I cannot imagine committing to buy a puppy without seeing the animal and if possible the sire and dam. OTOH, a rescue (or adoption of an older dog) is a different thing. My last two Basenjis came to me sight unseen, and turned out to be wonderful dogs, but the breeders I got them from wanted to place their dogs in an experienced Basenji home, and I only paid the cost of getting the dogs to me. One came by air, one was personally transported to me by his breeder. If she hadn't been happy with what she found I expect she would have taken him back with her when she left. I also had to commit to return him if ever I couldn't keep him. Good breeders care about where their dogs end up.
Barking at strangers
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My six month old female B has started acting differently when people walk into our home or onto our porch - if my husband and I are both here, she is fine, but when I am here alone, she barks (yes, barks like all other kinds of dogs) at whoever comes in and keeps her distance. She doesn't threaten them, but seldom warms up either. Any input on whether she's maybe suddenly becoming more aware of her surroundings? Does this indicate possible problems with aggression in the future? And BARKING??? No yodel dog here!
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Stranger in our home…...my Katie doesn't bark but is stranger leery. She warms up after a newbie sits and chats for awhile and she can "sneak up" and give a couple of sniffs undetected (or so she thinks so:)) In a matter of minutes she offering a toy for a "trade".
Tyler, on the other hand does a single bark, usually followed by a long rooo, and follows the stranger until they sit down so he can immediately jump up and curl up in their lap for a good scratch and a nap. His manners are deplorable:o.
Stranger outside the house...(fyi, large bayed window right next to the front door)...the 2 of them tolerate anyone walking on the front sidewalk and the walk-way to the front door, but the minute a stranger steps on the first step of the front porch the throat rumbling starts. With each step up the porch, it gets louder and louder until you have the full out throat gurgling, lips open, back hair up, protective 'senji posture which Kate punctuates with a VERY loud, short but high pitched scream:eek:. Scares the crap out of people. I swear the 2 actually smile when their intimidation tactics work. USPS people, fedex, UPS employees go unnoticed. Go figure! Must be respect for the uniform:rolleyes:.
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Zoni does her alert bark every now and then when a stranger or strange dogs approaches, but I think it is primarily when she can't see the person well (she's looking into the sun or it's really dark). She does it a lot less now that she is older. You could be proactive and condition her to like it when strangers approach.
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. You could be proactive and condition her to like it when strangers approach.
I am trying to do that - I go to the door and say "hi" in an upbeat voice, and tell Shaye "look who's here," and do whatever I can to let her know I am fine with the new person - she's into her agenda of backing up and barking however - maybe a new phase she'll get over. I will worry if it looks like she's going to get aggressive, but right now it looks like she's scared of them. Thanks for the input.:rolleyes:
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Another approach if she is food modivated is to have a bowl of treats by the door or give the people treats. At first they should just throw the treats down in front of the dog. She would learn to associate strangers coming into the house with good things and I'd bet her behavior would change over a little time. I did something similar for my dog for table training. Good luck!
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Good idea Nemo - will definitely try the treat thing - thanks.
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You can try using a "bark collar" or a "shock collar" to control a constantly barking dog. These device delivers a small shock to the dog when it barks and the idea is that the dog will relate a minor pain with his barking, becoming surprised and sooner or later stops.
Hope it helps!!
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You can try using a "bark collar" or a "shock collar" to control a constantly barking dog. These device delivers a small shock to the dog when it barks and the idea is that the dog will relate a minor pain with his barking, becoming surprised and sooner or later stops.
Hope it helps!!
Basenjis don't "bark constantly", this is more of an alert bark. If the puppy is around 6 months, it highly possible that she is going through her second fear period and that's why she is starting to be afraid of strangers. If you put a shock collar on a dog that only barks when it is a afraid of something, I can't imagine that it would help alot…now she would feel pain only when she is afraid. If a dog was randomly barking then that would be a different situation.
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Shock collars should only be used on the humans who buy them.
NEVER on a pet. NEVER! -
Shock collars should only be used on the humans who buy them.
NEVER on a pet. NEVER!Well put Sharron!!!
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I cannot imagine every putting a shock collar on my dog. I agree with Sharron and Pat. But in any event, I'm not so concerned that she is showing some fear of strangers in our house which she never exhibited before, although I'm working on her being okay with strangers. I was just commenting that she is "barking" which I did not think our Basenji's were capable of. I read they had a formation of their larynx which causes them to make the yodels and other odd noises they make, but precludes the bark. Evidently that's not so because she does bark - not a sustained bark, but a couple of short, loud, staccato barks at a time. Is it common with other B's?
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@Shaye's:
I cannot imagine every putting a shock collar on my dog. I agree with Sharron and Pat. But in any event, I'm not so concerned that she is showing some fear of strangers in our house which she never exhibited before, although I'm working on her being okay with strangers. I was just commenting that she is "barking" which I did not think our Basenji's were capable of. I read they had a formation of their larynx which causes them to make the yodels and other odd noises they make, but precludes the bark. Evidently that's not so because she does bark - not a sustained bark, but a couple of short, loud, staccato barks at a time. Is it common with other B's?
Like many things with our breed that are said, but not true… barking is yet another one. Now granted they do not bark like yappy little dogs but they most certainly can and do bark... And they can "string two or three" together.. but they are a bit different sounding that what you would hear from say a Whippet or German Shepard... or a toy dog. They are not precluded from barking. I always tell people "they can bark, they usually choose not to" and then explain that it is not continued barking, but certainly can do two or three.. add barking to the list along with they don't shed, they are Hypoallergenic, they are mute.....
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My girl who is purebred does a bark..or can do several, but usually its only one.
Its kind of an alert, something is happening and watch out warning. -
- 1 Sharron. One bark, very sharp and very high in octave, if she's really upset.
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All 3 of mine bark. My puppy does so very seldomly…one short bark. Brando barks daily. Usually he starts his dinner song with at least one or 2 short barks. Ruby only barks if she is startled - short single bark.
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Its funny when my girl barks at my boy…its totally stops him from whatever he is doing that is bothering her.
He looks SHOCKED! -
I forgot I had a video of this. The first noise is high pitch version of Zoni's bark from when something (not sure what) was scaring the heck out of her. The second noise is some kind of bark/baroo/scream combo.
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I forgot I had a video of this. The first noise is high pitch version of Zoni's bark from when something (not sure what) was scaring the heck out of her. The second noise is some kind of bark/baroo/scream combo.
Very good looking dog there! Odd sounding bark - the other noises? Wierd but verrrry interesting. thanks for sharing.
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Great video…HAHAHAHA...that's what we refer to as the high octave bark morphed at the end to an almost scream-but-too-afraid-to stand-your-ground-thank-god-she-didn't-piddle noise:D
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Great video…HAHAHAHA...that's what we refer to as the high octave bark morphed at the end to an almost scream-but-too-afraid-to stand-your-ground-thank-god-she-didn't-piddle noise:D
LOL..that's a good description. That was one of her more freaked-out barks and little different than normal…more high octave and frantic. Still don't know what she was scared of.
