a horrid week.....

Well this week has been none stop so sorry i havent been around, will catch up at some point! blooming whitney houston concert got postponed, had a funeral, little girl has gone away til next week, little boy is missing her so being a brat, and i need your opinions on something else.............
(possibly wrong section)

in my house their is me and oH our 2 kids and my sister and her boyfriend, so me and OH take puppy dog on walks, hes been getting much better, although he HATES staffs, when me and OH have been out with pup if a staff growls at him he will bark and growl back, he doesnt have much liking to them himself, but sisters OH took puppydog out the other night and walked past a staff, staff growled at puppy so apparently puppy lunged for him and nearly bit him! Do you think he needs muzzeling?(sp) the other owners dog had a rant about getting a muzzle on him! but hes never done this before, but i dont want to chance another dog getting bit?????? But at the same time, the place is full of staffs here, we keep pup out the way to let him off lead, but what if a staff attacked pup and he couldnt fight back as he had a muzzle on, not that im saying i would like him to have a fight, but do you understand what i mean? not making much sense i know! i just dont know what to do! Hes such a gorgeous dog, OH picks the kids up with puppudog at the school and the kids always go running over to him for hugs and strokes, but if he went with a muzzle everyone would automatically think dangerous dog and keep kids away, then i feel bad for puppydog as he loves kiddies, but agian the sun is out so other people are going to be taking their dogs to pick up the kids and again most of them are staffs!! soo frustrated!!
Me and OH dont mind staffs at all just the young idiots with them and no control, plus puppy hates them and ive yet to see one that likes puppy!!

sorry about the long post im just soo **&&**^^%%^^&&&

in my opinion, whether it be right or wrong..... :2431:

i wouldnt muzzle fred, i tried once, it made him worse and i had the same thought as you, how would he fight back if her got attacked!

so long as puppy dog isnt attacking or growling barking etc at people and you can keep him under control on a lead i would try other methods than a muzzle

fred used to be like this ... he went for every dog we passed, he would be two front paws off the flooor growling and barking...

ive tried water spray, shaking bottle of stones, redirecting him by kicking him on the arse , redirecting him with treats, ive pretty much tried everything lol....
the treats sort of worked, if we walked past a dog i would get them out and keep feeding him them until we passed then i would really praise him, but it didnt work if he saw the dog before me....

but what i think really worked is the cesar millan illusion collar, it was fantastic, i could keep real control of him, keeping his head forward and high, then rewarding him when we passed the dog, funnily enough yesterday i tried him with just his slip lead and he went off on one at the first dog we saw

i dont let fred off on the field to mix with other dogs ... i always put his lead on if other dogs come onto the field, it avoids any confrontation with other dogs, otherwise he would bound over barking and looking like hes ready to attack lol... when all he wants to do is try and show them hes boss then have a play

I have exactly the same problem with Mickey only its nearly every dog he sees

I know he isnt an aggressive dog but the way he loses it and goes off on one you would think he was a werewolf He just gets really hyped up when hes on lead Hes usually good when i go training but he even did it there this week when another dog looked at him I think even Zep was shocked as to why he did it

I considered muzzling him when i know he will meet other dogs but thought the same as you that people would judge him and also i dont think it would actually stop him behaving like he does We just try to walk him away from other dogs so that we dont have the stress of having to deal with it

I am extremely wary of walking him on my own because he is so strong and i cant trust him to behave we have a field just a few hundred yards away thats perfect for walking the dogs but i drive there when im walking Mickey because there are so many people out walking dogs on the path that leads to the field I cant stand the stress I check out who is there first and dont get him out of the car until im sure no other dogs are near its so frustrating

Regarding the barking growling and lunging you say its worse when your sisters OH walks him Is he more nervous about walking him i find Mickey is far worse when i walk him I sometimes wonder if hes reacting to my nervousness but if the little shit behaved i wouldnt be nervous if only i could just get through to that one brain cell hes got hed be a perfect dog

Blaze is the same most dogs hes sees he is pulling and jumping around - he only growls and gets grumpy if i hold him back but it makes him look horrid

Thanks guys for replies, hmm puppydog isnt really overly bothered with treats, well he wasnt last time, will give it another go with chicken or cheese as he loves these! Fredsmum i can understand why it would make them worse i think, ans i defo dont wont him getting any worse!
sisters oH is a confident walker i thought, i dont walk puppy on my own any more as he is a strong lad and im worried about confrontation with other dogs with him so my OH always comes with me!

We have a little place near the park, an old grave yard/church ground that we take puppy to have a free run as not many people go in there and i feel better if he has a good run on a walk! just again summer is coming in fast and every sod seems to be out and about with their dogs! im sure they dont hardly take them out in winter llol!

fredsmum whats a cesar millan illusion collar??
Pups just got a halti at the moment with is millleeessssss better than that bloody harness he came with we have much better control of him!

This is an illusion collar, http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=illusion+collar&tag=googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=4702936959&ref=pd_sl_3kacg6sa8x_e

They are designed to give you more control, I have never tried one though.


I would not muzzle him either he has done nothing to deserve it

I love staffies, I had one, but there are a lot of them around that can be nasty, just the same as any other breed and the owners usually don't muzzle them.

Sandra wrote:

This is an illusion collar, http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=illusion+collar&tag=googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=4702936959&ref=pd_sl_3kacg6sa8x_e

They are designed to give you more control, I have never tried one though.


I would not muzzle him either he has done nothing to deserve it

I love staffies, I had one, but there are a lot of them around that can be nasty, just the same as any other breed and the owners usually don't muzzle them.

IMO i think they are bloomin great ... we went out yesterday. using the illusion collar again, and we passed loads of dogs without any hassle at all... ... im not going to go out without it now :2431: ... it doesnt look very nice on him cos it bunches all his hair and makes him look a little scruffy, but we dont mind, we get to have a peaceful walk :2431:

I have/had the same problem with Storm but she is getting there slowly but surely.... still a lot of work to do with her. Think its a matter of building my confidence up as well.

My neighbour has 2 westies and Charlie has been attacked quite badly twice by staffies he hates them now...also i had an incident in the park on sat with one will do another post though. I agree Claire its the idiots that have no control and use the dog as a status symbol...that are the problem.

I had the cesar milan collar i wasnt that impressed with it but i know other people who think its great just wasnt for me and Storm... I have a friend of a friend who wouldnt be without it....lol

Did muzzle storm once a few years ago she was stressed didnt like it and really really got judged by people, it made my situation worse...and didnt change her barking/growling like a lunatic etc.

Lxx