So Tyler is 2 1/2 now. He has always been the dog about which folks would say "Wow, I've never met such a friendly basenji." Until recently; in the last couple months he has occasionally (which means unpredictably) started growling and snapping at dogs at the park, and now in our or other people's homes.
His history: He has a great pedigree (all healthy, well-tempered champions), has been socialized since a very early age, and was neutered at six months. He has always been very affectionate and cuddly, loving to meet all people and other dogs. He gets 1-2 hours of dog park and/or mountain hike exercise every day.
It's just the last couple months that he has been lashing out at well-behaved dogs in the park. He has not been aggressive on leash walks. Sometimes it seems he is "guarding" me. If I sit down, he will not let other dogs come near. Also, in the home he is fine at first, but after a guest has already been here a while, he will growl or snap at them if they come near. This weekend he had to be crated while guests were over because he was snarling and biting at anyone who paid attention to him. He's fine when they first enter the home.
Also, we were at a get-together with 6 different basenjis and Tyler was having a great time for the first 3 hours, then he just changed and was like "I am done." and turned on everyone.
This is a new behavior and I don't want to take the chance of it getting worse. I keep hearing the phrase "terrible two's" but that seems like a copout to me… having an aggressive dog is not acceptable. I have been paying close attention to him, praising him each time he has a good encounter and scolding him when he acts mean. Has anyone else been through this "phase" with their basenji?
First off, has he had a full check up including a full thyroid panel run lately. When dogs do not feel well they often get grumpy and their tolerance for people or other dogs in their space drops dramatically.
Second, when people scold dogs for behavior like growling they often see an escalation in behavior since the dog learns that it is unacceptable to growl but still feels the need to increase the distance between the themselves and the person/dog so they escalate to snapping and biting. Many dogs who "bite out of nowhere" have been conditioned to skip the lower shows of distance increasing behavior and go straight to biting because they were scolded for the lower level distance increasing signals. If he is growling then it is time to leave the situation either a time out if guests are over or leave the dog park if that is where you are. Instead of scolding, remove him from the situation.
Resource guarding could be part of the problem especially if the behavior is usually precipitated by a person or dog interacting with you.
Does Tyler have a place he can go when he is getting tired of being around company? My boy often chooses to retire to our bedroom when guests are over because he knows it is his safe place and he will not be bothered there.
After 3 hours of company, my husband is usually pretty much over it. If he wasn't allowed to excuse himself, he might growl and snap too. :p That's not to say he doesn't enjoy socializing for the first 3 hours - he just runs out of steam. My 7 year old granddaughter is the same way. People have varying capacity for social interaction; why shouldn't dogs?
Second, when people scold dogs for behavior like growling they often see an escalation in behavior since the dog learns that it is unacceptable to growl but still feels the need to increase the distance between the themselves and the person/dog so they escalate to snapping and biting. Many dogs who "bite out of nowhere" have been conditioned to skip the lower shows of distance increasing behavior and go straight to biting because they were scolded for the lower level distance increasing signals. If he is growling then it is time to leave the situation either a time out if guests are over or leave the dog park if that is where you are. Instead of scolding, remove him from the situation.
Resource guarding could be part of the problem especially if the behavior is usually precipitated by a person or dog interacting with you.
That makes sense. I guess scolding for a growl just teaches him to suppress growling. He does have the run of the house, and could retire to his own room if he wanted to, but chose to sit amongst company and try to boss them around. It's just confusing because he used to be so affectionate to everyone all the time. He had a checkup recently but I don't think they ran the full thyroid panel.
Also, this type of resource guarding can be fixed pretty quickly, alto its work for YOU.
When he comes over…make him sit before he can come up to the couch/chair.
If he show any aggression to any other dogs or pets, you get up walk away and ignore him.
You do this every time he is reactive to people/pets.
He will learn quickly that his behavior is having the effect he doesn't want...he wants you to be with him only, but now you leave..
It does work.
Sharron's advice is perfect if you suspect resource gaurding.
If it seems more like it is happening when he is getting tired but just doesn't want to leave all the action. Like he was fine for the first 3 hours and then was a grumpy gus then giving him a time out so he can rest and relax is probably the way to go. He may just have never reached a point when company was over and he was tired and doesn't know any other way to tell them "I want my house back so I can go to bed".
Anytime there are sudden behavioral changes, I always think to look at health issues or major changes to routine. He is getting to an age where you should be testing his thyroid and the full panels are the only way to get the whole picture of what may be going on. When the thyroid isn't functioning the dog will feel run down and that really contributes to that grumpiness because they feel tired more easily.
Have there been any major routine changes lately? That could also be a contributing factor.
Thanks Pat. I also think you need to give him more exercise and maybe go to a basic gentle obedience class.
This will help with the "communication" between you and this boy.
It puts the dogs mind right!
Have there been any major routine changes lately? That could also be a contributing factor.
Our routine is basically the same; I don't think in his case it's needing more exercise. When he was acting up on Sunday it was after a long hike, during which he was happy as ever. But boy he did not like company. I will make an appointment for a thyroid panel and see what comes up.
Also, he's never been to a formal obedience class; until now he's been exceptionally well-behaved. But as for communication, I agree it would be a good idea. Thanks for all the advice, everyone.
I agree with all lvoss has said, especially about a full check up.
A good positive obedience (or family dog) class can be lots of fun too.
If you want to look for books that may help, I'd suggest Control Unleashed and/or Click to Calm and anything by Dr McConnell. Dr McConnell has written lots of books and she's a wonderful writer. Her books include:
http://www.dogwise.com/SearchResults.cfm?Search=Patricia%20McConnell&SubSearch=author
Cautious Canine and Fiesty Fido sound like both might be helpful, although I have not read either of these booklets.
Also I've heard some good things about this program
http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DTB947
but probably would NOT suggest it with out a good trainer to help.
I think Control Unleashed will give you lots of good information and helpful stratagies. Sounds like there are times Tyler just may be over threashold and CU will help you deal with that. Have you noticed his behavior is triggered by certain dogs (size, sex, color, ear shape, tail set, etc) or people (hats, men, coats, etc)?
Maybe its is that simple, he just gets over stimulated…
See if you can cut your guests down to a couple of hours...maybe that will be the key...
Build up that type of company slowly...
Phoenix will get moody if he's hot this last weekend we had a heat wave 
And he was cranky as ever {can't blame him so was i} He won't go and bite someone but if they come up to him he growls as so say " can u see i am hot and umcomfortable and u want to put ur warm hands on me too" go away 
