used to pay for the whole lesson but leave at around the hour mark. Looking back, even that was too much for him. Now I find he is much happier and seems to find it easier to focus, if he can blow of some steam before we train (hence the reason for a run at the dog park before we leave and come back to the town park to train). Most mornings he is keen to keep going, that is why I leave when we do, I want him to want to keep doing it. The home reward isn't the same as the park reward, I am probably not as enthusiastic as I am at the park, that's a really good point and one I hadn't noticed until it was mentioned. I will work on that. Time to get some sleep, we have a big morning tomorrow. Wish us luck, it's his first obedience assessment at 9am.

That makes sense MRB.. At home, we just do things randomly - no set pattern really. We might do heel, sit, heel, sit all the way into the house one day and another we might do wait and then come when called.. I don't think he is bored with it yet - but I do watch for signs, especially when we are at the park, to finish on a high note. One thing I am really lucky with is he will train for a tennis ball or even just pats to say he is a good boy. I bought some of those dog carob treats today to give him, what I thought would be, a higher value reward - and he won't eat them... Totally turned his nose up..

Zig is doing much better than expected at obedience training.. Each morning we go for a walk - we play fetch (his favourite game), then we come back to the town park, so he can have a dunk in the pond - yep, even in this cold weather. Then we spend about 20 minutes doing heel, drop, sit, stay, left and right turns - all the basic stuff.. By the time we get to our 'training' the park is filling up with morning walkers, joggers and others walking dogs - this is good experience for him as he can still have issues with distraction (but has improved tremendously since we first began our lives together).. He seems to get excited about this training at the park. I also take opportunities during the day to get him to heel beside me, when we walk from my office to the kitchen (when I make lunch) and sit and wait at doors until called in etc. Just tidbits of training at different opportunistic times during the day.. He doesn't seem excited about this sort of training at home - he just does it.. When I mentioned this to the obedience trainer, she said I was probably doing too much training... I suppose we do 20 minutes of a morning and then about 15 - 20 minutes through the day.. Is this too much?

Please do get help - better now than later. As others with much more experience have said - you don't want to come home to one dog injured (or worse, dead). Dogs don't really do the whole human emotion thing - they live in the here and now. Good luck

It often is where I go. It's not that they are aggressive, it's how they react to other dogs objecting to their behaviour. They don't read the more subtle signals from other breeds well and as a result get 'shouted' at. Nine times out of ten, if a staffy gets shouted at at the dog park it will spin around and have a go at the dog that shouted at them. I frankly think they make awful dog park dogs. I'm not the only one that has to manage interactions with this breed carefully to avoid trouble. I didn't say they wouldn't and couldn't cause issues. I totally agree that being between two pi$$ed off staffords is not a place I would like to be. In my opinion 'they' don't make awful dog park dogs - some of them do, yes but not ALL of them. Again, it is an individual thing. But I digress - this isn't about staffords and dog parks. I hope the OP can find a behaviourist to help with the issue they are having with their two girls.

Pip was the only one I had an issue with.. It is actually wonderful to se them thrive in their new homes. I still get to see Coco, the Stafford a bit as she went to a friend. She was only here with me 10 days. I think she was here a week and I was having the kitchen redone and the joiner (family friend) walked in one morning, met her and fell in love. Watching him bring his wife and 3 kids around to meet her was awesome. I thought his wife was going to cry. She was sitting on the floor with Coco and asking why anyone would dump a dog in the pound.. Coco lives next to a huge reserve where she gets a good off lead run every afternoon with the kids and dad while mum makes dinner. She now has a little buddy in a small fluffy and even though they have their own beds, I frequently get pictures of them curled up together on one bed... Gus, kelpie cross also has a great home. He is a fishing buddy for the dad of the family and even goes out on the boat with his little life jacket.. I run into his family a coup,e of months ago and he is doing really well. He also has kids to play with and apparently he likes to sun bake on the trampoline..

Staffords are a beautiful and powerful breed. They are loyal beyond fault but well bred dogs don't have a predisposition for aggression with other animals any more than any other animal. My whole family have had Staffords for many years (most of them have been from good breeders) and in all the dogs we have had between us there has been 1, just 1 dog who was ever an issue with aggression.. He was PTS at about 18 months old after much work had gone into him. One dog in about twenty dogs isn't what I would call a predisposition for aggression with other animals. That is just our family. I have known many more Staffords over the years and I can't fathom this constant talk of how aggressive they are. Of all the dogs at the dog park and training that Zig and i go to, it isn't the Staffords that create issues.. Like any breed they need training, exercise and socialisation.. Why do people always have to generalise a whole breed based on a few they say they have known.. I think it is sad that the only Staffords you have known have aggression issues and have killed or mauled other dogs.

All our dogs (including the staffords) over the year have always had sardines. One of our girls years ago used to steal fresh fish, just caught (whole) and eat them. She ate the whole thing from head to tail.. My current boy loves sardines in the tin in oil or spring water. He also loves canned and fresh fish like tuna, salmon.. Zig is so well fed that today was his 2nd birthday and I bought him a cupcake and he didn't want it - he took off with the pigs ear that my son got him instead..

Thanks so much for all the happy day wishes. He has had a big day. A run at the park with the big lab and a game of ball early. Then the fool went into the pond at Queanbeyan park - it must have been freezing but he seems to like it after all the running around at the dog park. Home for breaky then up to the factory to have a quick play with Kiara - a very little JR cross something. Then into my office as the meet and greet committee (snoozing under my desk). This afternoon we did some heel work and stays (in practice for his first assessment at obedience this Sunday) - we still don't have the left turn down right but we have time to practice. Then when the boy came home from work, we had cake, toys, party hats and pigs ears (well Zig had a pigs ear).. He is now snoozing under his favourite fluffy blanket. I can't believe he has been with us 18 months and he is 2 already..

I have put a link to this thread in the training thread. So hopefully someone will know of a professional in your area that can help..

see this thread staffy2 needs help and the advice so far is professional help...

You have been given very good advice so far - probably not what you wanted to hear but it is still very relevant and good advice. Most of the people who have responded to you have years of experience breeding and showing staffords - they do know what they are talking about. I totally agree with not having 2 stafford bitches so close in age together. You may have to make the decision to rehome one or the other, depending on which dog you prefer. Rehoming is not cruel, it is in the best interest of the dogs. It is not fair for one dog to live in fear of another or another dog to be constantly stressed about having to put another dog in its place.. It would be a happier home for you and the dogs. But get some professional help first by contacting a good behaviourist to come and see the two dogs together and how they interact. I notice you are in Victoria - Cos from Underdog training is down that way and if you let us know exactly what area you are in we can recommend a good behaviourist (please don't use bark busters or just anyone)..

If Staffyluv doesn't mind going off topic, can you tell us your girl's story Jipsi. That is if it isn't somewhere else. No I don't mind at all.. I love hearing the happy beginnings of rehomed fosters

Me too DD. I am still waiting for them to contact me directly, so we can organise some meet and greets to see how they go.

We found each other at Queanbeyan pound just a week after losing Ollie dog. He was a scared 6 month old staffy cross. Look at him now :) 6 months old - the day we bought him home Little Ziggy by Jodie Moore Photos, on Flickr and now.. Office worker boy 2.2013 by Jodie Moore Photos, on Flickr IMG_1048 by Jodie Moore Photos, on Flickr

Zig has no issues with others dogs at all. They can come into his home, eat his food, drink his water, swim in his clam shell, play with his toys and he doesn't care. He is not territorial or possessive over anything. We had a friends oodle here a week ago and the first thing Charlie did was come in and eat Zigs breakfast.. He had never met this dog before. Zig just waited until he finished and then they went and played out the back while we sat and watched them and threw a ball for them because they are both ball mad. I can introduce here at home OK. But I also happy to take new dogs for a big walk with Zig when we first meet.. Expending some energy always calms things down. But Pip hasn't been around us for a long time and I dare say she is going to be a much bigger and more mature dog than when she left. I won't do anything to put Zig at risk, he is my main priority. He has the most amazing temperament and I don't want to do anything to change that.

Haha, PETA and regular people really don't belong in the same sentence

Absolutely. It will be interesting to see her. She was chipped by the pound as a staffy cross but was bigger than Ziggy (who is about 27kg) when she was 5 months old. She didn't weigh as much but she was taller than him.. I will post some taken before she left and some when she comes home.