It's my first day!

[bethp14]

Hello all! I'm very excited to have found a forum dedicated to this awesome breed! I am the proud parent of 2 9 1/2 week old Basenji pups. They are littermates, brother and sister. My best friend/roommate and I happened upon a Petland petstore on our lunch break. And wouldn't you know, we fell head over heels in love with the first cage of pups (see pic). I'd heard of Basenji's before, but I didn't know much about them. We did a little research and decided these cuties would be perfect. We decided to take them both (there was no way we could split them up!). After we'd had them home a couple of days, they started to have very runny poo's. I figured that the stress from coming home was to blame. That night, we started to see some blood mixed in and I freaked. We took them in to an emergency vet clinic and it turns out they had a nasty case of tapeworms. Now they are doing much better, and we're coming along slow but sure with housebreaking. The difficult part is getting them to stop eliminating inside their crates. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd really appreciate the help. Since they were in a cage at the store for God knows how long, and they are crated at night and when we're not home, they seem awfully comfortable pottying inside the crates. Sometimes, they'll even choose to go in there to eliminate when they're not locked in them. Thanks so much, and I really look forward to being apart of this forum!
~Beth P.
Cleveland, Ohio

[jys1011]

Welcome Bethp14!! And congrats on being a B mom

I'm very sorry about the worms situation…that's just awful!!! poor little guys. I can't be sure & I have no way of verifying...but perhaps your little Bs came from a puppy mill & shipped out to the petstore. These places are very inhumane :mad: It's very sad how these pups are raised & the fact that they're 9 1/2 weeks & they are not with their mom really worries me Most good breeders keep their pups with their moms for something like 10wks before they are placed in there permanent homes. From what I've read, some of these puppy mill places leave the pups (and parents) in cages to eliminate all day every day & so it becomes impossible to potty train.

There's a few threads on the Training Section of the forum with lots of advice for house breaking & such. I do hope the pups can learn how to soon.

http://www.basenjiforums.com/showthread.php?t=130
http://www.basenjiforums.com/showthread.php?t=203
http://www.basenjiforums.com/showthread.php?t=390

Good luck!!! And feel free to keep posting here!! There's lots of great advice on these boards

[dmcarty]

How big are your crates - if they are too big - b's have no problem living in one side and using the other side as a bathroom. What's in the bottom of the crate? REmember the cardinal rule of puppy ownership. something goes in - something has to come out and almost right away.

[StellaGirl]

Dear Beth i got my b from petland too i also used to work there i would have the breeder check out to make sure she is not inbreed like mine and also make sure that you have all here shot records my b is only 17 1/2 lbs and 14 1/2 inches tall at 15 mnths old she maybe little and not all there i cant even put her into a kennel because all she does chew her self till she bleeds pet stores are not the place to get ANY dog or cat but God bless your soul for save your B'sif you want to talk more about my petland story write me back Shannon

[bethp14]

We got the crates to fit them as adults. They are sized for up to a 30lb dog which may be a little big for them now, but I didn't want them cramped up either. They are in them for about 9 hours while we're at work. My female uses the back end of the crate to eliminate, where the male goes wherever and usually tracks through it too. I know that because of the situation, it's not going to be easy to correct. We're being very patient, but we are new to this so I appreciate all the support and suggestions. Also, I've never had 2 puppies at one time. Extra challenging!

I will never spend another penny at Petland. They upset me bigtime yesterday when I called to ask a couple questions about the puppies (what food they were on, and the diarrhea problem). The manager was a huge jerk and very arrogant. I have never gotten an animal from a chain petstore like that, especially dogs. I usually rescue from humane society. Like I said, this was a pure impulse buy. I am very glad to have rescued these guys though.

I have the paperwork from the breeder with all their information, and I also have all of the puppies vaccination and worming records. Hopefully, I can trust them. Any suggestions?

Thanks so much for all of your help!!
~Beth

[jessi76]

@bethp14:

We got the crates to fit them as adults. They are sized for up to a 30lb dog which may be a little big for them now, but I didn't want them cramped up either. They are in them for about 9 hours while we're at work. My female uses the back end of the crate to eliminate, where the male goes wherever and usually tracks through it too. I know that because of the situation, it's not going to be easy to correct. We're being very patient, but we are new to this so I appreciate all the support and suggestions. Also, I've never had 2 puppies at one time. Extra challenging!

it's good you got crates to fit them as adults (smart!) BUT you should block off half of the crate for now, and gradually increase the space as they grow. as you have seen, if too much room, they will eliminate in one end, and sit on the other. that said, 9 hrs in a crate for a pup is TOO LONG. generally the rule w/ crating is 1 hr per month old, plus one.

so 9 wks = 2 mths = 2-3 hrs tops.

a better idea would be to gate them into a secure area - bathroom, kitchen, laundry room. of course, this area will have to be puppy proofed! cabinets locked, trash put away, absolutely nothing that can open, be opened, be eaten, or wrecked. you should keep the crate in this room, leave it open, and provide puppy pads on the other side of room. puppy pads are scented to attract the pup to eliminate on them, and you can buy a frame for it, so hopefully the pups won't shred it. also provide food, water, and some appropriate toys.

[spitfirekrl1]

I completely agree that you should work with puppy pads or dog litter boxes, unless one of you can come home for lunch, until they are a little older.

[bethp14]

Yeah, I definitely understand that 9 hrs in a crate is not optimal, but under the circumstances, we were left without a choice in the short term. Gating off an area for them in the kitchen is a possibility we didn't really think about. Sounds like a good idea and it's definitely something we can do. We do use the scented pee pads, and have had a good amount of success so far. The pee pad is right by the sliding glass doors to the backyard where we take them out to potty, which is also conveniently in the kitchen so that's good that they're already used to that.

We went with the larger crates because we knew they'd be in them for extended amounts of time at the beginning. The crates did come with seperators so we can section off a part of them while they're still small. I'm working on being able to let them out periodically throughout the day too so they're not crated for such a long time.

Thanks for the great suggestions!
~Beth

[jessi76]

sounds like your kitchen is the best place to gate them into! great that they are doing well w/ the pads so far too!

my only other suggestion, and this is going to sound silly, is to crawl around your kitchen on your hands and knees. This will give you a better idea of what is at puppy-level and may be interesting to your pups…. i.e. cords, lower cabinets and drawers, door mats, table legs and chair legs, wheels on rolling carts, trash cans, shoes, floor plants (fake or real) etc... just some tips to help puppy proof as much as possible... because I'm sure 2 B's are certainly double-trouble!

[jys1011]

Beth-so sorry they were so rude to you…uuuugggghhh these places really make me so mad :mad: they are just the worse with these poor animals. Who knows now what these poor furries were fed. If you need some suggestions on food for them look on the puppy feeding threads...there's good advice there.

I usually recommend that people use a puppy formula that has no corn, wheat, or byproducts in the first 3 ingredients. We use Merricks which has good stuff in it but others I know feed Innova, Solid Gold, Pet Guard...

Has anyone seen recently that Purina (or one of those big dog food co's) are now advertising..."CHICKEN IS THE FIRST INGREDIENT"...I'm so glad they finally caught on that we don't like to feed our pets junk

[bethp14]

I spend a lot of time down on the floor with them now anyways! I will definitely check out the view from their perspective while I'm down there!

Any suggestions on how to gate off a section for them? It's a pretty big kitchen, and the snack bar divides it from the dining room. Other wise it's pretty wide open between the two rooms. There's also a big opening to the living room from the kitchen. A standard baby gate will not suffice, as the opening is over 8' long.

I really appreciate the help, as do Missi and Cooper!
~Beth

[jessi76]

yes, but unfortunately purina is still junk, IMO. first 3 ingredients of their Beneful food is Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal….

I agree Merrick's is a great food, I feed the canned to my dog daily, mixed in w/ his Solid Gold kibble. Although my dog is also quite fond of the Merrick kibble too!

ETA: and X-pen may help, you could make one area, or flatten it to use as a long wall... a link to x-pens:

http://www.epetpals.com/exercisepens.htm

you can sometimes find them 2nd hand - like on ebay or craigs list. most pet supply places carry them.

[jys1011]

Oh there's these fences that are great! We fence a lot of stuff & we even fence them OUT :eek: sometimes LOL LOL

Check these out!

http://www.petedge.com/jump.jsp?itemType=INDEX&itemID=509
http://www.jbpet.com/Shopping/category.asp?catalog_name=JBWholesale&category_name=CratesExPens&page=1

We use a couple of expens sometimes to make them bigger if we're out in the yard & we want them outside with us or if we want to enclose our yard & have them run around freely….we also fence of parts of the living room where the gadget are These will be life long investments that you won't be able to live without

[bethp14]

Petland SAYS that they fed them NutraMAX puppy food which is a relatively pricey dog food. They gave us a free bag of NutraMAX with the pups. I initially thought their bout of diarrhea was from the food, perhaps it was something different than what they were used to getting. (my fault, I forgot to ask when we were there )

I have always fed Eukanuba or Hills Science Diet to my dogs in the past, so when we noticed the runny poops, I went and got some Eukanuba. (I had a toy fox terrier with a sensitive tummy that this worked good for). Now, whether or not they REALLY fed them what they say they did, I seriously doubt. But, in any case, they are eating good now, and poopin' good now too.

Petland STINKS! Don't ever go there for anything!! Grrrrr :mad:

~Beth

[bethp14]

Awesome jys1011!!

Thanks for the links and the suggestions!! Geez, I'm so glad I found you guys!!!

~Beth

[jessi76]

my dog had horrid diarrhea on nutromax as a pup. once i got him on a premium food, he was fine. read the ingredients of Eukanuba, and I'm not a huge fan of hills SD either, but to each their own, and if your dogs are doing well on it, that's GREAT!

I'm sorry petland has been terrible, but on the upside, those 2 pups are lucky you found them!

[Mantis]

welcome to the site!!

check the threads already started on baby gate suggestions. basenjis are creative and can climb over most gates!!

puppy pads have worked well for me with my puppy. he is 11 weeks old and now stays at home in a large wire kennel with my 5 yr old. he can hold it all night without going (by choice), no messes in the kennel. i go home at lunch to let them play in the yard….but they can hold it.

my guess is it is just them being used to going in a crate. try to train them to the grass and associate going with the feel of grass once they are a bit older.

the puppy pads and an open area should break them of the cage pooping mentality.

[youngandtired]

I also got my B from a pet store, not Petland though. The people there were great. Before I bought my baby they showed me the breed in an animal book so I could read up on what they are like. They also told me what to feed her, I still visit the girls there, they wanted a recent picture of Sahara to put into their photobook. When I get another B I will not buy from a petstore, b/c I now know about puppy mills, which was new to me. I will buy from a breeder, one that is highly known. I paid $1,200 for Sahara which I think was too much. What got me was those pitiful eyes, and that curly tail, besides she licked me when I picked her up. I would not take any amount of money for her now, besides my hubby would kill me. We love her so much!!! Be patient with the housebreaking, Sahara did the same thing when I would leave her but in time she started holding it till I came home. Of course 8-9 hrs. is really too long to expect them to hold their bladder. Do you use the stuff to clean the crate that gets rid of the smell. They have it at most pet stores, it comes in a white bottle with red lettering, it's called Miracle ? Just keep in mind that it is hard to train a dog when you aren't there to take them out all the time. It is very important that u take them out when you get home, off and on during the night and before bed. You can also cut down on the water available after 7:00pm. Just stick in there, and in time they will get the idea, good luck. You will not regret getting these babies, they are the most loving dogs I have ever seen. Welcome to the forum!!!!

[bethp14]

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome!

I by no means expected them to hold their little bladders for the whole time. I just needed some guidance on teaching them that the crate is not where to go potty even when they aren't locked inside them! I'm excited at the prospect of gating them in the kitchen though! Thanks so much to those who supplied suggestions on what to use and where to find them.

This site is truly an amazing resource. Thanks again! Missi and Cooper appreciate it too I'm sure!

The sales girls at Petland were very sweet, although their job is pretty easy seeing as how the puppies pretty much sell themselves. It's the motive of the petstore and how they get the pups (mills and whatnot) that I don't agree with. :mad:

I'm not sure they even care much about the animals there. It's very irritating. I've never been an advocate of buying any type of animal at a petstore (especially petland), but then again, they need good loving homes too! I used to raise reptiles, and the same goes for them. Pet store employees are generally not very knowledgable in the animals that they sell, and the health and quality of the animals is usually not good.

I'm just thankful to have my babies now, and I look forward to being a part of the chaos that is Basenji!

~Beth

[StellaGirl]

Beth i know at petland of Cleveland hieghts they feed nutro my vet had me put my b on soild gold and she loves it! my breeders name was Bobby Harris in little rock I know for a fact that she is not a good breeder and her parents are brother and sister from a few litters before her. I can tell you something though i will never have any other dog than a Basenji and a Vizsla thats what i have now and what i will always have have fun Shannon