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Growling basenji - aggression towards male roommate

Behavioral Issues
  • L

    I've had my basenji for about a year now, he recently just turned 3 years old and ever since his "birthday" he's different.
    I recently went to the vet for his health check up and he's completely healthy.

    But his behavior is on a downhill spiral.

    I need advice, please. This is the background story …

    I moved in with my male roommate (I'm female) in December, which has been about 5 months .. Sherlock (my basenji) has only recently started growling as my roommate when he enters the living room, or kitchen .. any room the dog is in, really.
    Until last night, my roommate would just carry on with his business and ignore this behavior.

    But last night, my roommate came home, simply walked past my dog and Sherlock snipped at him! This has never happened before and I need to know how to fix it ...

    When we aren't home, Sherlock isn't crated - he has free range of the apartment (except for my roommate's room - blocked off by baby gate)
    meaning, he sleeps on the couch and hangs out there all day ...

    for today i blocked him into my room and will not allow him back on my bed or couch unless invited but how can i correct this behavior properly?
    My roommate never feeds or walks the dog as he is mine .. should he get more involved in the dog's life/activities or??

    I know you cannot treat aggression with aggression so when Sherlock growls, we take him off the couch by looping a leash around his neck ... he doesn't like it but we have to show who's alpha ..

    Any suggestions will help, please and thank you.

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    J
    I'm no Basenji expert since I've only had one. And, I don't want to start a dog park argument. I'll just share my experience. Jengo LOVED running free, but he's a Basenji. Can't do that cause... cars. The dog park near our house is HUGE. A big completely enclosed lawn area the size of a football field with towering oak trees. We were OCD about keeping Jengo's vaccinations up to date. He was chipped and wore a collar with contact and rabies tags 24/7. He loved the dog park, but not all the dogs there. He hated any dog of any size that would try to dominate him in any way. He rarely instigated it, but he never tolerated it meaning regardless of size... he wouldn't back down. He also hated if another dog approached him from behind and would snap immediately. My solution was to stay near him and to keep moving. We would walk laps around the perimeter and by about the second or third lap he'd been or had checked out all the other dogs. Then things were good. If I saw that he was getting anxious I'd usually catch it before he reacted and would tell him "Easy". 9 times out 10 that was enough. I'd also make sure that he was aware of dogs in our vicinity so that he wouldn't be surprised if they came from behind. We went to the park for years. He never caught anything that I was aware of. I did pick him up and leave if there was another dog he and/or I weren't comfortable with. And, I also recall walking away before ever entering the park if there was a dog we didn't like already there. I guess my point is that part of protecting your dog and others is knowing and focusing on them without over-reacting at the same time. I don't want to set him off. But, I want to know what he's going to do before he does. You have to read him. All dogs give signals one way or another. Tune in to your dog, not the other people at the park. I liked the other people at the park, but I wasn't there for them. My focus was always on Jengo.
  • farabuttoF

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    @DebraDownSouth Thanks Debra, you've given me a lot to think about. I think I'll start immediately with the "leave it" training at home and then get in touch with some trainers/behaviorists in my area. I'm not expecting any miracles here but, like you said, even just learning to ignore other dogs would make such a difference.
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    That this arose at home but not on the street sounds like property protectiveness, and should dissipate once your dog figures out he lives there too, but you need to work on it if you want to avoid issues with other visitors. Can you remove yourself from the equation and allow the roommate to just "be" there, ignoring the dog until things settle down? Then, treats and food can reward more settled behaviour. IMO it would be a mistake to try to force the relationship in any way. A calm, matter of fact attitude should facilitate things. Definitely no approaching the dog or pushing attention on him. Let the dog set the pace. When he stops feeling threatened he will likely approach on his own. Any aggressive approach should be ignored if possible as long as it doesn't turn into an outright attack. (maybe leave a trailing leash on the dog as a way to take control if things really deteriorate, but I doubt that they will).
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    Hi Dawn, my names Colleen and i'm from Melbourne! I'm really interested to hear peoples thoughts on this as my 6 almost 7 month old male basenji who isnt desex as yet is displaying quite a lot of seemingly random aggression toward my other dog who he lives with. Food is the main trigger, but more and more i think it's his testosterone really kicking in, i think hes trying to test out my other dog too see how much he can get away with and how much he can boss him around. Its making life a bit edgy for myself and my dog who cops the outbursts! I'm a vet nurse and it is well know that desexing a male will definitely drop hormone levels significantly and therefore any hormonal aggression along with it. It usually calms them and dog/territorial related aggression can be helped by neutering. I think that if you really want to keep Cougar the best way to go is to desex him. If it becomes unbearable, then its not going to harm anyone by getting him desexed. And to be honest i think the breeder should think twice about breeding from a basenji who has bitten people… but basenjis will be basenjis. No doubt desexing will help, but no doubt the aggression wont be 'cured'... i think then you need to do your bit by training him in conjunction. Best of luck, sounds like we both need it!
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    @Patty: In my opinion you shouldn't be showing him like this - even though this aggression seems to be against certain individuals there could be a time when he takes against the judge. Yes, getting kicked out of the ring because your dog growls and won't stand still for the judge is very very embarrasing!! This did not happen to me with a B but the Shiba Inu we had. I was 16, it was her first show and she growled at the judge and would not stand still on the table…...I got excused from the ring.....in my hometown.....and its a small little show, 175 dogs. After that show we got her spayed, as I did not want to carry on that temperment in puppies. She was a very good dog but I am glad we spayed her because she had an attitude! She was my first show dog and we did not do proper research on the breeder first. Sorry, this is getting off topic.
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