All great advice above. Definitely not separation anxiety as elbrant says. It's normal. Practicing crate training a few hours a day at different times is important for when you need to run errands or if you travel with your dog. Mine whined a lot at first. He still doesn't like getting into the crate when he realizes that I'm on my way out (putting on coat, etc), but willingly goes in at our dinner time cause I feed him treats when he's in. We don't like him pestering while we eat. Feeding while in crate, and practicing rewards with the crate door OPEN the whole time, builds positive association with the crate, but a Basenji is smart enough to know the difference. In any case, it helps and the sooner you get started crate training and he or she learns to self-sooth and relax in the crate, the better.
Lots of questions about puppy aggression
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I think we are going to try some wet food and see if we can "trick" him into eating some more without having to use hot dogs in everything
LOLJust what others have warned me about: don't take those extra steps to feed him unless you are going to continue to do this. You adding wet food may help him eat more but then if you take away the wet, he probably will stop eating again. I was heating Dallas' kibble up because like Jackpot he would only pick but not really eat & I was concerned but I was warned that by making special accomodations like heating it up, it is only making him more of a picky eater. You just need to start a routine & eventually he'll learn it. I can tell you that leaving his bowl in his crate for 15 minutes max then taking it away no matter if he has eaten it or not, has helped A LOT. He still will walk away from his food occasionally but overall he knows that after 15 mins. his food is gone so he better take advantage of it while it's there & eat!
Hope this helps some. Search for my old thread about Dallas' lack of eating…it's called "Should I be concerned?"
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Hey Nina,
Thanks for the words of wisdom…I have heard the 15 minute rule from Pat and others as well...we are doing that (bowl in the crate for 15 minutes)...and I know he won't intentially starve himself. I was more thinking about the wet food as a "supplement" and I didn't think about the fact that if we start doing it...when we stop he'll act the same as he is now...great point! I'll have to reconsider.Thanks!
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Just what others have warned me about: don't take those extra steps to feed him unless you are going to continue to do this. You adding wet food may help him eat more but then if you take away the wet, he probably will stop eating again. I was heating Dallas' kibble up because like Jackpot he would only pick but not really eat & I was concerned but I was warned that by making special accomodations like heating it up, it is only making him more of a picky eater. You just need to start a routine & eventually he'll learn it. I can tell you that leaving his bowl in his crate for 15 minutes max then taking it away no matter if he has eaten it or not, has helped A LOT. He still will walk away from his food occasionally but overall he knows that after 15 mins. his food is gone so he better take advantage of it while it's there & eat!
Hope this helps some. Search for my old thread about Dallas' lack of eating…it's called "Should I be concerned?"
Right! He WILL eat when he is hungry (as long as he isn't sick). Most likely he was too uptight to eat because of all the changes. Just wait him out, tone down the atmosphere, and he will start eating normal dog food.
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Hey Nina,
Thanks for the words of wisdom…I have heard the 15 minute rule from Pat and others as well...we are doing that (bowl in the crate for 15 minutes)...and I know he won't intentially starve himself. I was more thinking about the wet food as a "supplement" and I didn't think about the fact that if we start doing it...when we stop he'll act the same as he is now...great point! I'll have to reconsider.Thanks!
There really is nothing wrong with mixing some wet food in with dry… I do and I really would not want to go through life just eating old dry food...;) .... the main thing is to be consistent in building good eating habits... same as with kids...
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There really is nothing wrong with mixing some wet food in with dry… I do and I really would not want to go through life just eating old dry food...;) .... the main thing is to be consistent in building good eating habits... same as with kids...
Yes, and a big benefit to adding some wet food to a their meal is that if you have a dog that does not drink enough or you are worried about dehydration this is a really good way to get them some fluids.
My dogs get dry food in the morning and wet mixed with dry in the evening. I usually add a little extra water in with wet in the evening just to make sure everyone is staying hydrated.
Urinary infections and crystals are far more likely if an animal isn't getting enough to drink so I think of the little bit of wet food as preventive medicine.
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Yes, and a big benefit to adding some wet food to a their meal is that if you have a dog that does not drink enough or you are worried about dehydration this is a really good way to get them some fluids.
My dogs get dry food in the morning and wet mixed with dry in the evening. I usually add a little extra water in with wet in the evening just to make sure everyone is staying hydrated.
Urinary infections and crystals are far more likely if an animal isn't getting enough to drink so I think of the little bit of wet food as preventive medicine.
And really, if you don't want to continue feeding the wet, once your little guy is eating well, just slowly add less and less of the wet food. It shouldn't stop him from eating the dry.
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I add water to Dallas' kibble. I have thought about adding wet but haven't made up my mind yet…
I was just saying that if he is a picky eater adding wet may work but then she should stick to wet because if she tries to remove it from the kibble he may stop eating again.
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I add water to Dallas' kibble. I have thought about adding wet but haven't made up my mind yet…
I was just saying that if he is a picky eater adding wet may work but then she should stick to wet because if she tries to remove it from the kibble he may stop eating again.
I was thinking what JazzysMom just posted:
@JazzysMom:And really, if you don't want to continue feeding the wet, once your little guy is eating well, just slowly add less and less of the wet food. It shouldn't stop him from eating the dry.
Slowly decrease the wet food. I have found that by drizzling water on the dry, my two are just as happy. Merricks dry will make gravy with water.
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So, Jackpot and my mother in law are getting along (Yea!) He no longer growls or tries to bite her. We spoke with the behaviorist/trainer over the phone this morning and she told us to flip the puppy on this back and tell him to be nice (trainer mentioned how important it is to make sure that he knows he is not the dominant one)…it only took 1 time of doing this before he let my mother-in-law pet him. Now he's snuggling up next to her (boy these dogs are little heat seekers aren't they!)
and MIL is able to take his bully stick away from him with no problems! He is also figuring out that MIL is a source for hot dogs (which is Jackpot's new favorite treat)...so I'm sure that is helping out the budding relationship. LOLI wonder if Jackpot was just feeling grouchy and on-edge on Tuesday when she came over for the first time because of the vaccinations and too much stimulation those first few days.
We will have our first in-person consult with the trainer/behaviorist tomorrow and we are going to work on socialization, basic obedience, etc...but things are looking up and I just wanted to give you guys a little update. We have a long road ahead of us...but I'm optimistic & willing to work hard!
Thanks all for your advice and words of wisdom!
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He no longer growls or tries to bite her. We spoke with the behaviorist/trainer over the phone this morning and she told us to flip the puppy on this back and tell him to be nice (trainer mentioned how important it is to make sure that he knows he is not the dominant one)…it only took 1 time of doing this before he let my mother-in-law pet him.
Did the trainer indicate what you should do when he gets bigger?? I'm not sure I'm totally on board with this method. If he encounters somene other "new" person and he's a lot older you will not be able to easily flip him on his back & might actually get bitten in your attempt to do so.
I would have much rather seen some advice that was centered on helping the dog get comfortable with the new situation with positive praises & rewards.
Just my 2 cents
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I guess I should correct myself. The advice came from my bf's relative who used to be a dog trainer (retired now). I agree with you that it wouldn't be easy to do when the dog gets older…
We have a consult with a behaviorist tomorrow and I'll ask her what she thinks and how we should handle it in the future.
Geez, I feel like I'm not able to do anything right
I hope I get the hang of things soon! -
I guess I should correct myself. The advice came from my bf's relative who used to be a dog trainer (retired now). I agree with you that it wouldn't be easy to do when the dog gets older…
We have a consult with a behaviorist tomorrow and I'll ask her what she thinks and how we should handle it in the future.
Geez, I feel like I'm not able to do anything right
I hope I get the hang of things soon! Make sure you mention to the behaviorist that you got and tried the advice of flipping him over. That is a pretty hot button among trainers right now. That would absolutely be considered a force technique, and could make an aggression problem worse.
Don't feel bad about learning new things
When we know better, we do better -
I think all new Basenji owners have the general feeling that they are doing everything wrong. Haha. You aren't…you are just living with a basenji & they, as you have heard, are unlike other breeds.
I watch Dog Whisperer a lot & although many individuals on this forum do not like him, I think he has really good techniques & I use [or try to…] on Dallas. One technique for when a dog shows he doesn't like someone is to just stay calm & have them near the person but essentially let them approach the person when they are ready. If you force it, they aren't going to respond well.
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Hello Quercus? I saw that you were viewing this thread. Since private messaging is disabled, I am trying to find you to find out where you are located in Ohio. I am around Youngstown, Ohio.
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Hello Quercus? I saw that you were viewing this thread. Since private messaging is disabled, I am trying to find you to find out where you are located in Ohio. I am around Youngstown, Ohio.
Hi Cyrus,
We are west of Toledo. If you go to my profile, you can access my website, then contact me via that
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The discussion about breeding has been moved into its own topic.
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Aloha,
Jaberi is 3 1/2 months old now we have had him since he was eight wks old. We have noticed in the last 2 weeks he is nipping more than usually and being more aggressve with it. I have tried giving him his chew toys to distract him, for about a minute then he is back. Jaberi right now is acting like a two yr old with his temper, I do practive calm-assertive with him.
Any suggestions. One thing Monday he can final go out for walks Sunday is his third shot Thank God!!!!
HELP!!!!
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we got our pup from the same breeder and i can deffinately tell he wasn't well socialized either…he has a total been around nothing but a pack of dogs attitude, cause he plays so rough and is very alpha male........and he also seems like there's just some people and some dogs he doesn't like...it's wierd to have such a picky dog.......he doesn't like old ladies and corgies, everyone else is cool
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we got our pup from the same breeder and i can deffinately tell he wasn't well socialized either…he has a total been around nothing but a pack of dogs attitude, cause he plays so rough and is very alpha male........and he also seems like there's just some people and some dogs he doesn't like...it's wierd to have such a picky dog.......he doesn't like old ladies and corgies, everyone else is cool
Your pup is from Phil in Colorado, right?… The pup (Jaberi) from Hawaii is from him also?...
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That is a real same, this breeder didn't do right by the dogs or by you.
The dog we just got from the paper, Harley, was from a puppymill and he is just the sweetest boy, but the old owner did all the right things at the right times for this boy.
I didn't realize that b's have a timeframe for learning to accept new things.
itsn't that what you said Pat? re socialization
Besides getting these dogs into a gentle basic obedience class, what else can they do?
