Staffyluv

My old stafford could clear a room in minutes - he was terrible (it has been mentioned many times that farting really should be in the breed standard).. Ziggy is really good so far, he tends to move if I move and he is in my way - I hope he stays that way

Wow she is very talented (she also had a good photo to work with)...

As his owner it is up to you to teach him manners. Humping is not acceptable and there will come a time when another dog disagrees with your dog doing it. At the moment I am having issues with my staffy getting up in the face of shy dogs - my trainer is helping me with this and I am using a blocking technique. Effectively, I am putting myself between the two dogs and then calling him out. So good recall is very important. We are also working on his recall (which I thought was gone but the trainer has since showed me I was wrong, his recall is fine - I was just doing the wrong thing again)... If you can't call the dog off, you simply have to remove him from the situation, so he learns that is wrong. Hopefully someone with more training skills will come along to help... But good recall is important.

Sounds like the malt is the higher ranking dog and the other 2 staffy mixes are vying for position within the pack.. I learned this yesterday as I have a similar issue here with a foster... The play escalates and gets louder and rougher but I step in and stop it before it goes to far... All their play is supervised... I told the trainer they love to run around bumping into each other and doing the body slamming thing but again this is stopped as soon as it starts... She said good as it is competing against each other for strength.. They are always testing each other in play and that can escalate... I have to limit the play time of these two and get them doing more mind game stuff to keep them amused.. Like hiding their food so they have to hunt for it, or food reward toys, where they have to work for it and more training exercises. I was doing 4 x 15 minutes a day, she suggested it would be better to do 10 x 5 minute sessions.. Only working with one dog at a time...

Gawd - oops - guilty. My dog has always been very chatty and she's figured out I will think it's cute (reward her) if she's not too loud and makes lots of different talky talk noises - roo rooo rowl roo... Erm. oops. I was doing the same thing.. He also sleeps on my bed, which the trainer was not overly impressed with but I am not kicking him off the bed. He sleeps down the bottom and is not a bed hog (yet).. My old stafford was a terrible bed hog.

He is lovely... It never ceases to amaze me, the dogs that end up needing rescue... Most of them are just beautiful...

I have a rescue girl here at the moment who is about 6 months old now... She was originally rescued as a staffy cross but she has grown way to big and she is to slight to have any staffy in there. Most that have seen her have suggested possibly ridgeback cross... I have just been reading in general about supplementing with vit c for health.. At the moment she is on Nutro for large puppies morning and night with a turkey neck or brisket bone for lunch and a barf pattie with her dinner... She is a good weight, her coat and eyes are bright but I worry that I might not be giving her everything she needs.. Does she need extra supplements because she is going to be a bigger dog or is what I am doing OK? Thanks in advance...

Yep, if it is wet, he is in it... He prefers mud but the clam pool is the next best thing.. However we are doing up the yard and the clam shell is empty.. The only water is a tiny puddle on a tarp covering some soil, he was laying in the tiny puddle this afternoon.. He also loves the rain and is happy to stand out in it, even when there is a storm going on...

No it is not just when they are a puppy... My old boy was 14 and a half when he passed away and he was energetic right up to the end.. He did not even slow down until he was about 10 to 12 years old... In saying that, pups should not be exercised... The only exercise they need is play time and training time.. That should be plenty. I hate to see people walking tiny pups around the streets...

Oh I love Stevie's updates... Great pics..

Yep, she was very 'firm' on the fact that it was more me than him... It was my techniques and I did not follow through enough.. Ziggy was talking back when I asked him to do things and I thought it was 'cute' so never put him in his place over it - this was the first thing we addressed this morning. Then the recall - it was just amazing to see him doing so well. I thought it was me, that he had lost interest in me/toys/treats - it wasn't the case at all. She had me call him and turn to walk away (not towards him). When I did this, he run after me and was beside me in no time - when he thought I was leaving him... She said I was his main resource, not the treats or the toys (she tried different things and each time it was me he looked to or wanted to come to)... When I was walking towards him and telling him to come - he did nothing but continue to harass her dog the way he does with Lando (the kissing in your face thing).. I now know how to deal with that and until he learns it is not acceptable, he won't be getting any dog on dog time in the park - it will just be us going for a run to burn some energy off a couple of times a week when the park is empty. She did seem to really like him to, which helps.. Thanks Pers - I am glad I did it and will be doing more of it (I kept putting it off because of funding but in reality, he is more important to me than the other things I could spend the funds on)...

We had a fantastic training session today with the trainer... We can go to the park but only when it is us for now as she wants me to practice the techniques she gave me to get his recall back and it was great today - even with one of her dogs here distracting him... Hopefully we will be back soon to play.

Well we were lucky enough to have a great trainer come to us and spend a couple of hours this morning... It is not him, it's me... She was surprised by just how responsive he was and what great manners he does have... There are a couple of issues that need to be worked on but it is mainly my methods - he was so responsive when she showed me the 'right' way to do things. To get him to come (and he came back every time even with one of her dogs there)... She still thinks he needs to stay out of bigger groups of dogs for now... But she is happy for me to take him to the park when there are not so many dogs around to practice - if he does not come when called, we leave immediately.. Like she said, he is not a danger but he could put himself in danger because of his actions towards other dogs when they don't want to play and he does (his persistence will get him into trouble)... We have a few things to work on over the next 3-4 weeks on our own (but we can contact her via phone or email and she is happy to come back earlier if needed)... We will be joining her training group here in Canberra at the next round of classes and we are going to have a couple more one on one sessions in between. I feel so positive after today and such relief that one day soon he will be a calmer about playing, so everyone enjoys it...

It has been 5 months today since we said goodbye to you little man... I still miss you every single day... I hope you are having a ball at the bridge or with your dad...

Yep totally agree with this... We use Nutro with human grade minced meat and we have barf patties I the freezer for a few nights a week... Raw meaty bones but be careful with the marrow bones, I made the mistake of giving to many. So now we use turkey necks, chicken frames and brisket bones... They have a can of sardines every second day with their morning kibble and their meat of a night with some kibble and a bone during the day..

My sisters Staffords both ate maccas from under the tree. They would crack the sells nd scoff them... They never got sick from them... Admittedly I don't give them to my dogs because I am told they are toxic to dogs. Same as grapes, my old stafford managed to get a bag of grapes once and he was fine... Farted a lot more than usual but fine.

Yep there is a new one just opened up... Can't recall the name of it but it only opened around Xmas time from memory. I was talking to someone who worked on the furnaces...

When we gave my old man stafford his wings in October last year, our lovely vet organised the whole thing... We said our goodbyes, had lots of cuddles, he went to sleep and we left... Hamish contacted the cremation service and they collected him and bought him back in a lovely green pottery urn with a tag and his name on it.. Our vet called us, we paid the vet and he paid them... I think they used pets at peace..but honestly I was so grateful that Hamish organised it all for me...

We would love to and he has been doing really well at home but I don't want it muck it up for the trainer next week... I will see how he goes this weekend at home and all of next week and we might test him (if he has been really good) the following weekend... We both really miss the park...

Yep and she spoke to me for about an hour on the phone when I called for the appointment making suggestions on things I could do between now and Tuesday...

I have been spending more one on one time with him and I think, dare I say it, he is actually listening to me.. Today he was back to his old self and bringing me things to get my attention.. He wanted to play ball and he bought it back every time. His stays even improved up to a point where he seemed to become bored, so we stopped and played ball, then did another five minutes of stays...

I will get some more pics on the weekend, she has grown so much in the short time she has been here... She hardly fits in my large crate.. I might see if anyone at ARF has a bigger one they can lend me while she is here...

He is usually a bit lost to begin with but we have play dates at the leash free park so he catches up with other dogs all the time.. Well he did before he forgot how to recall and now he is stuck home until we resolve whatever it is that he or me is doing wrong... We just make sure that he gets lots of love and play time with us.. Which he does anyway.. I don't really change much, I usually integrate the new dog into our current routine, so he just goes back to his same routine but he gets more walks and play time as there is only one dog to amuse not two. He is the same with the fosters.. It is abig love feat every morning down the hall way because they have spent the night apart. He sleeps on the end of my bed and Pippa sleeps in the crate next to the bed, they can see each other but sleep separately.. I did give her a couple of goes on the bed but being a puppy she wakes in the night and wants to play and Ziggy will alway oblige a playing puppy...

They cancelled as they met another ARF doggie and fell in love.. That's ok as Pips family will come along when the time is right...

I have a mud monster that will do anything to get out in the rain... When we were about to flood here, I came home one evening about 6ish and the loon was sitting in his clam pool that was overflowing because of all the rain.. He is not phased by the sound of storms with all the cracking and banging...