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Basenji, I'm Overwhelmed…..HELP!!!

Behavioral Issues
  • Hey noob! First welcome, and yes you are in the right place for information! MacPack has a good reply and tlish….I have had my boy Uzie for 3months now. He was crated at the breeder, then about 20 hours a day by the previous owner for the next 10 months. He is only crated at various time now, but he still baroos if left in for over 2hours. My mentioning this is just to let you know it is so wrong to keep him in that wire box for too long. It has taken me the 3months to help him overcome separation anxiety, counter-clockwise circles of anxiety, and then some. They need stimulation, stimulation, exertion with a running exercise, and then some for mental health. Can you actually have a doggy day care, or 'dog sitter' break up the day? I realize you go to work and school, so do you think you are doing right by having any dog????? esp a Basenji. Please do not crate him at night, this is at least the bonding time for you all as a 'pack' Please think through the scenario of the situation thoroughly. Maybe a cat for companionship? They do better alone as a species than a dog....(you said no matter how harsh...)

  • I just read through the entire previous 6 pages. I will tell you that he probably keeps on screeming all day. Uzie did per the previous owners' housemates…...NOT HEALTHY FOR HIM. poor Buddy.....

  • Folks ignore Pottypuppy… spammer link to blog selling.

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  • Help! My basenji is bitting

    Behavioral Issues
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    DebraDownSouthD
    @kjdonkers said in Help! My basenji is bitting: @DebraDownSouth No use for further discussion, if everyone outside your sphere of reference is a quack, a nut job, a con artist. Different planets. Stay healthy! Everyone outside of provable or at least probably science, especially when they peddle for money, does fit my definition of quack and cons. But I slept with a bar of soap in desperation with restless leg syndrome. I have tried things that have almost as little scientific basis, but I do so armed with knowing that. My issue is people selling things as science/proven when they aren't. My issue is vulnerable, desperate or uneducated people getting taken in by hustlers. Not a different planet, just the science based and honest part of the same one. Having seen too many people hurt, or their animals hurt, or children hurt, by false science/medicine/therapies... I am sorry that you think belief in scientific proof and honesty about what is or is not proven is wrong. If someone says to me, "I drink vinegar and it helps my arthritis, but there's no research proving it works"... good. I might even try it. But when some quack says "pay me $100 and I'll tell you why your dog bites or where your missing child is or if your husband is cheating on you or whatever"... they deserve to be horsewhipped. I am sorry if I sounded dismissive to you personally. It wasn't my intent. It was reaction to what you wrote. In general, we're on common ground. We don't have to agree on things to stay on the same planet. :)
  • 0 Votes
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    P
    Congratulations on the future new addition. Boy/girl is a good combination. As others have advised let them meet on neutral ground and take them for a long walk together. For every good interaction praise both inordinately. As Curlytails says don't rush it. Keep us posted, please and best wishes to you all.
  • Basenji's & Autism

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    MacPackM
    Great article. And I love the quote from another article : As a Dog World magazine article put it several years ago: "Modern basenjis are living antiquities that will make your home their jungle, your furniture their monkey bars, and every walk a safari."
  • New to the basenji world, need HELP!

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    C
    @DebraDownSouth: Andrea, great post. I have taught many dogs bite inhibition at a much older age, though… only thing you wrote I don't heartily agree with. Yes, I understand that it is possible but I'd like to know more about it. Generally it's accepted that teaching remedial ABI is difficult to do at best, at least amongst the trainers I know, talk to and read. Dunbar says he's done it but I tried to pin him down at a seminar and he was evasive. I was hoping to get specifics, training program and how to test it or pointed at one. He said to buy his DVDs. I did. Best I could find was teaching a better ritualized bite and jaw prudence and done my best to scour books and websites as well (and speaking with colleagues, natch). What I found didn't really satisfy me. I mean, when I think of teaching ABI, I am thinking of teaching it so that it holds up even under duress since that's when it's most important. For instance a colleague was recently contacted about a Level 5 biter. If it's possible to teach reliable ABI in adult dogs THAT dog should be a candidate for sure. I'd love to assist someone teaching it to a dog like that, or in training a dog that has poor ABI with other dogs. How could you train and test that safely or humanely? What is the liability there? Pretty serious, I would think. I do remember my first basenji experience though. I have trained and worked with dogs my entire adult life. So imagine my surprise when squeaking caused her to bite MORE, lol. Change of tactics. Life offers us so many opportunities to learn new things. :) Ah yes, I've had one of those. I changed to a calm "too bad" and then removing myself. Worked MUCH better. Depends on the dog. EDIT: I just looked at the site you linked and what she is talking about is what I refer to as 'jaw prudence'. When I use ABI, I'm referring to how hard the dog bites when it bites, not if it puts its mouth on you. For instance, your Rottie I would say had great ABI but iffy jaw prudence. OTOH, there are dogs with great jaw prudence but the one time they use their mouths they do it will full jaw force. I'd much prefer the former.
  • Wit's End… Please help.

    Behavioral Issues
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    PhocoenaGirlP
    @khanis: Um yeah.. not. You should NOT give her the freedom to display her dominance. There should be only ONE alpha in your house and that is YOU. All those dogs should get along. I am sorry if I was confusing in my original post as the above post obviously indicates that I was. I agree with the above post in that you should be the only one alpha in your house. You should have control over the dominance displays and any other behaviors of all members of your pack. However, between pack members displays also occur and you have the final say over what is tolerable and what is not. Your b should never be allowed to display dominance over you or other humans in the household however even the behavior where adults growl/bark etc at pups to correct them is a dominance behavior - just not dominant over you. I hope that clears up what I was saying. If not, please ask again.
  • Sally Jo Pee'd Help!

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    renaultf1R
    Another thought on the poop thing…the 100% guaranteed way to get Ruby to poop is to give her exercise. Also, Ruby only goes once a day (in the morning) unless something really excites her (like deer running across the road in front of her or a dog chasing her when we do an evening walk). We have a routine in the morning...first thing after I get up, I take her out...say "Potty Ru", she runs off the step and starts to sniff, I say "potty" a couple more times and she goes. (oh and while she's going, I say "good potty" a few times and follow up with a treat once finished). We have a daylight basement that extends off the porch so there is an overhang that she goes under and will potty no matter how hard it is pouring (takes longer in the rain or when it is windy because of all the noise). After the potty, then I run her on the bike or walk her (walks happen in light to moderate rain) - usually 1 - 2 miles. If I walk her, she sometimes poops on the walk (usually in one spot by a duck pond which is just about the halfway point of the walk). If I run her on the bike, as soon as we are back to the yard, we go in her dog pen, I say "poop Ru" and she starts doing the crazy run/circle thing and poops (again, I say "good poop" while she's going and give a treat to her when finished). I bet if you walked her first and then tried to get her to poop, you might have more success as she will have checked for messages from other dogs :D on her walk and gotten all the new scents from those.