Welcome to the Forum and thank you for rescuing these girls.
New from Canada
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Hi Everyone,
First off, I have to say i'm new to this whole forum thing. So, please be patient with me while i get the hang of things.:D
I decided to join because I NEED HELP. I have 2 purebreed Basenjis and one BasenjiX. My Basenjis are 1 year old, and i am having serious problems with my male. His attitude, for the lack of a better words SUCKS:eek: .
Anytime we discipline him, or scold him for anything he will go and pee somewhere, it used to be on the bed, but since we moved he pees in the bedroom on the floor. He has peed on me, after i eat supper and don't share and on every piece of furniture we own. It has been very difficult to deal with, and so here i am asking people who have probably gone through the same, or similar things as me for help.
As much as i love all my dogs, the partner is getting fed up and i need to solve this.:(
A little background on the dogs. We got them when they were 8 weeks and we tried to seperate them at 5 months because originally one was meant for the inlaws. That didn't work, and he went 'bonkers' without her here…so we took him back. They're kenneled anytime we can't watch them or are away from home. They used to sleep with us in bed(big mistake), but we put a stop to that as they got bigger. They now sleep in their kennels, and scream most of the night.
For the first 10 months we used praise and treats to rewards them and get them to do what we want. That seems to work, when they want it to, of course. We have avoided being 'heavy handed' up until about a month ago with my male...i know it's wrong, but he does listen when he thinks he's gonna get a spank (although we only do it for the most serious offences ie. peeing in the house) which would be followed by a direct trip outside.
Any ideals on what i can try to get him to not get so insulted when we scold him or when he doesn't get his way? I know that i have probably made tonnes of mistakes with raising them properly...and will admit that i got these dogs for the wrongs reason (they're SOO cute), but now that i have them i love them and i am commited to them.
Dogthesonic
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It sounds like your male is need of the "No Free Lunch" method of training. He should work for everything. Does he know sit and down? If so he should be asked to sit or down before getting his dinner, if he does not do it, no dinner. He should be asked to sit to get his collar on and to go out. I would also recommend signing up for a basic obedience class which will help you to build your relationship with him away from the other dogs in the household.
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I agree with the obediance training, and have been trying to find one in our area (we live in a remote area where not everything is accessible easily) however, it is worth having peace in the home and will sign up for some. There is definetly less bonding between him and I.
He knows sit and down, and a few other basic commands. He does do them when asked, or for treats. However there is always 2 other dogs to contend with and mimmick because we get them all to do it at the same time.
I'm going to try the sit for everything. See how it goes, should i not allow him in the room where he pees? It's also our living room so we spend alot of time in here, im not sure i would be successful at keeping all the dogs out of this room.
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if you have a petstore near by, look for nature's magic….this is a carpet cleaner that will remove stains and the scents from urine. pets will typically repee in the same place. you should be able to find this type of liquid product in the are that sells poop bags etc.
is your boy fixed?
basic training was vital for my sanity with my boy when he reached 7 months and fixing him really calmed his temperment as well....or it could have been that terrible teething period...the classes were great and I found that i was giving him negative attention. i learned how to communicate without raising my voice or saying no which was great. i can imagine the stress with multiple dogs, hang in there....
i also found that one of my two basenjis needed more exercise than the other and would pace the house and get into trouble if i didnt stay on top of it.
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Even if you keep him out of the room he is peeing in if it is spite peeing he may just find another spot. Also, expect when you first institute "No Free Lunch" that he may pee more because he doesn't like the new arrangement but once he learns the new rules he should come around.
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Hey, thanks fo rthe reply, i've read alot about the natures miracle and am going to pick some up next time i'm in the city.
He is not fixed, originally we got them to breed them. I'm working on finding out there background and am going to have health tests done before we make a final decision on breeding them though.
Except for the fact that he pees on everything he is a really great boy. I mean he has the typical basenji traits but i can deal with that with supervision and i expect it and it's really my fault if i'm not supervising them.
One big problem i think we have is that we moved just before winter and don't have a dog run for them yet so they go out on a chain. The time they spend outside is so little because of our weather (it's cold with snow for 7 months of the year). However i know that this spring when we get a nice huge dog run up for them they will be able to get a lot out of their system with being 'free' outside rather than a chain.
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My immediate suggestion would be to neuter him…that very well may do the trick.
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i honestly think spanking a basenji is like shooting yourself in the foot. my mom has had b's for 40+ years. when i got my puppy she said "never spank a basenji, it will only make them resent you." mine gets "time out", he cant stand for me to ignore him.
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If I can add my novice 2 cents
IMHO I think he may be peeing for other reasons. It all depends on the situations he pees in..anxiousness (are u angry or loud at that moment?? they feel that) or fear (if he thinks he may get spanked).
What has worked for us when our dogs do something they are not supposed to be doing (like peeing somewhere) we grab their attention quickly at that precise moment…it HAS to be in those 5-10 seconds he's doing the bad deed.
Get his attention FAST with a spray water bottle or a can with pennies...& then quickly divert his attention to something else...call him over quickly to you like you're about ot have the BEST time of your life or you have the absolute BEST news to share with him & give him a toy, a treat, a good belly rub or something great. I know you're probably angry in that moment but you have to give off positive happy energy..SMILE because it forces you to be happy & energetic at that precise moment. He can not feel a single moment of negative energy or it will not work.
And it needs to be done EVERY SINGLE time. Being consistent is really key. If not then all your work goes to waste. If you have to leash him to your waste for a couple of weeks so that you can catch him every time & you can correct his behavior positively every single time. It's a lot of work but it's really worth it.
So in essence you teach him that instead of peeing (bad boy) doesn't get hime good stuff but if he pays attention to you & runs over to you like a good boy he gets all kinds of good stuff.
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Excellent 2 cents
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Hi, I couldn't agree more with all of you. I know that spanking my B is like shooting myself in the foot…this is why i am here - to ask for advice and help from others...UNderstand that it's something that is not done often, but i find myself more and more wanting to do it and it's a big no-no.....I live in Manitoba, Basenjis here are very few and far between, and i am lucky if the person at the pet store even knows what i am talking about.
The only time he pees is after we have scolded him for something, or not allowed him to do what he wants...like when he goes to chew on something we will replace it quickly with an appropriate chew toy to re-direct his attention. He also pees when we kick the dogs off the bed or couch when they are hyper and playing, we get them to play on the floor. Basically it's when we insult him. When i come home from work if i leave the other dogs out before him, he will pee, i know he can hold it. It seems like it's his way of saying ' how dare you, ME first!"
It's not that i am loud, or that he is nervous when he does it. For example Last night we were all sleeping and my partner moved and accidentally pushed Simba (my male) of the bed. Well that was it, he peed right there beside the bed. They don't sleep with us all the time, and actually more often than not they sleep in the kennel, occasionnally when we're not home much that day we will allow them to bunk with us.
My eldest Basenji X was a submissive pee'er, and i was told to do the same thing. Just act like nothing, be happy and smile...ignore it because he can't control it. He doesnt do that anymore, are you tellling me to basically work along those same lines with Simba? I guess it makes sense, if he is doing it out of spite, he would eventually stop because he would start to think it doesn't bother us.
hmmm..is that a light bulb?....or are you guys helping me become smarter than my basenji
