• Well, my husband can manage it if necessary, I'm just more frustrated about not building a reliable elimination routine. I'd like to be able to start doing real work with her at some point, and if she's unreliably housetrained, there will be many places she's not welcome, one of which is in my car.


  • Hopefully this is just a passing phase, and as she matures she will grow out of it. I do think that putting too much emphasis on something she is resisting can lead to difficulties, particularly as it isn't something you can control. A bit like pushing too hard when toilet training kids. 🙂


  • I'm sure you're right; whatever the reason, she does not understand why I want her to pee in the yard. I'm no fan of arbitrary rules myself, so… I figure that most times she is getting a workout in the morning. If she refuses to pee on a short relief walk once in a while and has to hold it in her crate for a few hours, well, I guess we all have to learn to live with our choices ;0).
    I do hope the car peeing thing was a passing experiment. Otherwise she won't be traveling uncrated, and it's too damn hot and muggy here to ride in a crate half the year.


  • @mixie:

    I do hope the car peeing thing was a passing experiment. Otherwise she won't be traveling uncrated, and it's too damn hot and muggy here to ride in a crate half the year.

    I think this is one where you could adjust your behaviour to hers. If she has peed before the car ride, no crate. If she hasn't…...well, why take chances? (some always crate their dogs for transport, and it can be safer, if less comfortable, for the dog. My guy rides in a "hammock" strung between the front and back seats, and seems to like that just fine.)


  • That's exactly what I mean. If I'd like to take her somewhere and she's refused to pee that morning, either she rides in a crate, if it's cool enough, or she doesn't go if it's not. If she relieves herself, she can be belted in when it's too warm for a crate, but I won't give her the opportunity to pee on the seat again if she's being stubborn on the ten minute pre-ride pee-run.


  • What's funny is that most people assume if you have a male, you just take him to the nearest tree. That theory simply didn't work with my first boy…...he was the one that inspired my haiku.......he could hold out as well as any girl if he wasn't "in the mood". My current boy is no problem most of the time, but he does have his moments! Basenjis can out stubborn most breeds I have worked with, and it seems it is usually about elimination issues. At least with poop you have a shot at inducing the behaviour you are looking for, but not so much with pee!


  • She is definitely an adventure. We just played some training games for dinner and she modified the "stick 'em up!" into walking on her hinds and waving both paws like she's directing traffic ;0). This is where I start thinking about teaching her how to use that to close doors, and my husband wonders WTF I'm doing teaching the basenji to open and close doors ;09


  • @mixie:

    my husband wonders WTF I'm doing teaching the basenji to open and close doors ;09

    You do have to be careful of unintended consequences, for instance, teaching a cat to flush the toilet can result in rather high water bills! A friend has a GSD who is self taught to open doors, which means there is no place in the house that she cannot go! Fortunately she has yet to master locks…....


  • I did wonder if I could teach her to use a toilet. I even thought about getting a toilet lid and cutting an outhouse hole in the middle, so she'd have a better platform. But since I can't even get her to pee in the yard… ;0)


  • Ours can be pretty obstinate about peeing as well. We brought treats to give to them when they went and then we would shake the can a bit to let them know we had them. Eventually they started associating the sound from that to peeing. Once we realized that, we started doing it right as they peed and it worked even better.


  • How about if you try really upping her fluids to force her to pee? With no-sodium chicken or beef broth. 🙂 Then have some yummy treat in your pocket when she HAS to go. Or, can you put up a temporary kennel and let her loose in it to pee? Or hell, get an indoor potty pad..
    http://smile.amazon.com/UGODOG-Indoor-Dog-Potty/dp/B00152R5YQ/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1408120822&sr=8-6&keywords=dog+indoor+potty

    I hope you get it figured out. At least with Cara it is only if ground is wet.


  • All good suggestions! We use the "elimination on command" stuff, so from day one she had a specific potty word, praise and treats for peeing. She is food-motivated, but only to a point. That first 27-hour standoff, she didn't get fed from the day before because she hadn't peed yet, and nothing good happens until everyone's had a morning pee. I tried offering every kind of treat, including her actual prey-model-raw meal, and she was more insistent on leaving the yard than eating. 😕

    I am curious about how upping her fluids would change things. She really drinks very little during the day, by choice. Maybe I'm just used to a dog with a less-efficient water-consumption protocol, and she really doesn't need to pee as much as I think she should. ;0)
    She's had four days on the Cipro, it would be handy if it's just a bladder infection and we see some changes from that!

  • First Basenji's

    @mixie:

    All good suggestions! We use the "elimination on command" stuff, so from day one she had a specific potty word, praise and treats for peeing. She is food-motivated, but only to a point. That first 27-hour standoff, she didn't get fed from the day before because she hadn't peed yet, and nothing good happens until everyone's had a morning pee. I tried offering every kind of treat, including her actual prey-model-raw meal, and she was more insistent on leaving the yard than eating. 😕

    I am curious about how upping her fluids would change things. She really drinks very little during the day, by choice. Maybe I'm just used to a dog with a less-efficient water-consumption protocol, and she really doesn't need to pee as much as I think she should. ;0)
    She's had four days on the Cipro, it would be handy if it's just a bladder infection and we see some changes from that!

    I just read this last post and if you are feeding her raw (as I do), then her urine output is a little less than the norm because the raw food is moist and our pooches (esp B's) don't drink as much. Though, you said she exercises a lot and since I also share the humidity factor like you, the fluid intake should make her bladder full. Take mental notes of when you feed, when she drinks, when she pees and you'll get in a rhythm. Like eeeeefarm mentioned, just don't push the issue, adjust to her 'pee schedule' and make it yours via commands, the crate etc. She can sense your frustration and it only adds to her not wanting to go in that backyard area….This definitely is one of those scenarios where digging for patience is needed! Give it time......continue to work with her as you want and it will get better!

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