Rescue staffie excitement

lavalamp

We have rescued an older female staffie who is just adorable. She charms everyone who meets her and is very gentle.... EXCEPT when she's playing! She gets so excited and starts jumping around and barking and her heart is racing so much so that I have to take her for a 'time out'! She won't listen to any commands in this state, even though she knows sit and does it instantly at other times - it's as if she's on drugs!

I've never experienced anything like it with a dog, but then I've never had a staffie before. Are there any staffie owners out there with similar experience and therefore some advice for calming her down?

I assume she hasn't played much in her past life and doesn't know how - she was abandoned, very overweight and the kennels assessed her to be around 8-10 years old. She has lost 5kg since she came to us and has so much more energy now, but the over excitement is crazy! When we're not playing or walking she is sleeping the whole time. She only goes crazy when we initiate playing, she does not seem to be bored as she never initiates playing herself and is content the rest of the time.

If anyone has any advice, I'd be grateful. We love her unconditionally, so if we can't fix it, so be it, but it would probably be better for her heart and health if we could sort it out!

scheming_gypsy

That's pretty much a happy staffie you've got.
My uncle has a rescue staffie and she's exactly the same. Charges round with the huge staffie daft grin as though she's found every sausage ever made...

krlyr

http://www.youtube.com/user/pamelamarxsen may be worth a browse, Pam does several videos on calmness around distractions. The "Go wild & freeze" activity is good for helping with this kind of behaviour too.

lavalamp

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

That's pretty much a happy staffie you've got.
My uncle has a rescue staffie and she's exactly the same. Charges round with the huge staffie daft grin as though she's found every sausage ever made...

Oh she is very happy, but I think a bit too much so! It doesn't matter what I do, she won't calm until all toys are out of sight!

lavalamp

krlyr wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/user/pamelamarxsen may be worth a browse, Pam does several videos on calmness around distractions. The "Go wild & freeze" activity is good for helping with this kind of behaviour too.

Ooh, thank you. I will take a look!

meritaten

she isn't used to playing! and staffies do love to play! I think you need to introduce 'play' gradually and in a very structured way.

meritaten

sorry - that post was very brief! yes, staffies do love to play with their 'family', I wont say 'owner' as the ones I have known will play happily with perfect strangers! and they do sometimes go into 'hyperactive' mode. my anni would get really overexited with 'chase' games - running around really 'hyped' her up! but she also loved to play 'hide and seek' with the kids! either indoors or out. Football, she absolutely loved and it was like she was 'tripping out'! and always ended up with her destroying the ball - so that got banned!
luckily she thought 'training sessions' were play! so we counted that as playtime for her. and she loved to play 'dress up' with my DD! I still have a mental image of her sat there bedecked in half my jewellery box, with painted pink 'nails' and wearing a sequin bolero jacket (my new one) with a huge soppy grin on her face!

lavalamp

Thanks meritaten. I think you're right, she isn't used to playing and doesn't know how to do it, just that it is the most exciting thing in the world. She gets very excited when we go walking too as I don't think she did much of that before either.

I hear you about the football - rosie rips apart any toy that comes her way if she has a chance, so we don't leave her with toys - they are removed at the end of the game.

To be honest, I am mostly worried that she will knock a child over or frighten one in her excitement. We have told our friend's children that she can't play and they are fine with that, but it would be nice for her to play with some little people as she seems to love them a lot when they cuddle her (supervised of course).

I will try to do some one on one training with her (difficult with my two labs running around and loving training sessions)! If we could fix the playing, she really would be the perfect dog bless her!

meritaten

ok lavalamp - start letting her play with 'bigger kids' (even if you have to bribe the neighbours kids) and observe her. is she oblivious to them in her excitement or does she take care not to hurt them? then step it down to younger kids by a few years - observe carefully.
Anni and my springer Meg were both playful exuberant dogs - BUT both of them seemed to understand to take extra care around the little ones! though accidents can happen - just like when kids play together heads can butt, and kids can get knocked over! I would be worried too as yours doesn't seem to be used to playing. but this doesn't mean that they wont be gentle with little ones - just be very very careful in the games they play and supervise vigilantly!

lavalamp

I am pretty worried about even trying with kids because she snatches toys away and I would worry she'd catch their hands with her mouth or something. I think I'd be more comfortable calming her down a little bit before trying with kids!

The rescue reckoned she's about 8-10, so she's no spring chicken and has probably gone that long without playing - she is like a crazy puppy when a toy comes out. It's funny because when a dog tries to play with her, she's not bothered at all (unless it's my black lab with a stick).

I also have no idea if she's been around kids before, but she is very happy for them to cuddle and stroke her. Honestly, when she's not playing, you can tell she's an old lady, but it's like she has a personality transplant at playtime!

One thing that makes me smile every time though is that when she came to us, her tail very rarely wagged, now it seems to be on constant wag as she mooches around the garden :-)

I will try some one on one training (minus children) and see how things go with her. I'll keep you posted! Thanks for your help.

meritaten

can I suggest you get some older teenagers to play very gentle games with her? like hide the treat? or hide and seek?
as for little ones - she may like to let them 'dress her up'? my Anni loved that - she wouldn't let me take the jewellery or clothes off her! but ban toys which involve tugging or bouncing balls - they do seem to get them over excited.