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Interesting house training problem

Basenji Training
  • Our basenji is about 15 weeks now and he does pretty good with peeing outside, the problem is he has decided that pooping is to be done indoors. We're not sure why this is but would be interested in hearing other like stories or some things we can do to try and correct this.

  • You just need to go back to housetraining 101…. and when you take them out, they don't come back in till they poop...
    Is this when he is crated? Or is it happening when you are home? If when you are home, then you need to watch him more or restrick his area....
    Have you been able to catch him in the act?

  • Thanks Tanza, I'll try that. No it isn't in the crate. We have caught him in the act a time or two and if we tell him to stop he does and them we rush him outside. I work from home but can't watch him all the time. He is restricted to the kitchen but I can restrict him a bit more, if that helps. I could crate him for a while each day if that helps I just don't want him to associate his crate with punishment, so I won't crate him in relationship to this.

  • That's what we did – once I said "Let's go potty" and we headed outside, we stayed out until potty had been achieved. Sometimes we were out there for longer than I'd anticipated or really had time for. Once they went potty, there was lots of "good potty!!!" praise, and then we'd head back in.

    I'd also say try to get a feel for when he poops. They seem to be fairly consistent. Mine tended to have to poop shortly after eating. Within 20 - 30 minutes after a meal, we'd head out to potty.

  • Great post JazzysMom…. exactly right on

  • I've done the same as JazzysMom except I added a small treat as a reward. Occasionally Gossy will pee in house but never poop. She now runs Back and forth like crazy (different from the B500 run) to let me know she has to go - so watching their behavior is important to pick up their signals.

  • You just need to build a routine.

    I take Kananga out 3x/day. Each time he will do his #1 and #2. Rarely will he only do one of them solely. I've never had any issues really. But I do wait until he does both before going in and he seems to understand that.

  • If they poop in house, I tell them "bad dog" (if I catch them.) I pick up the poop with a paper towel and take it out to the 'poop place.' I put it out there and it seems like next time when the dogs see/smell it there, they figure out better "this is the place I am supposed to do this"

    Weird, but has worked for us.

  • Not to be indelicate, but you can also watch the dog carefully for when he's starting to circle and, their little butts kind of pooch out when they are ready to poop. Watching for that was a godsend for us when we were training Shaye.

  • @Shaye's:

    Not to be indelicate, but you can also watch the dog carefully for when he's starting to circle and, their little butts kind of pooch out when they are ready to poop. Watching for that was a godsend for us when we were training Shaye.

    Yup. Very good point here. I noticed this as well.

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  • Crate training

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    He does only poop in his crate, no urine usually. I am trying to gradually get him to like his crate, but I do think it might be a lost cause. But yesterday I left for about three hours and left him in the kitchen. When I got back, I opened the door and looked down to see not only my cat waiting for me but my dog as well… He found a way to get out of the kitchen and have the run on my apartment. I now know why basenjis are called escape artists. I was happy to find that although he had an accident in the living room, he didn't destroy anything. But I won't count on one time to trust him alone. I am going to stick with the kitchen and try to make sure he can't get out.
  • New problem

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    I'm not sure, in your situation, I would leave the dog outside until he made the decision to come in. It almost sounds as if the dog had bad experiences inside at the previous home and outside was the only place he could stay or maybe was forced to stay; anyway you now have to counteract all that. All the good points have been made by others, now you have to put them all together. Do not let the dog outside without a long lead (long closthesline or whatever); when you say come reel in the lead and treat and praise. You have to be consistent too; use the same word, treat immediately, etc. Also I don't think I would leave the dog loose outside until this is overcome. If possible I would also take the time to be outside with your dog (still on the lead) and play with him and praising and treating for any good interaction he does. Also you might want to have a special treat just for the come command and for entering the house. He does not get this treat until he comes and/or he enters the house - but make it something really special that is not given except for this purpose.
  • Bad Problem

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    Keep the routine of taking him outside periodically as you are doing and give him LOTS of praise as soon as he does his business outside. It just needs time, since he understood that the only way of relief was doing his job inside the crate. Keep consistency and you will see the positive results you are looking for.
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    @Forever: Zoe on the other hand has turned into a little witch. As was suggested I think she is protective of chief. She even turned on Lizzy when she came over the first few minutes than they were fine. But all her previous doggy friends get snarled at when chief gets near them. I hope she settles soon. She has one old dog who looks forward to seeing her on his walks flinching around her now. When Liyah was a baby - if Brando started to go off on her, Ruby would put herself in between Liyah & Brando. Ruby was very protective of Liyah when Liyah was a pup. Ruby doesn't interfere as much anymore - once in a while she gets involved - she pretty much just lets Brando handle it now.
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    @tanza: I think you are waiting too long. You should have two complete sets of shots before class. Waiting till they are 15/16wks you are missing critical socialization skills. Waiting for "all the shots" is pretty much old school these days. My pups go out even before that to things like lure trials… you just need to be careful and not let them "get" into anything like "old poop" laying around. I'm planning on taking her around the time of the 2nd shots if I can. But the problem is that the next round of puppy classes doesn't start till the last week of March, which would be around 14 weeks anyway. Maybe they will let me join the last half of the previous class but I'd have to check into that.
  • House training issues–BIGTIME!!

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    BarklessdogB
    We put the dogs on our schedual instead of waiting till they have to go- We take them out first thing in the morning after they eat & before they go to bed also anytime we come home after being gone or after heavy play/training. We also walked then to get it in their heads of marking outside. They now will hold it till their walks so they can mark as much as they can.