Frustrated with pup

[tanza]

@WayneS:

Hello,

I am a new owner of a 6 month old Basenji girl named Max. We got her when she was about 2 months old. For the most part she is the perfect dog, smart, playful, quite, and clean. However, she is also very stubborn. We take her on walks in the morning and evening, and during the day occasionally. These walks have one purpose, to get her to pee and poo outside. For a while she would pee and poo pretty quickly outside, then she started taking longer and longer to go. For the past couple of weeks, she holds it forever, and then goes in the house once we get back in. I am loosing patience and am tired of cleaning up the messes.

She is crate trained, and stays in a crate during the day with our Yorkie without any issues. We walk both the Yorkie and Max together and the Yorkie goes without issue, but she is older.

I have noticed that Max does not like to go on the wood or tile floors, so she tries to find a rug, or she jumps on the couch and pees and poos on the couch. This is very frustrating.

Help…

I would have to agree with lvoss, she has figured out that going potty means the end of the walk… and also sounds like she may not be getting enough walk time......

[WayneS]

Thanks everyone. I will try to take everyone's advice. I had read that basenjis can be head strong, but I guess I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was.

I think I will take her down to the lake this evening and let her play. In the mean time, I am going to put the fence project on the top of my to do list. Once we finish the fence she will have a half acre to run around in.

[tanza]

Good Luck and let us know how it goes. We would love to see pictures too….

and as my favorite public service announcement: Has she or her Sire and Dam been DNA tested for Fanconi?

[agilebasenji]

I was going to say almost exactly what lvoss said. What I've been doing with the new (not puppy) malinois is this. I take her out on leash and she has 10 minutes to pee/poop. (With her I was less concerned about pooping as she won't do that in the house, but she's not so concerned about peeing in the house. And let me tell you she has a HUGE bladder.) If she does, I praise!!! and she gets to stay out longer. She loves a good game of fetch, so we do that. If she does NOT pee in 10 minutes, she goes back inside and in her crate. The mantra for her is "No pee; no play". I then take her out in an hour or so (you may want to do more frequently for a young pup; the mali is about 2).

Why don't I just go out and wait for her to pee? Because I don't want her waiting longer and longer to pee. Because I may decide to do agility with her and I don't want to have to stand out with her for 30 or 40 minutes waiting for her to pee because she's learned that I'm okay with that. Because I do travel with my dogs quite a bit and I don't want to add hours to my trip because I had to wait 30 or 40 minutes waiting for her to pee. Because it gets cold here in Colorado and I don't want to stand outside in nasty weather waiting for her to pee.

The only other thing I'd add, is don't think of her as stubborn. Things like that tend to be self-fullfilling proficy. And if you approach her with the mind set of "she's very stubborn", you're putting yourself at odds with your pup from square one. She's not stubborn; she just wants what she wants when she wants it. Just like you. Just like everybody else. She's clever, maybe even brilliant. You just have to be as (or more) clever than she and find a way to communicate with her. It's a fun challange and you're up for it. (That's the mind set you have to have to successfully train and have a wonderful relationship with a basenji.)

[sharronhurlbut]

I have to warn you, b's like to keep the yard areas the live in clean. I have a large backyard, fenced and they love to lay in the sun out there…but when it comes to going potty, they want to be away from their home.
So, they get at least 2 long walks a day...
They have to be sick to go in our backyard.
This is fyi.

[Rita Jean]

Agilebasenji, What you said was great I like it. Thank you.

Rita Jean

[MacPack]

Lvoss and Agile are correct, she isn't stubborn, just "focused". And if you go home as soon as business is done, they will try and hold it forever! More tension does not improve behavior, either! So good luck to you, a girl basenji with a mind of her own is an awesome thing.

Anne in Tampa

[tanza]

@sharronhurlbut:

I have to warn you, b's like to keep the yard areas the live in clean. I have a large backyard, fenced and they love to lay in the sun out there…but when it comes to going potty, they want to be away from their home.
So, they get at least 2 long walks a day...
They have to be sick to go in our backyard.
This is fyi.

I have never had a problem with mine going in the yard… and we have a large yard also... they all had their "spots" to go... most in the grass as they prefer to lay on the concrete or the deck...

[WayneS]

Well that seemed to do the trick. I picked up a 16ft retractable leash on the way home and she seemed to love the extra freedom that she gained.

[Basenjimamma]

She is gorgeous and looking mighty happy. Thanks for sharing. Let us know how she is doing..

[MacPack]

Great, glad to hear you had a good walk with her.