NEED an answer to my crating question.

[jenniferever]

i'm adopting a 3.5 year old basenji tomorrow, and will have to keep him home during the day while i go to work on monday. is crating okay for him? i hate to only have him all during sunday, then leave him alone for 8 hours while im at work. i was thinking of having his current owner hold onto him until this upcoming friday, then i will have the WHOLE weekend to have rawley/raleigh/rahli (would love your opinion on which spelling is best! i cant decide!) to myself, and get him a little used to me & my home environment, then maybe he'll be a little less weird about being crated? should i even crate him, with 3 cats in the home, and lots of stuff to get into & knock over? HELP!
does anyone understand how weird it would make him feel to take him away from his current situation, only to leave him crated/home alone during the day? help, help, help!

[youngandtired]

Personally I would wait until Friday to pick him up. By then you can read up on Basenjis, get info from the forum, decide on his name spelling, and just get ready. It will be alot easier on him if you are with him for a weekend before you leave him for 8 hrs. Crating would be the way I would go, has he ever been crated? Make sure he has some toys in there, food and little water. You can buy water bottles made to fasten to the crate, also food bowls. Can he hold his urine and bowels, you need to know this, so as not to have a mess when he is crated. You will need to purchase a product for cleaning the crate floor, especially if he soils the crate, it is called Miracle Nature, Miracle ?(not sure if the second word is Nature, but it comes in a white bottle with red lettering) great stuff. Can't tell you how much I bought of this when I was housebreaking my Basenji. Takes out the smell and keeps your pet from peeing on your floors again in the same spot. My B learned really fast to go outside, just takes time and patience. Also make sure you have bedding for him in the crate or an old towel, or something with your smell on it. Good Luck, and congrats on your new pet, you will love this breed. My husband and I just love our Basenji, Sahara, she is our baby girl!!!!! Private message me if you need any more info!!!!!!

[jenniferever]

i will definitely speak to his current owner about the friday scheduled pick-up. but im so excited, and hate waiting! his current owner said he does have a kennel/crate, and likes to sleep in it, and she thinks he sees it as his safe place. she said he's good about holding "it" in, but then again, she's got a doggy door in her home, so he can come & go as he pleases, whereas i do not. i'm thinking very much about getting a toddler gate & keeping him in the kitchen during the day while im at work, until he's used to things. but then i think he'd be able to jump over it. are there taller toddler gates i can put in the doorway? i dont know where to look! any suggestions as to how to keep him confined while im gone?

[ChaseandZahrasmom]

Stick with the crate until you know him better. Basenji's are pros at the high jump and the baby gate will just be a hurdle. The crate will make him more at ease in his new place while he is adjusting to things.

I had Zahra for only a few days when I left her alone in the kitchen to take the trash out, when I came back in the tiny little thing was on top of my kitchen counters, she was only about 10 weeks old!

I crate both of my dogs while I am at work all day and the nights that I have school the fairy pet nanny comes in and takes them out (my husband is deployed so I need the extra help on those longer days). Maybe you could get a pet nanny to come in if you are worried about the first few days.

Good luck!

Jenn

[YodelDogs]

I agree that a Friday pick-up would be better overall. And I would definately recommend using the crate. Leaving a dog loose in a brand new environment is just asking for trouble. Be sure to crate him some while you are home also so he doesn't learn that being crated means being "abandoned". I wouldn't put food or water in the crate though. He will eat and drink and then have to relieve himself. He will either soil the crate or be extremely uncomfortable until someone gets home to let him out. That can make him dislike being crated. Good luck with your new boy.

[dmcarty]

ok well here goes - I am going to go against the flow here on a FRIDAY pickup. When I'm placing adult, young adult or rescue dogs people always want the weekend for the dog to get used to them but - Monday always comes. Sometimes dogs need that quiet time to listen to their surroundings, and most of the time the first weekend the dog is insecure and you work for 2 days through that and then crate time comes on Monday.

I ALWAYS recommend getting the dog on Sunday, crating and going to work or whatever you need to do - yes it is a little sensory depriving BUT you do get to the you are a wonderful person who lets me out much quicker. Then the next weekend you will already be bonded and not dealing with a dog that has to process where they are.

Whatever you end up doing - allow for a lot of alone time for your dog to process your new setting.

Diana McCarty
MIJOKR BASENJIS

[jenniferever]

a crate does seem like a better idea now.. with the cats, they'll probably jump over the baby gate (i was going to get an extra tall one so no matter how high raleigh jumps, he wont get out) and bother him. i just have never cratyed an animal before, and when i was a groomer, seeing the dogs in kennels kind of made me feel bad. being that he is used to free-roaming, i just dont want to make him worse by locking him up. but if you guys say thats the best way to go, then i'll do it. i want to get a big crate, so he has room to stretch out. as for no food or water in there, ill be gone 8 hours! i guess i could feed him in the morning before work.. but i cant force him to.

is there a certain place the crate should be? i was going to cushion it with a crate pad, and then cover that with a blanket i use, and put some toys in, and a little food & water.. that seems like a good idea. i just will be feeling really really bad leaving him in there all day, even though his current owner said

"I don't know if you will want the kennel I have. He goes in it sometimes but it is actually my smaller dogs kennel. You'll have to see what you think. He crams himself into it and sometimes he sleeps in it with the door open. He does not tear things up around the house but with a new environment I might use a kennel the first week you have him. He is prob going to be really nervous so I don't know if I would trust him to not tear up anything. He seems to feel safer in a kennel."

so i guess ill go with the advice i asked for! thanks everyone, definitely appreciated!

[jenniferever]

ive gone with the baby gate and so far there hasnt been a need for it other than when im not around to supervise him, to make sure he has no "accidents".

[nomrbddgs]

I would keep a crate for him open in his "area". You may want that crate one day and need it! So keep him used to the crate and you'll have less problems later when you try to re train him for the crate!

[spitfirekrl1]

How is he with the cats? Are the cats tormenting him all day while he's in there? I was going to suggest crating him in a room that was closed off to the cats so he has less stimulie to excite him. Also, a lot of people don't suggest free feeding (leaving food down for eating whenever) so 8 hours without food is pretty normal. We feed once at 7:45 and again and 6:30. This just makes it so we know when she's eating how much she's eating and allows us to see a problem of not eating the normal amount much easier. I would definately agree to leave a crate around if you're not going to crate so that you're not dealing with crate training all over again when you need it. It is very possible that you will find when you dog adjusts to you're new home and realizes that he's there for good, other behaviors (a little more B like) will start to shine through and you'll definately want to crate if that happens. You'll read in other posts that most of our B's that are crate trained love their crate (mine is in there for around 8 hours a day and every morning at the same time will go in her crate and wait for me to leave her a treat, shut the gate, and leave).

Sorry for the lengthy post.

[LaurieB]

don't put anything that you don't mind getting pooped or peeded on. I put a brand new expensive pad in when I first got my B. Big mistake. I recommend an old towel or something with your scent on it that you don't mind getting soiled on.

[jenniferever]

he's got a crate, and sleeps in it from time-to-time. as far as accidents go, he's had a couple. i bought puppy floor pads, and hes used them once, but never again. luckily i see that once he eats, whatever form thelast time he ate comes out, so i can time when to take him out. another thing – he doesnt eat his food! he always eating the cat food, and wont eat unless i sit on the floor with him, and hand feed him a few kibbles until he's like "hmm this isnt so bad" and finishes the bowl. & it's weird because im feeding him the same stuff his last woner did,. so its not like i completely changed his food..