HELP! Kipawa nipped twice in 3 days

[nobarkus]

My Buddy has some PPM too and his eye sight is excellent. He can see a crumb on the carpet!:)

[Kipawa]

You guys are the best! I am drinking in all of the comments and totally appreciate them.

Sharron - Kipawa will be 1 on September 25. So he really is still a little whippersnapper.

Agilebasenji and Andrea - I wasn't thinking that at his age he would be so clued into the fact that it is 'THAT time of the year". I think it will be interesting to see how he interacts with other basenjis this weekend. I'd be lying if I told you that I wasn't a little worried. He has only growled quietly when coming into contact with other intact males. This seems to be on the downswing. Two days ago he acted very submissively with an intact male - he rolled onto his back while the other dog stood over him.

CongoMama - yes! We all have to get on the same page, because the care workers are going to be around for the rest of Kipawa's life. One of the care workers does not like dogs. She is ambivalent towards Kipawa, but I do have to ask her to ignore him calmly. She is quite a hyper person. For her, I will have to tell her that she can give him commands like "door" or "off" or "sit", but she needs to do it without freaking out. The other lady LOVES Kipawa. She is the singer, massager, dance partner for Kipawa. She is also much easier to talk to than the lady that comes in the evenings. I will tell her that she can give Kipawa love and attention and massages, but that he must sit for her, stay in that position and THEN give him bits of love. She really pampers him, and I think you are right on when you are saying that Kipawa does not view them higher than him in the pack. Kipawa needs to go back to earning her attention.

Debra - I love getting all the info I can get, so yes, if you could give me your friend's email, that would be lovely. I see how it would be good to block off the kitchen, but it is not feasible, as my husband has to be able to get into the kitchen and he would not be able to open and close a gate (he has limited hand function). However, when I am preparing dinner, I can put Kipawa in his crate. I don't like the idea of putting him outside - it seems like a punishment to me? Putting him in the cage would show him I am allowing him to have that space until food is cooked and eaten.

Pat and Dan - thanks for the info on PPM. I'm glad this would not be a problem. Do you think it is still valuable to get an eye exam?

This weekend will be a fun one for Kipawa and I. It will also be the time that he will be totally out of his home environment. Even the mode of transportation will be different (I rented an SUV). And he has never been in a hotel yet. And the crate will be different, as the one we have for the house is too big for the SUV. I think he will be overly clingy to me, but I won't baby him. If he needs reassurance I will do that, but he will have to give me something first, for example, sit or stay. I don't want to come back with a bigger problem!

Again, big thanks to all of you and I will let you know how the weekend goes when we get back. And yes, we will have pictures!!

[Quercus]

And just as an another perspective…I instruct all visitors to our house to ignore the dogs...because although the human may LOVE dogs, or be great with dogs, or whatever, they are still strangers to my dogs. And my dogs (or any dog) may not appreciate a stranger singing to them, or massaging them, or whatever. I understand that the home health care staff is different than strangers, per se...but still...the dog may wish to have some boundaries with non-family humans. That being said, it is unacceptable for the dog to show his displeasure about strangers,or their behaviors by biting them

[tanza]

Never hurts to have eye exams, but since he had one only a few months ago, I would not do it until it has been at least a year

Give hugs to Kevin and Therese from me and the girls!

[deschroedter]

Cory my boy who crossed the bridge this year, was always untrustworthy around any male that came into our home. While the kids were young, and we had herds of young males running in and out, Cory wore a soft muzzle, all their friends were told to just ignor him, not even look at him. Cory also would not stay in any type of crate, ate out of all of them. So he was left loose while we were not home. He did fine with this. He was Funny his favorite dog sitters were both female, a mom and her daughter. The one time their son attempted to dog sit, cory tore his jeans. As he go older he was more trustworthy, but we never completely trusted him with anyone outside our immediate family. But he was a show dog, and at shows he was a perfect gentleman, so who knows why this breed does what it does. But I do agree you need to get a solution fast, and get the med checks done first is my advice.

[renaultf1]

@Quercus:

And just as an another perspective…I instruct all visitors to our house to ignore the dogs...because although the human may LOVE dogs, or be great with dogs, or whatever, they are still strangers to my dogs. And my dogs (or any dog) may not appreciate a stranger singing to them, or massaging them, or whatever. I understand that the home health care staff is different than strangers, per se...but still...the dog may wish to have some boundaries with non-family humans. That being said, it is unacceptable for the dog to show his displeasure about strangers,or their behaviors by biting them

+1 to this - I was thinking the same thing that perhaps he wanted his space, but also agree that biting isn't acceptable. I am adamant that visitors to my house ignore the dogs (not even look at the dogs). If I have people come over that I know or suspect won't ignore the dogs, the dogs are crated or put outside to run. I have one b-kid that does not like to be approached by strangers - she prefers to make the first overtures. Since I want to set her up for success, I don't put her in a situation that could go wrong.

The other thing I was going to say was about it being "breeding season". I do have one intact boy that nibbles people (usually preceded by intense sniffing) when it is that time of year. He does it to me and to my brother - but I put the kibosh on it when it happens (it feels like a pinch when it happens, but it definitely isn't a bite or breaks skin). During breeding season, he definitely isn't out of the crate (unless in the yard) when visitors are over because I don't want them to mistake his nibbles for bites. However it sounds like since Kipawa broke skin, it might be more than a nibble.

Good luck with everything and let us know what you figure out.

[Kipawa]

Andrea, you must think our home is a training facility for opera singers! Just kidding. The way you worded it in the posts made me laugh, though. Your point is excellent. The two ladies I mentioned are care givers that are here every day. They do some cleaning in our home, so Kipawa is very familiar with them/their smell/movement/what they do. He doesn't like the one lady who is high strung. He likes the other (the singer) very much. But I agree that even a dog needs a break/quiet time. I am going to start putting him in his crate for 1 - 2 hours in the a.m. and an hour or so every night. Thank you for the excellent suggestions.

[Kipawa]

One of the bites was with teeth (broke skin). The other barely left a bruise. So, mating nibbles perhaps, but it doesn't matter to which degree he used his teeth on these ladies. We are not ignoring this behavior. We'll do more crating while they are here, and more work with the trainer, of course. We already tell people to ignore him when they come in, so most everyone is trained with that already. Still, he is such a people lover, always has to see who it is. He's a wonderful, sweet dog. We just need to have some better house rules so we can set him up for success.

I definitely will keep everyone posted. We are at a basenji event this weekend and I will keep a very close eye on him.

[Kipawa]

@tanza:

Give hugs to Kevin and Therese from me and the girls!

I certainly will, Pat! I think it's going to be a great weekend.

[Buddys Pal]

sounds like resource guarding. counter condition and desensitize. He must not be there in the kitchen when humans eat. and/or you feed him yummies in front of care givers so he associates good things in that spot of house when caregivers are there. Timing is critical so if you need to hire a professional to help, do so.

[renaultf1]

Kipawa…how did the weekend go?

[sharronhurlbut]

Fran, what did Therese say about this behavior?

[Patty]

I haven't commented so far as my advice ould be similar to the others. Please let us know what Therese and Kevin suggest, it may help others as well. I hope you had a good weekend.