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Basenji slave in need of potty training help

Basenji Training
  • I second that those puppies were really lucky to have you find them and give them a home and what seems like a lovely family. I have read your other threads and think it is wonderful how much you have done to give these puppies a warm, loving, comfortable home. Good luck and keep up the great work.

  • Thanks, I really appreciate all the support I've been given from this forum. It's good to know that we're on the right track with the training, and that my pups are behaving normally. I am being very patient and trying to be as consitent as possible with training. I understand that it will take longer to potty train since we aren't home during the day as much as I'd like to be, and that they have the peepads too. They are responding very well to the bits of treats they get when pottying where they are supposed to. I thought maybe that's why smart little Cooper has been peeing so much! Oooh I pee on the pad or outside, I get a treat! Pee pee pee pee :)

    And just cuz I love to share my cuties, I've attached a couple more pics.;) Sorry the quality stinks, I can only upload pics from my cell phone for some reason. The ones from the camera are too big.

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  • I also provided my dog a water bottle in his crate while I was away. IMO, it's the best option. it provides water when you are away for long hours, they can't possibly make a horrific mess with it, and they won't gulp down a ton a time (which leads to accidents). my dog had a lovely habit of swimming in his water bowl - literally. he'd dig in it, knock it over, splash about…. so the water bottle solved a few issues for us.

    i think your setup is GREAT! I do agree w/ Andrea though, training will take longer since you are away for long hours, and need to use the pads. don't worry though, it may take longer, but it WILL happen. just keep at it, sounds like you're doing great.

  • I tried a water bottle with Querk in his crate when he was a puppy, but he managed to chew a hole in it, during the course of a day. Then the next one he managed to pull the metal spout out of the cap…he was a complete basket case in his crate though :x

    I usually use a small ceramic crock, if I need to...but they still seem to dance around in it :)

  • When you look at those faces and little bodies - ya just gotta forgive 'em. They're so young, but your attention to training and details about the house will pay off big time. This is one really smart breed. As you already noticed:

    Oooh I pee on the pad or outside, I get a treat! Pee pee pee pee :)

    As long as you're on to him. I don't reward for going on the pee pads. Only when Daisy (12 weeks old) goes outside and for when she pees or poops outside. If she goes on the pads, I don't give her any attention. If I catch her peeing on the floor, I do my best to stop her mid-stream - with a loud "DAISY!!" Then I whisk her outside soon as I can. It takes a lot of time and effort to do all this hawking but I think it's the only way to house train. Soon enough, that job will be done. Every dog is different. I went thru this last year with Duke. I remember it taking Duke 2-3 mos. before I noticed I wasn't cleaning pee & poop in the house anymore. (ahhh - that was a nice thought!) But I had to catch him and show him. I wasn't using the treat method though. (this forum wasn't known to me last year) Maybe Daisy will catch on sooner by using treats and because she has Duke to help show her too. :rolleyes: Anyway - stay positive with your mission - it's exhausting - but it will get better. :)

  • What an amazing pen you have there! Wow! I wish I could do something like that in my house. ;)
    While we were away during the day at work, our puppy would be created w/out any food or water. I found that everytime he had access to water he just drank and drank which leads to little messes. Now that our little pup is over 3 mts I still have to watch his water intake. At times he just wont stop.

  • Here is a couple pictures from the night Missi attempted her escape. They seem to be enjoying their pen better than being in the crates. They go right in all as soon as they see us bringing out the Kongs!
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  • OMG look at that little one climb. Too cute. I wonder if my B has any idea he is capable of climbing. Probably not since he just stares up at the tree when he chases the squirrels.

  • Consider yourself lucky! lol That's as far as Missi has made it. She's only tried to climb one other time after that photo was taken. I hope she loses interest before she figures out how to get any higher! :)

  • I do hope she losses interest. My B girl Sugar climbs. X-pens are definitely out unless they have a lid, and then she'll scream. I can block the kitchen off with baby gates if I have visitors but not from her-she'll hop right over from a sit. She has climbed the fence to get at a squirrel, but since I watch her I got to her before she got over. I'm just waiting for the tree climbing to start!

17/17

21 Mar 2007, 16:15

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    While it's sometimes easier to hope that the older dogs will teach the little one, that doesn't always happen. While I had it work with Apache, it didn't with Zuni. When I was house training Zuni I would leash her up and take her out into the yard and just wait until she went, then praise and treat. There were many times she wouldn't move, so we just stood there until she moved and went or went where she was. It can be a real pain, especially in the middle of the night…but that doesn't last forever. Any accidents in the house were just cleaned up and not acknowledged. When we lived in the city, the dogs did prefer to go while on walks, but would, if they REALLY needed to go, go out into the yard.
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    It's a natural puppy instinct to NOT pee/poo outside their "cove". This is to prevent predators in finding them with their smells all round the area. Sometimes it takes longer for some to go outside. A neighbor of mine got a puppy, and they too where having a hard time with pee/poo inside. I told them to just take it easy, and don't punish. Spend a good time outside, and award when he/she does go outside. It took until their dog was 8 months until he started going regularly outside.
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    If you are not consistant in potty training, you will never get success…. and when there is an accident in the house... roll up that newspaper and "hit" yourself over the head... because you have not paid attention to the needs of the dog... It is an ongoing training... not just for a few days, a few times outside... and when you go out...you do not come in till they go....
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    @lvoss: My basenjis learn new things very quickly but they also get bored more quickly. In classes that ask for you to repeat over and over again to make sure the dog "gets it", basenjis start to goof off. All of mine get to a point where their behavior and attitude clearly say, "What is wrong with you, didn't you get this the first 5 times I did it?" This is so true! Tillo starts to talk when it takes too long for me to get the fact that he already understands the command.. so there's no need to practice anymore :D
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    Wow. I didn't realize it was so difficult to get Bs to walk nicely. I guess we had a lot of the "dirty work" done for us by the breeder. Joey, we got him at 10 months, walks superbly on his leash. I do need to remind him sometimes, but he gets back in line right away. The breeder tells me to be sure they know who is boss with every issue. I do see a difference with each of my kids that take Joey out and Joey knows who he can be tougher with and who he really has to listen to.
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    Fluffypony, Consider the kennels the best investment that you will make. We did not agree with crate training in the beginning when we got our Puggle, I felt that it was cruel to lock him up all day. We bought an excerise pen, put the pee pads in there and everyday we came home to shredded pee pads and a huge mess. Finally we decided to get the kennel because we could not take the mess anymore not to mention that we would have to bathe the Chase everynight after we cleaned up the mess. In time, we were able to trust Chase to be left with the kennel door open and he could be free in the kitchen because we had gates up. This took about 6 months. He hardly ever had an accidentonce he learned and got older. Then, we got Zahra, our Basenji, now they are both locked in their kennels all day, I don't trust Zahra to not destroy our house. She still has not fully learned that she can not potty in the house. She is getting better but if I give her too much room in her crate she will potty on one end and hang out in the other. I thought Chase was hard to train, Zahra is much worse. Maybe it is the fact that we got her from a pet store and she was there for so long and it was acceptable for her to potty in her cage and sleep in it. Yuck. Sometimes we let them share a kennel because when we first got Zahra she did not like to be apart from Chase, I think it made her feel safe to be with him in his kennel all day. Anyway, as a person who originally did not like the kennel idea this was my first dog, I thought it was mean now I know that they actually enjoy the security of it. They are pack animals. Hope this helps, Jenn