Behavioral Issues

I have been in contact with the BRAT coordinator that handled Gracie and Britty in Texas. She thinks it may be that Britty is jealous of the bond that formed between Gracie and Deke. This seems to fit. Britty was alpha now Deke is alpha and Britty is the bottom of the pack….even Gracie pushes her around. We are going to work together to try to figure this one out. She is going to talk to a breeder/behaviorist. I have no idea how I can change their interaction but we will see. If we need to find her a new home away from the other two I guess we will do that. We will have to wait and see what the answer is....I really want Britty to be happy and the people in the house as well.

Well, it's been about a week now. Not a single piece of furniture has been chewed on. And I still have that small tear in my couch near the top that is easy access for him to pull out the stuffing (until I get it repaired and sealed). He has not attempted to unstuff that part. It seems the DAP diffuser is working. Can't think of any other reason why his behavior would discontinue.

@etzbseder: Our dogs may not be as smart as we make them out to be all the time. Medjai just sat on a treat and instead of getting up and eating it, he tried for 10 minutes to push his but out of the way with his nose. Then he was able to eat the treat. LOL! :D Great story!

I was told, back in 2000, when I brought our daughter Sofia home form the hospital, to let my husband carry her in, and me to come in and immediatly pay attention to our two dogs at the time. That way I was still their mom and the baby (this new screaming thing) hadn't gotten all of me for herself. I spent time with them on the floor, they did a lot of sniffing and once they had sniffed all the new smells out, my husband brought Sofia over for them to smell her too. They did not like her at first, but we made it very clear that she is here to stay, like it or not. I also remember them both freaking out when they heard her cry through the babymonitor, we actually ended up not using it after that. Those two dogs ended up being her best friend and they put up with a lot. We just lost both of those dogs,one in March and one exactly 4 weeks later. But that is a different story. One more thing, when people came over to gush over the new baby, some of our friends actually brought the dogs special treats, they were our first born kids so they deserved attention too. I think that was a really nice touch of our friends to in this time of amazement actually remember Bogus and Lou, and I also think jealousy was kept at a minimum because of the attention they got. Good Luck, bringing a new baby home is so exciting and such a happy time in your lives.

One of the things I've learned from obedience classes and the various training books is that dogs (and IMO especially basenjis) learn to read our behavior really well but we're not as good at learning their behavior communications but they don't learn the nuances in language. Consequently they learn fast that they can get away with certain behaviors (like jumping and nipping) because we aren't doing our part properly to stop it. But they also can't tell the difference between "down = get off the table" and "down = lay down and be calm" and again we aren't doing our part to be consistent in our words (I think that's partly a function of our culture with so much slang and misuse of the language). I've found it is really hard work to be consistent in using verbal commands. Training a dog is as much training ourselves as the dog.

Well put. If we were perfect wouldn't if feel pretty pointless living? Meaning we live to learn right? I feel IMO that you do the best you can and if need be you take a step back and see what needs to be corrected. Maybe nothing is wrong nor needs correction or maybe several things needs to be reevaluated. Don't beat yourself up, now look ahead and have steadfast determination. Basenjimamma

@rnasto: Hey all. Thanks for the great advice. Lori is signed up for puppy kindergarder and it started last tuesday. I called her breeder and she said get Lori spayed wait a while and try again it could definetly be a hormone issue. So I guess we will just be patient and try again later. Thanks for the advice cant wait to tell you how it turns out! Spaying will take away the hormonal ups and downs, but it won't change her behavior towards other dogs. Definitely start using some reconditioning steps now, and that way the behavior won't have a chance to become more entrenched. Let me know if your puppy class teaches a 'watch', or 'attention' behavior, if not, I will get you the steps. It is the first step to keeping the dog under control in any situation.

@saralars: Yes this is true, I don't know anything for sure. I am just going on the owner's word that this was a pup from one of the puppy mill rescues and that they got her from a foster home. I am pretty sure I will get a 'mind your own business' from them if I ask which rescue they got her from. I will ask tonight though. Do most rescues come with a chip? I could get her to my vet for a scan…but not sure if I will just get owner info. or rescue info. from that. First, I will see if I can get an answer from them about rescue (which one) and then go from there. FAILING to me equals bringing her here for a month and not being able to help her with house breaking and in the process get attached to her and have it all be for nothing if I failed to do it. Thank you for your reply and common sense insight. I am a rescuer, a fixer! Looking at the big picture I don't want to enable them to keep on doing this. I can appreciate your position and the fact that you do not want to enable these people to keep doing something like this again. I guess I just have a different view of what rescue or what a rescuer is. In my view rescue or being a rescuer is about being a facilitator who helps retrieve animals out of situations that are unhealthy, unsafe, or unfit. Then that facilitator makes sure the animals health needs are met and attempts to find safe haven and stable situation for that animal where they will be loved, cared and provided for. I can appreciate you wanting to train this animal by helping to housebreak it but as I said in my other post, I think there are bigger problems here than just Pee. Jason

@Benkura: Don't quote me on this but someone once told me that when a male dog is neutered he begins to smell like a bitch!! Neutered males do not have the amount of testosterone an intact male would have so it would make sense that they would smell different. Without estrogen though I doubt they smell like an intact bitch. Some dogs do get confused about the gender of altered animals and do not always act appropriately. It is possible that the offensive dog may have tried this act on an intact bitch at one point and she went after him. Then when he tried the same act on neutered males he was tolerated. This could explain his preference. In any case, this behavior is extremely rude and his owners need to do something about it.

Uh…you guys, this post is from almost two years ago :) It got spammed today which brought it up again....

@LBRunyon: I have a supplementary question along these same lines . We got our BRAT Ricky two weeks ago ( YIPPEE!!!! ) He is WONDERFUL . The only problem we are having is that he WILL NOT potty in our fenced in yard . In fact , it seems he won't go within 1 block of our house . We walk in the am and pm . He is very particular about where he will go, though he sniffs every available surface . While the weather is nice , I really don't mind this . We would be walking anyway . But when the frigid cold hits , it would be nice to open the door and have him go out , do his business quickly , and return . We have tried waiting him out in hopes of praise and treats once he goes in the yard . But Mr. iron- bladder- steel- sphincter WON'T go in the yard. Are there any suggestions ?Oh , by the way, once we are out of the yard and down the street he goes after a few quick sniffs . I have to take my B outside no matter what. It's nice during the spring/summer/fall, but the midst of winter is just simply brutal. -20F with a nice wind (colder windchill) will make any B go quickly, but it's still painful for us humans.

Not sure, it could be so many things that a human can not see or smell. But, my terrier would do a low growl every time we drove by our old vet. We changed vets and he stopped but he still knew even 10 years later that he hated that vet. Not sure what happened to him that he hated them so much but he was neutered there!

Pet Land (pet store)

You can check out this site. It might help. http://ccpdt.org/rstr/OH.html

@BDawg: Ours will drink wine and beer. Lexi HATES the smell of a banana. When I peel it, sometimes we let her smell it and then runs all over the house. It's so funny and sometimes we chase her with it (good naturedly) and she goes nuts and spins on the bed all playfully. She will roll in anything mint flavored or scented. She also loves to roll in leather and will stick her face in ANY stinky shoe and go bizurk. It's hilarious!! http://www.dogster.com/video/379313/The_new_shoes_leather_is_my_catnip The video is ADORABLE! Just wondering….rolling and/or rubbing on scents is called self-anointing. In wild animal studies they are researching if this is an innate behavior to mask personal scents or to repel external parasites. (Pandas, not only in our United States, but in China breeding facilities, many times choose to anoint with scents that are not found in their natural habitat.) I wonder then, are our dogs also self anointers as a throw back to their wild heritage, or are they just plain strange? Does anyone else have dogs with scent preferences (other than the nasty dead/decayed stuff they find on a regular basis) My Kate is a 'nasty' scent anointer, Tyler will rub on apple scents.

The B-500s are getting out of hand as well! Yesterday, she was doing circuits of the house and leapt into a bedside table, causing everything to go flying. Now I understand what they mean when everyone says 'You need a sense of humour to be owned by a Basenji'

@dmcarty: Once I showed a neighbor my "years of the American Basenji" books as I was researching a pedigree (long before online info) Her comment was - geez could we have that for husbands - with a list of things like - does windows etc. I work in the schools and I have to say the parents that I see that are off the charts are so far off the charts that they should have not reproduced. They far overshadow the majority that are good and responsible. There just seems to be a sense of entitlement that I don't remember when I was a child. "I'm entitled to whatever I want - and I can do what I want - there should be no consequences but someone better save me if I screw up." I saw the same thing when I was teaching in Chicago. Children can misbehave, throw things at teachers, staff, or others and get away with it. You used to be able to count on your principal to deal with behavior problems but those days are long gone. If you call a parent, many times you are not deal with in a nice way. On Parent Teacher night at least in the public school I was in, most parents never attend. Many times you are lucky if a child comes to school in clean clothes or food in their stomachs. At the school I taught at there were many kids on free lunch and some of free breakfast as well. Some of the kids would take home any food they could get for later or for others in their families. It was not a great situation. On top of this the behavior problems have made it almost impossible to teach at times. I have seen many kids passed through a grade just so the teacher could get rid of them and not have to deal with that child the next year. Its not surprising to me that these kids are running about unsupervised at a very young age. Unfortunately the rest of society suffers because of irresponsible people. The gangs have become the family and the younger kids are put up to more and more violent crimes because in many states the penalties for a minor are seen as insignificant. Jason

Hello, I just wanted to send a quick update on Nulla. She is doing so well! We started a dog training course where my boyfriend and I are the alpha dogs. There is not treats involved and it has shown amazing results. Nulla has been in the course for about a month now. We have had no eating problems from her (no barfing, no not eating what we set our for her), no behavioral problems (no chewing my shoes, etc). She seems so happy and I am sure she is gaining weight (although I have not weighed her). I think dog training is completely necessary and we've seen HUGE results in Nulla. Everything I posted about before is no longer a concern. Thanks for all the input though. Take Care :)

That is usually one of the biggest problems… someone in the house is NOT good about remember to pick up after themselves... or putting things out of reach of the "Basenji"...

My son has been afraid of animals his entire life. We didn't know it until we were visiting a friend when he was 1 year old and their cat WALKED across the room. He freaked out. From that point on he was afraid of any live animal, but loved stuffed animals. He is 6 now and we just got an 8 week old Basenji. We talked about it alot, (he has slowly gotten used to our friend's cat, but every time the animal made a sudden move he jolted). He was excited to get the puppy, and we sat with him while he got used to exactly what the puppy would do. It has only been 2 months and my son is so good with our dog that he is not afraid of the dogs across the street who are high strung little fluffy things that always sent him runnning and screaming into the house. When I asked him about it he said he wasn't afraid now because he had one now. We waited to get a dog until both of our kids were older and could handle some responsibility. It was the best decision we made. He is still uncomforable around large dogs and other large animals, but has made remarkable progress. I don't know how your nephew will respond, but as he gets older he may realize that he has some control over the animals and that may help. Good luck!!!