Behavioral Issues

Packs of dogs or wolves will groom each other during "down time." I would venture to say that is what is going on with your Basenjis. It is a bonding type thing, bonding the pack together. When I saw a pack of wolves in Denali, one of the young wolves had wandered off. The rest of the pack was howling for him/her to come back. When he/she finally did, the alpha came up and sort of rolled him/her, then the rest of the pack all ran over and began to lick his/her face, while he/she kind of cowered down. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

@AJs: This might be relevant… My cat of Questionable Heritage is the most friendly animal anyone will ever meet. She has never met a stranger. There is a very rare visitor who does not wind up with a cat on his or her lap. My step-mom is wonderful with animals, pet-sits for everyone and can approach the meanest junk-yard dogs anyone has ever seen. She can even "pet" bees. They won't sting her. They met each other when Sumi was a kitten. Sumi took an instant dislike to my step-mom. To this day, when Mom comes to visit, Sumi hisses, whacks her on the leg and stalks out of the room. Sumi has never done this with anyone else in her life. My point is, sometimes, animals take a disliking to someone for no apparent reason and there is no convincing the animal otherwise. It is not necessarily a reflection on either the person or the animal. Perhaps this is the case here. Like Forest Gump says " A Basenji is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna get".

Awwww poor Ginger i feel so sad for her and you having to cope. All i can suggest is lots and lots of TLC and perhaps another companion if you can cope and the time is right. Do you have to have a cover on top of the crate? If not it is one less thing for her to destroy.

@caz: Well, I spoke too soon. The DAP spray seemed to work for a week and now we're back to square one and sanity is starting to suffer :( Oh no! :eek:

Well we don't have a door to the house from our garage.. but a door from the yard into the garage… so that is what is opened.... so mine go from the house to the yard to the garage... It worked about 90% of the time...gggg

@EskiLovr: Dan, That's super funny. It's like he's saying, "LOOK!!! Nyah Nyah, gotchyer ball!" He's a real clown at the dog park. Makes everybody laugh and wonder how he runs and runs and runs tiring out their dogs.:D

Cats are almost always hypERthyroid; dogs are almost always hypOthyroid. And there is a long list of hypothyroidism, (no idea about hyper, i don't have a cat) and dogs will often just have a few symptoms, not all. just google. Personally, I'd look for a behaviorist and get the Control Unleashed book. It talks about how to create a new history for experiences. It also talks about threshholds which you really need to understand in dealing with a dog like this.

My experience with my Belle, who was 8weeks old when we started leash trainning, is the old standard "link leash" no cloth or material leash, My vet sales a brank of leash and collars and if your dogs chews throug, no question asked, you return it and replaced on the spot….It has worked so far, I will check out tomorrow of the brand I don't remember but the collars are great....I will let you know. Check out my album and see my husband and the 3 B's on the first walk together after the new fosters came.....

Can I ask…my previous guy seemed to actually lick himself just so he wouldn't have an accident. Usually when I had left him for longer than normal 'cause I had errands or something. I would come home, let him out of the crate, but I always wanted to change clothes first and while I was changing he would, sometimes, just lick and lick, until we went out. Was he just putting up with me and being a really good dog?! Or being a perv?!:eek:

Dogs are built for physical activity. We will drop from exhaustion long before they do. Dogs are not built for mental activity and become tired much more quickly when they must engage their brain. Redirection with a short training session is great because it interupts the behavior you want them to stop and works their brains which will wear them out some.

I am so sorry to hear of Booger's passing. I'm glad the move went well…

M'bwa M'kube M'bwawamwitu, jumping up and down dog :D

Thanks, candiejohn. My problem isn't getting him into the rain, it's sort of like the adage, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." Except that in our case it's that you can take a Basenji outside, but you can't make him potty. That stinking dog will hold it until I'm sure that his kidneys will rupture. I was concerned because I will be in classes from 8am to 5 pm, and that's a long time to wait if he refuses to potty in the morning. We'll just have to see how it goes, and hope that the umbrella and trees will provide enough cover for him to want to go.

My first two had no issues with the back yard. But Gossy, being the princess chick that she is, can't be bothered with pooping in her yard and insisted on walks. I didn't catch on until recently and now I'm making a big effort to train her to the back yard at least for the morning (it's getting too dark to go for walks before work). A lot of patience on my part and special treats just for pooping are beginnning to show results. This morning I tried the match trick someone mentioned the other day and within about 10 minutes she pooped - yay! (I can't believe I'm excited about dog poop :D:D)

Marley followed me in to the sea once. That was it. Soon as he realised he was getting wet he spanged back out and has refused to go near it since!

I haven't used the collars, but use the DAP spray if we are going for a longer distance in the car, it works great. One of my BRAT mentors used some of my DAP spray in the crate of one of the dogs he was sending to California, the dog, kibbi went straight in, laid down and had no problems what so ever on the flight..good stuff.

How interesting. Makes me want to keep my eyes open when we go to the dogpark..

Way to go Vicki and Bailey I am very happy for both of you. Bailey your super and love the way she loves and cares so much about you. Give all the dogs special hug and kiss for all of us. Rita Jean

I grew up with birds, hamsters, cats, dog, rabbits and we had hives of honey bees. Never anything wrong with me all my life even got lucky never stepped on a bee. My kids have cats, dogs, bird and my daughter never worn pretty little dress cause she would go right under a car with her dad and get grease all over her. Dirt and my son go hand in hand. They have been healthy. Now as far as walking to school I could not do that. Been far to many kids never got to school to many out there take kids. So my kids have never been allowed to walk to school. One mile there but anything could happen. People that usually do not want animals have there little fancy house and do not want the hair or the dirt. We have a friend who has three children just got a puppy about month ago poor puppy. Puppy got over gate in wash room and well had fun while they were at work. She just about lost it aniamls are better off without being that kind of home I told her so. Sad news her husband just went to work for Science Diet and they have a animal day once a month and they told him it was important they had a animal. He lied when got job and said he did. Now there is a puppy my heart really goes out to. Rita Jean

That is just to funny having to chase the dog with underware and guests. At least you had something to talk about that night that was different. Rita Jean