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cats and dogs getting along together. lol

Basenji Training
  • Our new basenji pup is coming along very well with her training. She's four and a half months old and a total cuddle love bug. She's got a very good temperament with no aggression or fearfulness. She's been cool about the vet, no I lie, she loves our vet. She's quite the social little thing.
    She's housebroken knows the house rules for the most part.
    She also gets no unsupervised time out of the crate.
    She sleeps in the bed, but is crated when we are away from the house. We both work from home for the most part so she's never been crated for more than 3 hours She's cool with the crate for the most part though she does grumble when she thinks she's been put in there for 'no good reason'.
    We also have three lovely rescue cats. I say rescue because we have a cat dumping problem at the end of our road. Not cool. All of the cats we have decided we were their people.
    Our boy cat has made friends with Mrs. Walters. They are besties. As long as she doesn't puppy play too rough. I'm expecting their relationship to blossom as she grows out of puppyhood. Here's the thing, our two 'grey slayers' have learned that we have a 'zero tolerance' with puppy play with them. They don't run away from her, but they do hunker down and get a little hissy. We don't allow Mrs. Walters to bother them, or be on the same couch/nook with them. These cats have taken to hanging out near her and basically teasing her so they can take a swipe. The cats are too smart! They know this puts the puppy in a crate time out and they win!
    No one is pleased with this - except the cats.
    One of the reason we decided on a puppy was to increase the chance that they would all get along. And honestly I think it's going as well as can be expected.
    So here is the question. As far as puppy play goes, will Mrs Walters eventually get it and ignore the cats that don't want to play? Any training tips? (besides ejecting the cats from the house)
    My goal is eventually to let her roam around the home a bit with less supervision. But there is no way I'm gonna leave her alone with the grey kitties right now!

  • Cats are jerks. But they also are training the pup. My tendency would be to stay out of it as much as possible. Perhaps a spray bottle to get them from hanging to close and when he tries to approach them. Teaching "Leave it" or "to me" to get him away from them might help. I am sure those here with cats will have better ideas. Setting up gates to keep the pup away from them might help.

    I think the cats not running is a good sign that you have a chance of happy co-existence.

    good lessons
    http://www.clickerlessons.com/index.htm

  • @betsy - sounds to me like you are doing everything right.... the pup and cats need to make their own peace... and sounds like it is going as good as expected. The pup will learn the body language as she gets older of the cats... and yes, agree with Debra... good that the cats done run... and if the pups gets "swiped" by the kitties... what a better way to learn to back off...

3/3

21 May 2017, 17:50

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  • 0 Votes
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    Thanks everyone for your comments. I feel assured what the breeder said was sound-That the dog can do both lure and show providing they want to. So since I really want to lure how soon should I start with the pup?
  • Getting Involved

    Basenji Training 12 Jan 2010, 16:22
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    There are several different sports you can get into with basenjis, with varying degrees of work and effort on your part. Lure coursing is a lot of fun, and is pretty much an instinctual thing with basenjis. If your basenji has high prey drive (rips your arm off to dart off after squirrels while you're walking, etc), s/he will probably enjoy lure coursing. Since its instinctual, there's not a whole lot of training you can do, or need to do. Getting started in lure coursing… go the akc website & do an events search for Lure coursing tests & trials in your state. It helps if you're willing to travel to surrounding states, as there aren't a ton of great places for coursing, so you could also search nearby states at the same time to find events. Also, go to asfa.org and click on the events link there. AKC & ASFA are 2 different lure coursing bodies, so the points you accumulate in one are not applicable to the other. By looking at events in your area, you can find names of the clubs that host events in your area. From there, google them for their website & contact info. You'll be able to find people in your area who can help you further. Just doing an event search on ASFA & then googleing the host clubs, I actually found the Basenji Club of Southwestern Wisconsin http://www.bcosw.org/ and the Midwest Coursing Club http://midwestcoursing.homestead.com/. Those should be a good start for coursing. If you want to get into agility, google agility training facilities in your area. Agility takes a lot of hard work and training for both you and your dog. You won't be ready to compete for a while, sometimes people train for a couple of years before they compete. However, its a GREAT learning and bonding experience for both you and the dog. Its a lot of fun! There's also straight racing and oval track racing. I don't know much about those, but google NOTRA & LGRA & you'll find websites for both. Again, look for events in your area & then contact the host clubs. There are a ton of events, and you can learn about most of them at akc.org. There's scent tracking, conformation, weight pulling, etc etc. You could also look into getting a Canine Good Citizen & visiting nursing homes or children's hospitals. I'm sure somebody who lives in Illinois will chime in with what they do locally.
  • New Dog Sport

    Basenji Training 12 Aug 2009, 16:28
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    Sounds neat Lisa, let us know how it goes if you try!
  • 0 Votes
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    In our house there is one way to get back inside… Now before you say thats unfair, we don't have a yard so human and basenji have to stand out in the rain until Indy does what he needs to do. It will only take one or two times to make the point. Plus no potty in the house
  • 0 Votes
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    If I tried to pick up Sam and carry him away from a fight he would have a go at me. When he is worked up and I've tried to get him away he has bitten me. In every other respect he is a wonderful dog whom I love v much. I find it interesting that I haven't come across any other basenjis in this forum as aggressive as mine. Sam doesn't just growl or snap at other male dogs he actively pushes them and tries to goad them into fighting. I'm beginning to think that Sam is a particularly 'rambunctious' pup?
  • Dog whisperer???

    Basenji Training 15 Sept 2007, 00:39
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    I agree i´ve used those methods on all my dog´s(long before Cesar came along) not only the basenji and never has a dog questioned my leadership.But I always praise and i´ve never used force never had the need for it so there i´m different.These methods are common methods with working dog´s I used to have a Boxer and i´ve just adjusted certain parts of it to fit the Basenji ;) Many of the dog´s in that show are just left to "run wild" no training or excercise and instead lot´s of silly things with people who humanize their dog´s.And they looked surprised if they need to take walks jeez I take mine out 4-5 times a day and two of the walks are 6 miles and he he plays with other dog´s every single day to keep him socialized as he´s growing into adulthood.I also show train him every day not more then 10-15 minutes just to keep it fresh in his mind. What people tend to forget obedience training is something that you have to keep doing continuously as their memory is not like ours so you have to keep it fresh in the mind. I probably stated the obvious but I do agree with Jazzys mum:)