• I have a 7 month old tri-color basenji female and she is having a hard time getting house broken, anytime she goes outside she will stand at the door to go back inside she doesn't like to walk around outside, any time I catch her in the act I stop her show her what she did give her a firm spank and put her outside for about 15 minutes. And she doesn't seem to learn, she doesn't seem effected by it, I have a 4 year old red n white female and a 8 month old red and white male both are housebroken, I figured she might catch on with the other dogs but she hasent, I've tried crating her at night and she just yodels constantly and. Can't slleep I've tried brining the crate into my room and putting it next to my bed thinking that her being away from me was the reason she was yodeling, I've tried picking up her messes and putting the outside and bringing her out with it to show her where its supposed to be, but she doesn't seem likeshe realizes she's doing anything wrong like if you discipline her she just looks at you like "wtf?" And the puppy pads she just tears up I need help 😞 I am 100 times over my frustration point


  • Go back to housetraining 101… you take her out and stay with her... or walk her. And she doesn't come in till she goes potty. Then reward and treat. You can not rely on the other dogs to train her, that is your job. And you need to take her out lots... after play, after eating, after sleeping.. and if necessay in the middle of the night till she gets the message. Remember the saying... If you dog has an accident in the house, roll up that newspaper and smack yourself over the head... because it is your fault that accidents happen. And to that note, hitting her for having an accident is only going to make it worse.. soon she will start to hide her potty accidents in the house because she will relate going to the potty period with getting hit.


  • She does need you to walk her until she goes and then treat. She will "get" it, but you have to be there. Did you talk to the breeder about this issue?


  • I do give her a treat everytime she does good and I give her tons of affection and everything I do also go out in the yard with her we don't walk them because of the size of our backyard


  • It really doesn't matter what size yard you have, putting them in the backyard and expecting them to go potty is just not likely to get the results you want. Dogs in general, and basenji especially, want to be where their people are so getting shoved in the backyard seems like punishment to most of them. Going for a walk with their person is more of a reward and also more stimulating so more likely to get them to potty which will give you more opportunities to reward.


  • Your dog probably goes to the door because you're not outside with them… you have to stay out there with her and when you see her going say "GOOD GIRL!" in a very excited, happy voice. I haven't used any treats only this praise and sometimes my pup will get excited and run to me after where I give him a good pet. If mine goes in the house I just bring him outside and stay outside. If you play with her outside then she'll have to go eventually and when she does use lots of praise. I wouldn't use a spank because you're teaching her that it's bad to go to the bathroom... which is why she's probably giving you the confused look. When she goes inside just take her outside, you don't have to punish her to get her to see it's wrong... just make outside potty more appealing because there's praise. You should also take her out often like was suggested earlier... especially after she's eaten.... I was told pretty much every 15 to 20 minutes. During the nighttime, she might have to go to the bathroom and that's why she's yodeling. Try to make a schedule of bathroom breaks every two hours throughout the night where u take her out and wait until she goes to the bathroom. The idea is to get her out of the crate before she yodels so that she doesn't think she can just yodel to come out. If you find that every two hours is too many potty breaks (i don't mean for your comfort, if she doesn't have to go as often) then you can make them less frequently. I can tell you that I was up with mine for about a week and a half every two hours and slowly he got down to just waking up at 5am for a potty break and then up at 6am again for a feed. That is about 4 weeks later. Keep in mind this took a lot of time, patience and sleepless nights. Goodluck with your potty training!


  • My b's don't like to go in their area. The backyard is where they lay in the sun. So they very much want to keep that area clean. We walk 3 times a day.


  • My puppy is on a good way to be housebroken now. I know he won't do his business in the yard, so I never take him there to go potty. I have to carry him to a piece of grass outside the main door and wait. Then he gets lots of praising for it.

    I go out when he's done playing, slept, ate, drank and so on.


  • While it's sometimes easier to hope that the older dogs will teach the little one, that doesn't always happen. While I had it work with Apache, it didn't with Zuni.

    When I was house training Zuni I would leash her up and take her out into the yard and just wait until she went, then praise and treat. There were many times she wouldn't move, so we just stood there until she moved and went or went where she was. It can be a real pain, especially in the middle of the night…but that doesn't last forever. Any accidents in the house were just cleaned up and not acknowledged.
    When we lived in the city, the dogs did prefer to go while on walks, but would, if they REALLY needed to go, go out into the yard.

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