kima

Marlo (my Stafford) has done the crawl also. There was another Stafford at the vet last time we went who was a bit snappy so Marlo dropped and army crawled his way a bit closer. I just figured it was him being submissive.

Marlo tries to offer his assistance by trying to force his way in with a half deflated basketball...

Thanks guys :) I do have a tendency to worry too much when it comes to Marlo. looks like we may need a trip to the vet anyway though young Mr Marlo was zooming round the coffee table with a toy, he then jumped up on the couch to bleed on my leg and show me his tooth which he has broken clean in half. Then he ran off wagging his tail... Clearly I was far more upset about it than he was!

Funny you say that, my Stafford Marlo ran away from the esky and hid under the dining room table the first time we brought it out. Definitely NOT tough :p

I have a Stafford (English) and we do go to the off lead park. However he has very good recall and we call him back whenever we see another dog because he does tend to be a bit over enthusiastic and this can be a bit much for some dogs! I think it does depend on the individual dog though, Marlo has been surrounded by dogs since he was 3 months old. If another dog barks or growls at him he will drop and roll or run and hide. He's my big sook.

I have a gorgeous 4.5 month old Stafford puppy, Marlo, who currently in the middle of teething. Recently i have noticed that occasionally he is bleeding around the base of his teeth. It mostly seems to be when we are playing (he is a big lover of fetch and tugging games) though admittedly I don't often look in his mouth unless i am trying to get something out of it! We have stopped playing tugging games with him because i thought this might be contributing to it but I noticed today when he fetched me his ball there was blood on it. He regularly gets fed consumable bones and gets dry food for breakfast so lots of chewing and crunching there. He also has a vast array of teething toys (and every other toy imaginable!). Is bleeding around teeth a normal part of teething or is this something that would be better dealt with by a vet? So far i have been leaning towards vet, but then again i tend to panic every time i think something may be even remotely wrong with him! And here is a picture of Marlo. It doesnt serve any purpose, just an excuse to show off his cute face!

Picked up one of my packages today. Then got home to find a post office slip to say the other one can be picked up tomorrow. Damn my lack of patience, knew the secong package would be here any day now. On the plus side Marlo LOVES his isqueak and crackle ball. OH does not love them (and the noises they make) quite so much :p funniest thing though is watching Marlo play with his Kong wobbler, he keeps trying to put his mouth over the top of it to pick it up. Too funny!!

Mine did. It said it got to Australia on 28/10 and even lists what time it arrived at the post office today and the two times they tried to deliver it. Was surprised how much info they provided!

My second order is waiting at the post office to be picked up :) oddly my first order has only just landed in Australia. Is it weird that I am so excited about picking up dog toys? :p

Thanks everyone for all the advice :) Have finally figured it out I think! was wondering why I'm the only person he barks at and realised I am by far the one who plays with him the most. It seems his biting my feet and then barking when I say no is an attempt to get me to chase him and play with him (admittably my fault for playing chasey games with him in the first place!). Have found that if I ignore him and turn away from him he will keep going for a bit and when he gets no reaction he lies down and starts grumbling and then just gives up. He starts obedience school Wednesday so will be interesting to see if they think I'm on the right track!

I too have been procrastinating instead of studying. Hopefully these new toys don't go MIA like his other toys seem to have... I would ask if anyone has any suggestions whether any of those toys in particular might last more than a week with a Stafford but that would mean I'd end up going back for a third time and buying them too :p OH will already be unimpressed I've been back for round two!

I think you guys are right and it is an attention thing. He did it before and I turned away and ignored him so he climbed on the coffee table and started barking at me from there. Cheeky bugger!! He knows full well he is not allowed on the coffee table. Have had some success this evening by instructing him to sit and drop when he starts barking. He gets so distracted following directions that he forgets he was barking in the first place. Don't know if its addressing the underlying issue though! Despite the fact he is being a little terror, I love the fact he has such a district personality! Thankyou all for the advice. Will definitely be putting it into practice.

Unfortunately I don't think PP stores closing down represents people's opinions on puppy mills. Knew someone who used to manage a few of their stores and even 5 years ago they were struggling to do $500 in sales on a week day, nowhere near what they needed to be making to break even. I'd say its more a combination between ridiculous mark ups on products and online stores offering much cheaper prices that has done it.

Too cute! Marlo makes me smile for a million reasons but one that comes to mind is that he insists on squeezing/wedging himself between me and whatever I am standing next to. If I am preparing dinner he will jam himself between my legs and the cupboard in an effort to get through the gap. He hasn't learnt to just go round!

Thanks guys for the quick responses. To clarify, by puppy school I meant obedience school. He did puppy pre-school at 10 weeks. We had our first try at obedience school last weekend but were not too keen on the methods they used so have been looking around for another one. Have one that looks very promising lined up now. Definitely agree with the trying to show him what he should be doing suggestions. Just not sure how to go about it in this scenario. When he does something wrong (it's usually trying to chew your shoe while its on your foot) we have been trying one firm "no" to let him know that the behaviour is not acceptable and then trying to divert him with chew toys and kongs etc. and then give him lots of praise for chewing on them instead. This was incredibly effective in getting him to stop mouthing. Where is gets difficult is that nowadays if he grabs your foot as soon as he hears the word "no" it just sets him off and you cant even get near him with toys to try and divert him cos he just thinks it's a game and runs off and keeps barking. In this case would it be better to not tell him "no" and just try and divert him? I just worry that he wont understand that the reason he is being diverted is because he is doing something he is not allowed to do. Overall he is a very smart and obedient dog, he has good recall (except when in barking mode) and will sit, drop etc. I am hoping that this is just him testing the waters in regards to what he can get away with, but as you said, the older he gets the harder it is going to be to break bad habits!

Hi all, Hoping for some advice on how to manage my suddenly defiant 17 week old Stafford puppy. Generally he is a very quiet dog and will only bark when we are playing with him, however recently he has started barking at us whenever we tell him "no". When he was younger he would throw what i called puppy tantrums when we told him no (would roll around on the floor grumbling) however now he has started planting his feet and barking at us. He isn't being aggressive at all and the fact that his tail tends to be wagging the whole time makes me think he believes its a game. If you walk towards him when he is doing it he just runs off under the table and barks at you from there. We have tried ignoring him when he barks at us, but this does not seem to be helping. If anything the behaviour seems to have escalated over the last two weeks. On the plus side, he does stop doing whatever we have told him not to do, but the behaviour in general concerns me. We are hoping to start puppy school in a fortnight and i am sure they will have plenty of good advice on how to manage this behaviour, but in the meantime i would be greatful for any suggestions anyone may have!

Owning a Stafford for the first time i really want to make sure he is used to other dogs and can socialise nicely and dog parks seem like a great opportunity for that! I dont want to take the risk of him ever somehow getting out of the backyard and attacking another dog. (Dont have to worry too much about people as he thinks they are the greatest thing in the world, he even tries to climb into the vets lap when she bends over to say hi to him!) So big thanks to everyone for the advice and for sharing their experiences, all very useful info!

I don't believe the 1994 Domestic Animals Act (Victoria) says anything about dog parks from what i could see. I was more curious as to the etiquette rather than specific legislation (as i imagine legislation would be more around dangerous dogs, where dogs need to be restrained etc.). I was hoping to hear from people who regularly use these parks as to what is acceptable or not acceptable as I acknowledge that dog parks are a public space with a potential for danger and would like to educate myself as much as possible so as to be respectful of others who use these parks. Edit: Thanks Staffyluv :) that sort of stuff is helpful to know.

So I am very new to the dog park scene, my previous dog (mini schnauzer) was a bit of a loner and was not at all interested in playing fetch, chasing balls or water so we tended to just go for walks on leash in our local reserve. Now i have an extremely energetic, boisterous stafford who loves to run and chase the soccer ball so we are venturing into the world of dog parks. Having no idea of the etiquette at dog parks I decided to have a read on here first to make sure we knew what was what. And i am thankful i did! Whilst i knew it was imperative to have good recall, i always assumed dog parks were a place where dogs could meet and play with other dogs, it didnt occur to me that people may go with the purpose of training their dog or tha some dogs in an off leash area may not respond well to other dogs approaching them. Happily i can say that our first trip to the dog park was a success! Little Marlo came instantly every time we called despite the excitement of seeing about 5-6 other dogs playing not far away. We were careful not to let him approach other dogs and tried to be aware of people who were trying to do some training with their dogs and gave them a wide berth. So half of the point of this post is to say thankyou for helping me and Marlo be respectful park users and helping us avoid upsetting any other dogs and owners. The other half of the post is to ask, what are the "unspoken rules" at dog parks? I found that most do not have any guidelines on signs or websites so for people like me who are new to the scene it would be great to get an idea of what to do and what not to do.