Just adopted a staff cross this week, need some help

It seems she hasn't been out walking much, or if she has, she was never trained Shes a huge dog, think shes crossed with a lab due to her size but shes very very strong, so when she pulls its hard work to control her. We went out and bought a harness and a short chain lead which was recommended by the pet shop, it has helped alot. Oh I should have said, shes 13 months old so no longer a pup, will this make it alot harder to lead train her?

I also have another huge problem, we have a hamster and when we first brought Sadie (dog) home, we put the hamster in our bedroom so she couldn't go near her (for fear of what she would do). I'm now thinking this was a very bad idea as now we have moved the hamster back in the living room, Sadie just will not leave her alone, pretty much all day every day she is lay down or sat just looking at the hamsters cage. I don't know how to get her out of it at all, when we try calling her to come away she just plain ignores us

Hi Lorraine, welcome to Dogsey and congrats on your new puppy (and well done for rescuing!)

Firstly, no it's not too late to teach your dog good manners, and ideally you'll want an overall strategy to teach general obedience. Here's a video to help with the pulling for starters - tho I recommend going through all in the series:
(Thanks to Mini for posting this the other day!)



With regards to the Hamster... I would probably be inclined to rehome it, because you just don't know the history of this dog and by the sound of it you are fairly inexperienced with dogs so may not pick up the right signals.

You can introduce other animals to dogs, but generally it's easier when you know the dogs full history. I know some of our members have little furries so might be able to share their experiences...

Good luck and post photos soon!

Thanks I have just seen the video on another thread Sadie hasn't got a long lead like that though and I think while training her she will snap one like it

As for the hamster, rehoming her is my last option but thanks anyway

Is this worth a try; Remove the hamster from the room for the time being. Train Sadie to sit on her bed, or where ever it is you would like her to settle in your living room then reintroduce the hamster back to the room once 'settle' is solid? Perhaps only for the training sessions at first, then slowly leaving your hamster in the room for longer periods of time. And maybe train during the daytime at first when the hamster is asleep and not running around the wheel
You may have more luck getting her attention then as you've already taught her that being settled is super massively rewarding in that place? it may take a few weeks but it might work?
Good luck

Thanks Tessabelle ill give that a shot

Get a Halti training lead, you can change the length . 8 quid or so ..
I walk 2 boxers on one at the same time so its strong ...

Why on earth was rehoming the hamster pretty much the first thing suggested? Even someone who knows nothing at all about dogs is surely capable of keeping a hamster in a room the dog is not allowed in and managing the situation via closed doors and baby gates. Can you imagine the reaction if she'd been told to rehome the dog instead of managing the situation??

I had 4 rats with a dog who I know for certain would have killed them given the chance. I spent weeks taking him into the room and removing him any time he showed unwanted behaviour towards the rats. Once he could be in the room without immediately lunging for the cage I started working on teaching him to settle down at the other side of the room. He could never be trusted with them loose but after several months was able to be in the same room as them while they were in their cage. Any time I couldn't supervise he was locked out of the room. If I had the rats out of the cage he was locked in the bedroom and me and the rats locked in the living room.

I recommend you read The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson which is an excellent behaviour / training book. Easy to read and very practical.
I also suggest you join a good (APDT) training class.
The hamster thing is manageable - it would be the same if you had a young child. You simply keep the two apart unless strictly supervised.
Play with your dog. That will make the dog focus on you and also make him easy to train.
Get a Halti and a double ended Halti lead. Every time the dog pulls ahead, change direction. When the dog follows you and is in the `right` place, reward.

Thanks ill see about getting a Halti training lead and see how she goes on. Im planning on spending some time training Sadie with her commands today, she can sit and give paw but she still doesn't know how to lie down, or stay etc. so she still needs some work. The woman we got her from just had her locked away in the kitchen so she hasn't had much training at all

Hi welcome to Dogsey!

I think Azz probably meant rehome as in re-position the hamster rather than actually find a new home!?

I have recently lead trained a 5year old dog, so I don't think 13 months is too old at all!

I did struggle for a while with training Riley, until I had a trainer come round who did an assessment and showed me how to clicker train and key things I should be focusing on. It completely turned things around for us and it is something I wish I had done initially!

One thing explained to us, was Riley was trying to direct his walks rather than me direct his walks. I guess this might be quite difficult with a stronger dog but whenever he pulled I would walk in the opposite direction and repeat until eventually he'd stop and look at me for which direction we are going.
In addition to this I walk with a treat in my hand (for Riley this is his ball because he's not interested in food) this keeps his attention on me and makes me more interesting to him than other things going on around him therefore less likely to pull.

Good luck with it all!