Thanks for the advice guys!

I can definitely see that a lot of this is a kind of puppyish behaviour (even though he is 3) and there is no malice involved in that aspect of his play biting. I can also sense he has some boundary issues as well and I think this is the problem where the most serious biting kicks in. Sadly, he did mange to get a bite off last night but it wasn't too serious, I wasn't there but apparently he ran into the living room, bit my girlfriend on the shoulder and ran off again. She was kneeling down drawing so didn't even have time to see him come into the room. It was enough to draw some blood this time but once she screamed he calmed down straight away and has been quiet since. He is staying very calm now but we are keeping his harness on for the time being in case we have deal with a real issue very quickly.

We are talking him to the vet to meet a behaviourist on Thursday and I think this will help; he had a good check up mid week and has a few problems that need dealing with, but nothing too serious, he was a nice regime of pills and lotions to be dealing with at the minute! As some of you have said, some of this could be first week nerves on both our parts; I don't want him to lose his playfulness to deal with his other issue. Saying that, I don't want to lose my fingers either!

This is one of the problems of taking on a rescue obviously, but hopefully once we have dealt with it we will have a great companion. I just can't understand how any previous owner could have let a dog develop in this way, he is an obvious danger as he is and early socialisation would have been so much easier and much less stressful for boomer!

Thanks again for all the words of wisdom, I think I really need to identify were the issue is my problem with Boomers playfulness and were it is his problem with some kind of aggression!

Mike

Just another quick update!

Boomer is coming on great, his attitude was very worrying but it really does seem to have been first week nerves on both our parts. After biting my girlfriend its seems to have shook him up and he has calmed down so much over the past few days i can't believe it. He is a bit of a grumpy sod and still growls at random noises but its coming on alot. Still does not like being told off and will wee in front of me if he is made to do something he really does not like (both times he has had a shower he has put up with it then peed in the house staright after as revenge), but he is an amazing dog and is becoming very loving.

He is loving smimming and long walks,i have never seen a dog so in love with water, i didn't think this was a staffy trait but i'm learning lots with this chap. He also loves sleeping next to me when he can get away with it and now he has calmed down and stopped the snapping i'm happy to let him do that. Looks like i have been very lucky once again and got myself a great dog.

I think i'll always be aware how snappy Boomer can be, there was a couple of days where i thought the snappiness was the core component of his personality but its becoming obvious this behaviour was not normal for him and more the result of the stress of living in a new home etc. He is not the sort of dog i would have off lead near people etc, but then i tend to only let my dogs off lead when there are no other people around anyway.

Thanks again for all the advice guys, i'm glad we both made it through that first rocky couple of weeks unscathed!

Sounds great! I'm glad Boomer is coming on well. My foster staff will snap at my face if I blow on her nose (so I don't blow on her nose ).

My other rescue is very vocal (terrier cross) and is always growling during play.

x

Great to hear thats its all working out well for you. I think there is always a period of adjustment as you both learn each others habits and likes.



Sarah - bruno does this but its not a nasty snap its very much a kissy snap as he snaps his mouth and then licks you.
he usually follows it up with a little conversation too

Glad he is settling down a little............as soon as I read the first part of your thread I immediately thought....boundry pushing.

I took on a staffie who did the same (years ago) I bent down one day and he bit my arm........he used to give that stare to....makes you wonder if a bit of a brain fuzz going on.

But I used a behaviourist who reckoned that he was seeing how far he could '''push his luck'''' when he was told to do something he used to cock his leg UP ME.........abit '''up yours''' I think, but after 6 months he truned into a great dog...with the help of the behaviourist/training. Mind you I needed the behaviourist as he'd been used for fighting......something you probably won't need

Hope he does well hun xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yeah it's not a nasty snap when she does it either, but it's a bit scary when it's close up

She's pretty quiet for a staffy. We've only had maybe 2 conversations with her at most. Once I SWEAR she said 'hello' - why am I never filming when these things happen!

It's good to read things are working out, if he only knew how lucky he was he would never misbehave again!! Do you have a more pics of him yet?

my sister-in-laws dog used to do this so we brought in a word comand Kiss, he had to lick are hand to start with no snapping and would say the word and praise once he was used to this then we started with cheek the same thing, he is now 100% kiss not snap before kiss. hope that makes sence. good luck xx

Sounds as though things are settling down with Boomer,that's lovely to hear.

Tyler gets very vocal,infact he is the most vocal dog we've ever owned,you can hold a conversation with him lol
He can also mouth when he gets excited but he has been taught bite inhibition and never applies any pressure,we stop what were doing and tell him no biting and ignore him for a few minutes till he calms down,he can be like a bull in a china shop sometimes

Meg is the complete opposite,she is very quiet,barks occasionally but thats it,she was also taught bite inhibition,she never mouths at all

You wouldn't believe they are the same breed sometimes,they are very different personality wise.

His turn around has been amazing really. In the last wek he has not once been in the house, when he needs to go out now he walks up to me barks once and sits down, its great to see that as he had no toliet training at all.

His aggression has stopped, and today he went out on a walk with about 20 other dogs. He was the only one on alead but to be honest he didn't need it, i'm just not 100% happy with his recall yet

I'm also really happy as he has a couple of other doggy mates now as well, he plays with a female staffy called sherbert really well and seems to love little westies etc, its a huge relief to have a dog who likes to play rather than fight!

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