New update: Tika is no longer in heat! Yay! Remy got neutered and is doing great! We got a dog trainer to come in assess the situation and she thinks it is starting to improve compared to how I described it when I booked her to come. Only Maia seems to need the muzzle, she seems to be very unsure of the puppy. We are working with her to build her confidence. The puppy doesn’t seem to have any stress with Maia around and won’t start anything. The muzzle is on just in case when I am home alone as I don’t want anything bad to happen when if I can’t separate them. The puppy is getting lots of training time to help her learn how to behave properly. With 2 people here we can have the girls on short leashes and they are fine together. They did have a small altercation of snarling but no biting and no one got hurt. The older female backed down and walked away. As much as I want her to be the top dog it seems that the puppy has a much more dominant personality. If they figure out the pack hierchy hopefully everything will settle down. The trainer says there are no pack instincts in domesticated dogs, but after having 6 basenjis I can’t agree with that in regards to basenjis. We can walk the girls together without muzzles now so I think things are more positive and they seem to be improving every day. When Remy is healed from his neuter I will get the puppy spayed and hope that calms things down even further. So far there is a lot more peace in the house. Please anyone let me know if there is anything else I should be doing to keep these girls on track. Thank you for all your advice and guidance! I am so grateful for this forum as what is normal for other dogs is not so much with these guys!
My not so normal basenji!
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:p
When I leave for work in the morning Sonny is mad at me. He tells me in no uncertain terms he is not happy I am leaving him. We go through the same routine every morning before I walk out the door. He watches me go into the cabinet and take out his favorite treat so he comes over sits at my feet as if to eagerly wait for it and then when I offer it to him he turns his head away from me and walks away into the other room grumbling the whole way….I put the treat down on the floor and leave.....now here's the kicker....Sonny leaves that treat in the exact place I set it down till the minute I walk back in the door at the end of the day and before he says hello he runs over and eats that treat before I have my 2 feet in the door!!
what dog in their right mind would leave their favorite treat sitting in front of them all day and not touch it.....only a crazy basenji! :D:D:D:D
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That's hilarious. What willpower he has!
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LOL, that Sonny Boy is a character alright! Buddy is excited when I leave cause he gets a pile of cut up pieces of chicken breast. A thirty minute walk before I leave helps too. That's a cool pic of Sonny in his NY beanie.
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Sonny looks a cool dude in his hat
Our big Dog Max used to not eat if we were out of the house. He was the type of Dog who lived to eat but when we went out he wouldn't touch his food or treats. -
He refuses to eat his food if I'm not home or even if he thinks I'm leaving the house. I had to learn to out smart the little rascal in order to get him to eat breakfast in the morning. He knows our routine before I leave for work and he started refusing to eat knowing what was coming.. (me leaving)..Keep in mind he's perfectly fine while I'm gone. When its time to eat he stands in the door way between the kitchen and the living room and waits to see what I do after I put the food bowl down…If I go jump in the shower- he wont eat cause the shower means I'm getting ready to go....If I go sit on the couch he will now eat & then I can get in the shower!
When I tell people my basenji made me late for work they think I'm kidding......they have no idea!! lol
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That is absolutely hilarious..it would so not happen here..
He has you trained good. -
HAHAHAHA…that's funny...I don't know ANY dog that would leave a treat sitting there all day!! Well, I guess I do now!
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Just out of curiousity, do you tell him "leave it" before you let him take it? If so, he is trained amazingly well, in my opinion..either way it astounds me that he doesn't sneak that treat while you are gone..such a good Sonny boy.
Otis does the leave it well, but no way treats would get left for long on our floor..or counter for that matter. -
I wish I could say it was due to good training….but no I don't give him the "leave it" command first.....he's just a little abnormal! :p
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@sonnyboy:
He refuses to eat his food if I'm not home or even if he thinks I'm leaving the house. I had to learn to out smart the little rascal in order to get him to eat breakfast in the morning. He knows our routine before I leave for work and he started refusing to eat knowing what was coming.. (me leaving)..Keep in mind he's perfectly fine while I'm gone. When its time to eat he stands in the door way between the kitchen and the living room and waits to see what I do after I put the food bowl down…If I go jump in the shower- he wont eat cause the shower means I'm getting ready to go....If I go sit on the couch he will now eat & then I can get in the shower!
When I tell people my basenji made me late for work they think I'm kidding......they have no idea!! lol
Do you leave him loose in the house when you're gone? Other than leaving the treat he doesn't seem to have any crazy separation anxiety behavior like screaming or destruction, correct?.
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Yes he is left loose in the house. No he doesn't have any crazy separation anxiety. He just sits on top of his chair and watches out the window. He was quite the destructive puppy but thankfully he grew out of that
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@sonnyboy:
Yes he is left loose in the house. No he doesn't have any crazy separation anxiety. He just sits on top of his chair and watches out the window. He was quite the destructive puppy but thankfully he grew out of that
Sounds like you have a good deal here. I used to leave my last 2 alone in the house and they were pretty good. Now my new guy Buddy Boy is house trained and I have left him for an hour but all day, he's not quite there yet. He still has the destructive thing going but it's very slowly going away. He's a rescue so I don't know his exact age, maybe a little over a year. He still has the puppy behavior going.:D
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My brother got Sonny from the breeder at 8 months old and he lived with my brother till he was almost 2. He ate his couch & most of his shoes! Lucky for me when Sonny came to live with me last year he was just growing out of that stage and I was spared the destruction :p
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@sonnyboy:
My brother got Sonny from the breeder at 8 months old and he lived with my brother till he was almost 2. He ate his couch & most of his shoes! Lucky for me when Sonny came to live with me last year he was just growing out of that stage and I was spared the destruction :p
Buddy is my 4th and most destructive of them all. My last three didn't do any real damage. Buddy is the most friendly though. He's a real sweetheart and people love him. He's still very mouthy/grabby sometimes rough play biting. He's calming down. When I first brought him home in May he was a handful and I thought "Dan, what did you get yourself into"?:D
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Haley used to do this also! She REALLY didn't like me to leave her home alone and would not eat anything - even her favorite treat - while I was gone. Then as soon as I got home she'd run and get the treat from the very spot I left it and devour it. This all came to a screeeeetching halt when we got our BRAT dog, Prince. Now Haley (who used to be finicky) has to eat everything FAST and IMMEDIATELY so that Prince doesn't get it! She's always afraid he's going to get something she doesn't get, so at meal times she has to check his bowl out first…before eating from her own bowl. Of course, if he tried checking HER bowl out he'd get his face bitten off!!!! All of the individual personalities crack me up!
