When you are dealing with something that an animal is afraid of, the best approach is to find his "comfort" distance from the thing that scares him. A busy street makes this a bit more difficult, as you have to find a way to give him that "distance". If you have a car, maybe transporting him to a less busy area might make a good start. Perhaps a side street, where he is comfortably away from busy traffic. You could then walk toward the busy street, pausing as soon as you see some sign of anxiety, and retracing your steps just little until he is in his "comfort zone" again. Gradually…...with the use of bribery and rewards......ask him to approach closer to the scary stuff. Liberally reward him for being there, then retreat. The idea is to not force, let him decide when he is ready. If he feels he can retreat at any time, he will have more confidence. This approach may take awhile, but is less likely to create a permanent aversion. (it works well with spooky horses).
Slowly w/o a leash…
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I always take my Senji to dog parks for some great excersise (fenced of course!)
Recently Ive been trying to introduce my Mislosh on some occasions to play with other friendly dogs in my complex w/o a leash.. this has been good so far since the dogs are trained not to wonder too far-so milosh follows. until he seems to get a bit bored or overly excited to dash n i leash him again.
But iam wondering if this is a good thing to introduce him to since i know he is very fast and loves to get chased!…i hate seein him on the leash as he greets the local leash free dogs in the grass yard (unfortunately with no fence) so it worries me.
am i doin the right thing?... or should he remain on a leash at all times? some friendly advice would be appreciated.
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i would leash him at all times unless in a fenced in area
my b maya got loose one day and i watched her run head first into the wheel of a car going 35 miles an hour, she bounced off shook her head and decided it would be a good idea to cut the romp short and head back to me
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I watched my 7mo. old puppy barrel headlong into the road, after a careless nieghborhood boy flung open my kitchen door one day. unfortunatley she was actually hit and is no longer with us. If you truly love your B, you will leash her at all times in an unfenced area. it only takes one squirrel/bird/car/ puppy/or even bag in the wind to capture a B's attention, and lead them to the end of thier life. also encouraging any sort of chase behavior with a B can lead to them feeling like running free with you following is a game. I would do anything to have her back.
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i agree, always leash unless you really are somewhere with no traffic (we go unleashed down the beach but as soon as we head back to the carpark the lead goes back on).
a fenced dog park is great to let them off leash. We have large dog parks here and we let them all off leash to play, of course she never listens and comes back in her own time but shes just too busy playing with the other dogs, we know shes safe and shes just got oodles of energy to burn so we let her play as theres just so many dogs to interact/chase/wrestle with etc
The only other time shes ever off leash is at agility/obedience training. Now this isnt a fenced area but its a rather big park before you get to any roads. We do off leash exercises there and we've never had an issue.
It just depends on how reliable your recall is. When she knows its play time at the dog park, thats it (recall goes out the window) until shes tired but if we are at training her recall is perfect and she is zoned into me.
An idea: use longer leads or retractable leads for unfenced areas. when we go walking we have the normal lead to get to the place and once we hit the open paddocks shes on a 5ft long lead (the other half made for me and put a clip on the end so i actually clip it to my belt instead of me holding onto it). Which is plenty enough for her to explore all over the place
but im always cautious, even at the beach if theres birds or anything worth chasing, no amount of calling will get her to come back until the chase is done, then she will look for us. but thats just the nature of the B, they love to hunt/chase things.
thats just my experience -
ok- thank you!
this just reinforces my decision to keep him on a leash at all times, unless in fenced area (as he does once a day at park ).
but for casual home walks with neighbors dogs he will stay leashed- as he is a very curious 2yr old B, and loves to run! and has tons of energy..
now i wont feel guilty when i see our neighbors dogs off a leash and he is on one.
safety first!
:rolleyes:
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You can get a 26 foot retractable leash, that's what I use when there's no fence. If the area is fenced in then no leash.
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I used to use a 40 foot horse lounging line on my rottie to allow her to play with other dogs at our apartment. I just didn't trust her and I wasn't willing to risk her dying. The odd thing is, over time I have never had a dog with such perfect instant recall. As she aged she is the only dog I even allowed to run loose on my friend's 14 acre horse farm. She stayed within eyeshot more because she always wanted to see me than because I didn't want her out of sight. But that is the only dog ever. So not worth a dead dog.
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these are goods alternatives-unfortunately-he LOVES to run..and in the past ive tried these sort of ropes n leashes- he tends to get tangled very fast and well…as a Basenji he gets embarrassed easily-if things dont go his way.
-on that note hes almost 2-ive been told he slows down at 3yrs of age....and they tend not to be sooo active-is this true?...
although i can see his character is fearless and bold-so itll be hard to believe~
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My b has been pretty good lately with listening and all But still i live by the motto if u feel like u can trust him DON"T cuz he will prove u wrong at the worst time .. And My b is almost 6yrs in dec. and has NOT slowed down a bit .. I believe he thinks he's still a 10 mth old puppy LOL
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Yesterday I let go of my oldie's (16+) leash while I untangled the others, assuming that because she is now rather slow, her hunting days might be over!!! WRONG - she shot off over the field faster than she's moved for month, safter the nearest sheep! Luckily the lead got caught in a gorse bush and I was able to catch her otherwise i could have had one dead sheep! In future I'll keep my own advice - keep Basenjis on a leash at all times when prey might be around!
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Please leash unless in a safe enclosed area. The consequences of a loose basenji are too costly.
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Basenjis do not tend to slow down until they are much older. I have an almost 12 year old with Fanconi who runs around the backyard and plays with the younger ones. Some days she is really fast and can keep up with them though the one thing I have noticed is she does not have as much stamina as she used to.
There are lots of older Bs lure coursing and the majority of my Bs that I have lure coursed did not start until after they were three years old. My Arnie who was almost nine did not course in the Veteran Stake but in the Field Champion Stake at the Basenji National held in KY last year and earned a placement in ASFA.
Jennifer
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Please keep your B leashed. . . even if they act like they are content to be around because of other dogs, etc., all they need do is spy a cat or squirrel or just about anything that distracts them, and they are off and running, without regard for anything except what they have their sights set on catching. They'd run right across a road full of traffic, or anyone in the way. My younger one has escaped in our community a few times, and has only been caught when she stops to check something out and she doesn't see us coming. She also seems to think her running and me chasing is some sort of game, so she sees no reason to come back. When she was little, if I ran the other way she'd chase me, but has now caught on to that, so we are REALLY careful not to let her out unleashed.
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I agree, I go to a park near my house where people often take their dogs and unleash them, there is plenty of open grass but the street is right there. People are always telling me to let him loose so he can play with their dogs and I never do!! I explain to them about the breed and they look at me weird. They don't get it, I wish there were parks here with fenced areas for dogs but there aren't any, he is only off leash when I go to someones house that has a fenced yard, like my moms or my brothers house, but these are small yards not really big open areas, but I know that it's just too dangerous,a and the thing is that because of that I have not been able to practice recall with him in a an open area. only in small areas or in my apartment.
