Advice on my dogs behaviour!

[dangle90]

Hey everyone! Just wanted to pick your brains!
So I have a 4 year old Staffordshire bull terrier bitch. She is absolutely brilliant and so well behaved. Recently she seems to be craving attention from us, wanting to play tug of war, whining to play. Obviously this all sounds fine but she has never done it before, she normally just settles and let's us relax after she's been walked and fed.
I think I have a few ideas why, which could be, the fact I am pregnant (33 weeks) so that's a change for her, and I am on maternity leave, so with her more which is a change for her routine.
Any ideas what we could do? It's like having a baby already as she just sits and whines at us constantly if she's not having our attention.
Sorry for the long post! Thank you!

She needs to learn that whining and asking to play is counterproductive, and you will only play on your terms.

So when she starts to whine or trying to play, all toys get put away in a cupboard, and you ignore her. No telling off, no sending her to her bed. Just ignore her. If she gets up on the sofa, push her down and ignore her

When she is settled/takes herself to her bed, then you can give her a toy back or spend a few mins having a play with her. Does she like kongs or puzzle toys?

It shouldn't take her very long to pick up that whining has the opposite effect to what she wants but you HAVE to be consistent and you must not give in to the whining

Same goes for whining before a walk or when the lead comes out. Any whining, and the lead goes away and you sit back down ignoring her. It will take a bit of time so set aside time for few of the whine/ignore cycle before you leave for your walk

Thank you for that reply.
I had started ignoring her actually, but not putting the toys away so I will try that.
She has ropes for tug of war and chew toys. Tonight I thought I would get her to amuse herself and hopefully tire herself out so I filled her treat ball and that kept her occupied for a bit, she whined for a bit afterwards but now she's asleep. So that worked a little bit.
Will deffo put the toys away next time.
She doesn't whine to go out or anything it's just attention with toys constantly.
Thanks again

It could well be your pregnancy hormones which are winding her up, but the good news is that she will settle as soon as the baby arrives. I had similar with my bitch. She was 14yo when I got pregnant and her behaviour changed dramatically. She was stuck to me, whinny, attention seeking, etc to the point to which we were worries about what would happen when the baby arrived. She returned to normal as soon as I gave birth.

One of my horses seemed to know as well with both pregnancies. He was very affectionate, cuddly and would gently nudge the bump. He adores my DCs even though for years before he had been spooky about children screaming, running around, etc.

Good luck!

I've got a huge soft spot for Staffies and am a sucker for their soppy faces

And on the plus side, their need for attention and affection makes them very easy to train if you use cuddles as a reward and withhold attention for undesirable behaviour

Thanks both of you! I am also a sucker for Staffies, I know they are not everyone's favourite dog but I have grown up with them.
It's strange that she's only just started this behaviour with me been 33 weeks, she has been fine up until now. We are having twins as wel so I have been anxious to what she will be like. I pray she will be ok. I have been reading up on alsorts to make it all be as smooth as possible for her

Here she is!

:)

That face 😍