Please do not take what I say out of context. NO means NO and dogs need to learn. Raising your voice is NOT a bad thing when teaching a a Basenji rules of the house. There is a major difference between raising your voice and being down right cruel. I would never hurt my dogs, they are not abused in any fashion, and my training methods are very effective. If my dogs were afraid of me it'd hurt my feelings because besides my wife, they are my life and I'm with them almost 24/7.
This is backed by all my friends and family that always ask how come your dogs listen to everything you say. (They really don't they were just raised with good manners) I have a very well mannered dog that is playful. If you do not want to raise your voice at your dogs when teaching them what the word no means, that is your personal preference but to say it is counterproductive or cruel is false. I am not talking about screaming.
Raising your voice should only be used for negative actions, for example, you should never yell your dogs name or any command such as down that the dog associated with positive obedience training as it will confuse them. This brings us back to no means no. raising your voice for the word no will let the dog no the current action is wrong. You do not always need to raise your voice but Basenjis will ignore you at times and a little authority in your voice will make them understand you are the alpha in your house and they need to obey you. Otherwise they will run you. You do not have to agree with this but my Basenji is 4 months now and he is not skittish of me for saying NO with some volume. I rarely have to even raise my voice at him anymore because he now knows what it means, he is never crated for more than 3 hours and has not destroyed anything in my home because he was raised right and understands the rules. I
am not a first time dog owner and have never owned a dog with obedience issues, skittishness, nor aggression. I have even spoke to my vet and he 100% agrees with me to teach him this way because they are a stubborn destructive breed otherwise that will need crated throughout their life otherwise. The way I see it, I am raising him to not have to sit in a crate all the time when we are gone, while the other 2 dogs lounge around the house freely. Though that day is not coming any time soon because I can not ignore the warnings until I REALLY trust him.
To each their own, but as I stated before a firm no, including voice volume and tone, is very effective and will not hurt your Basenjis feelings. He will move on to the next thing to chew testing the boundaries of the house. He will eventually learn what no means and you will only need to raise your voice when the stubborn side decides
to ignore you. I also just read a book that said you should hold your dog down on its side as a young puppy until they stop squirming and then let them up when the stop. Only do this a couple times a times a week for like 2 weeks. This helps to determine whether your pup has a dominant or submissive personality and can aid you in the way you ultimately decide to train him. I assume most Basenjis are dominant personality and will squirm for a bout 5 seconds before they
calm down. Once calmed down hold them for 5 seconds while they are in a calm
state. Basenjis, dogs in general, are pack animals and this test will demonstrate the way the puppy acted with his mother. If he is submissive, he will let you just lay him down on his side and stays there. If he is dominant, this is how he was with his mother and mothers will hold their dominant pups down next to them until they give up. Basenjis are very strong willed and this excersiE will teach him his place in the pack and he will become more willing to comply. I have included the reference for this excersize if you are interested in the book rather than taking my word. It has proved to be very effective for me.
Schwartz, C. (2003). Puppy training. Allenhurst, NJ: Kennel Club Books.
