Take it REALLY REALLY slowly. Be sure to make good things happen when they are together and getting along. It took me 7 months to get my 4 yr old basenji rescue (who has a very high prey drive) to coexist with an old cat. If there is a bad experience, it can set everything back months, so be very careful to set up good experiences and avoid bad experiences.
Value of handfeeding new pup
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Could I get some feedback on the value of handfeeding a new pup basenji? I can see that it strengthens the bond between you and the b. Does it need to be combined with feeding from a bowl? I can think that feeding from a bowl is also necessary to practice resource guarding.
Has anyone experienced success in their training programs for their puppies by concentrating on hand feeding? And how does it impact giving treats by hand for general training. Does it lessen the success?
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My obedience instructor would say especially with puppies that there is no reason they need to eat out of bowl and so much that can be accomplished with using hand feeding and interactive toys to feed with a purpose. Basically, you are turning their meals into training opportunities. Using a stuffed Kong to work on crate training. Hand feeding to reinforce calm behavior and good choices. You can practice trading up with toys and chewies to work on preventing resource gaurding.
