What worked for me was taking my Basenji for a short walk along the road that I live on every hour until she went. After just a couple of days it made a big difference and after that I increased it to 2 hourly, 3 hourly and so on. I think it worked because she became used to going outside and it felt less familiar going inside. Going outside and waiting for her to perform with her getting stressed, wanting to go back inside and not understanding what I was asking didn't get us anywhere and this was much quicker and long lasting. Now she goes for 2 decent walks per day (morning and night) and usually asks to go into the garden once in between (she is 18 months old). My Basenji was a puppy so if you decide to try this you may not want to start at hourly. The other benefit of this is that she doesn't tend to want to poo in the garden unless she has an upset stomach.
Help
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Hi all. I have a 3 yrs old B&W male basenji. I have noticed that (for the last month) he appears to be catching invisible flies. Does that make sense? He will just set there and try to catch something in the air. Sometimes, he will chase something thats not there. He looks cute and funny doing it BUT im getting concerned.
Has anyone else witnessed it? Is it normal? -
I would get him checked out by your vet if there is truly nothing there that he's trying to catch.. I have seen a this behavour in a dog which was eventually diagnosed as a neurological problem.
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There is a seizure disorder in dogs that expresses itself in this way. I would take him to a vet.
That being said I have had dogs with epilepsy and seizure disorders are often quite manageable with good vet care
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Yep, it is even called fly catching syndrome.
http://www.cavalierhealth.org/flycatchers.htm -
I have read that certain eye problems can cause this also. You will probably have to go to an opthalmologist for a complete exam.
Does he have any other neurological symptoms?
I would contact the breeder and see if seizures are in the lines.
Here is a vet website with general seizure information including psychomotor seizures which is the kind that causes the flybiting. I do not know this vet.
http://www.drjwv.com/faq/?view=37&name=Seizures%20(Epilepsy
Jennifer
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Have your vet check his eyes, and if he sees anything, he'll probably refer you to a vet opthalmologist. The same thing was happening with Shaye. We took her to the specialist and he found she has astigmatism right in the center of her right eye. When she is just sitting around not doing anything else, she sees that dead spot in the middle of her eye and keeps trying to catch things that are not there as well. We were afraid it was a cataract, but it is not, and should stay the way it is forever - nothing to be done about it, but maybe she will get accustomed to ignoring it after a while. We wondered about the problem being seizures as well, but that was not the problem. Do have it checked out thoroughly.
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Do let us know what you found out from the vets.
