Tofuloaf

I'm another person who thinks that just sounds like typical puppy behaviour. Something to note is that young puppies have yet to learn that if they're tired, sleeping will make them feel better. Until they learn that, they will run around getting more tired, more cranky, and consequently more 'psycho' until they pretty much pass out from exhaustion. If you see your pup being 'psycho' or doing zoomies around the house, she might just be tired. Try crating her when she does that. I wouldn't be surprised if she was asleep within a few minutes. As for the food aggression, I certainly wouldn't stick my hand in her food. At first, stay by her when she feeds and put some extra tasty treats in her bowl as she eats, so that she associates your presence while feeding as being a positive thing. After a couple of days of that, take her bowl away when she's about half finished, then give it back to her after making her sit. Eventually she'll learn that it's not a big deal to have food taken away from her, because she's going to get it back if she behaves. Obviously your mileage will vary depending on the individual dog's personality, but using the above method I now have a staffy who will simply stand there looking dejected when a pomeranian shoulders him out of the way and starts eating his treats at the local dog park.

Thanks for the replies, gang. I spoke to the breeder yesterday when I went over to have a look at the puppy and she clarified that running around of his own free will at the dog park is probably fine, it's more things like the owner pushing the dog beyond its comfort zone for long jogs on hard surfaces and things like that you need to watch out for. Phew!

Ok, I've just had a bit of a scare and I'm hoping someone can put me at ease. I have a 6 month old staffy boy, and have been looking into a second staffy for a while. I was just speaking to a breeder about a possible second puppy, and she was one of the more responsible breeders who wanted to ask me a few questions to make sure that I was going to be a responsible owner. One of the things she told me was that the puppy should not be walked too much until 12 months due to possible issues with growth plates. This has scared the crap out of me because my 6 month old boy is down at the dog park at the crack of dawn every morning tearing it up with the other morning regulars, and has been since he had his 16 week booster vaccine. Neither his vet nor the breeder mentioned anything about growth plates, and I always thought that it was something you only had to worry about with the larger breeds. Please tell me I haven't done any lasting damage to my staffy! EDIT: Obviously I'm aware that all vertebrates have growth plates. I just meant that they only tend to be problematic for the larger breeds

For the last couple of months I'd been using the recall method that Poodlefan recommended which worked pretty well, but only if I was constantly on my guard for toddlers with irresponsible parents at the dog park. If he jumped up on adults I would just say "No!" It's amazing how much difference grabbing his face has made. I only started it yesterday morning, and while he was still jumping up on some of the dog park regulars (they love him and don't mind, which makes it more difficult to train him not to!) there was definitely a marked difference after only one day. There was a woman who was crouching down to leash her dog (ordinarily his favourite kind of target), he bolted straight for her, and then just before take off he realised he was probably going to get into trouble and skidded to a halt without me having to say a word.

That's all very well and good, guys, but does your method have a name that is as catchy as the Evil Coke Can of Doom? Does it create an "anal probe" reaction? I think "no" is the answer to those questions. Deltron, I have no idea if your method works, but you get a million billion points for comedy

My 6 month old staffy boy still jumps up at strangers. He almost never jumps up on me and my family, because we've trained him since the day we got him not to, but he seems to have gotten it into his head that while jumping up on his family is forbidden, strangers are fair game. This is stressful because he weighs 17kg now and any child he jumps up to say hello to tends to go down like a felled redwood. Most parents at the dog park are good humoured about it, and tend to shrug it off with a "Hey, we're the ones who were daft enough to bring a toddler to a dog park" attitude, but he's only going to get heavier and it's only a matter of time before a kid comes away with bruises, or worse. So how do I train him not to jump up at strangers? It's not as if we can use negative reinforcement when he does it at home, because he doesn't jump up on his family