I appreciate the advice and am 100% on board with trading up, I used to think it was rewarding h for stealing something but it is the lesser of two evils, it is worth the aggression I fear I provoke with my approach. As you said, the more you had to do it the less escalated it becomes, I hope this will be the case with Oakley. I am happy to report that I can just about completely refocus his attention with mentioning "do you want a…."
2% chance he will finish eating his stolen treasure then go looking for a cookie! It is hard to admit the reality of having a tough dog, and orbit up to the fact that I will always ha WTO be hypervigilant with him around children, just to be safer than sorry
I have learnerd the same thing, people come over, even adults, the dogs go in their crates, for everyones protection. After being a Basenji owner for so long I could never recommend getting one to another person, why go through this if you can have an "easy" dog or a rescue from the pound?
I do love our dogs, but you have to accept what your getting into with these dogs, my question is why?
Why? I suspect some day they will find some sort of masochism gene coupled with an oddball sense of humor gene that pair to make these dogs the delight of our days.
Why? I suspect some day they will find some sort of masochism gene coupled with an oddball sense of humor gene that pair to make these dogs the delight of our days.
Rationally I can't think of a reason to choose a basenji over an easy dog, but during the good times (99% of time) I can't see myself owner another type of dog. Our other basenji is very primative & instinct driven, very text book basenji, but she never bites, but pretend bites, where she never puts her mouth/teeth on you. Our biter, the last few times at the vet, I warn them to be careful with him, they said he was the best behaved dog. He lets them do everything but trimming his nails (must be muzzled). Shots, drawing blood, no problem, but try to trim his nails forget it. He used to be easy to muzzle, but now he puts his head between his front legs and will snap if you bring the muzzle near him.
Last time they cleaned his teeth (putting him under), they told me he was holding his breath as to not breath in the gas.
Yes you have to have a sense of humor or be a moron. I guess I am a little of both, as my dog laughs at me.
My Taz is the same way. He is a thief and will actually try to steal it from your hand if not careful. If I ignore him in any way he will try to find something to steal to get my attention. He has never ever been agressive in any way, shape, or form. When he has something he stole and I go to get it from him he will try to run and hide but once I catch up to him he will cower and then roll over on his back and of course continue to hold onto it. When go to take it from him I have to physically open his mouth but when I do I say give and he always gives it up without a fight. That being said, I do like to use a squirt bottle to help battle against his thievery. It is nice to see that some of the same problems I have with my Taz are not isolated to just my dog lol. It is just his nature!
Why? I suspect some day they will find some sort of masochism gene coupled with an oddball sense of humor gene that pair to make these dogs the delight of our days.
Will this gene be available for husbands and boyfriends? 
Sorry to the guys on the forum, but I just couldn't resist saying this!
Last time they cleaned his teeth (putting him under), they told me he was holding his breath as to not breath in the gas.
And this action is from a dog breed who is not supposed to be intelligent. Yeah, right!
I do have to say on the good side of our dog is that he is a gentle, well behaved, very loving dog 99% of the time. That's the part that makes him so special to our family.
Dogs behavior is interesting. Ive just gone from a single dog home to 2 dogs.
When it was just my partner and our first dog Hope, my partner was boss even though she was my dog. Since getting the second dog our pack dynamic has changed and I have become boss. Simple command such as 'out' by my partner results in the two ratbags to look at each other and go the opposite direction. If I am to request it they abide. It's interestingly see how the roles are reversed.
I think alot comes down to temperament, breeding and how they are brought up. My two will not even consider climbing a fence or digging out of it. In fact they are left in the yard while we go to work. However my friends puppy is a typical basenji that scales fences and digs under them. He came from a different breeder, how he is raised is different from how I raise my two. He came and stayed for a week and he really is a brilliant dog, he didn't leave my yard during the stay (and yes he has other dogs that he lives with where his owner lives so it wasn't because he had company- its because we made him apart of the family, allowed him inside and to be with us- why would he want to leave. Same theory I have about my 2, they have no reason to get over that fence).
I guess I'm lucky that I don't have a resource guarder when it comes to stealing food (yes they are still basenji like when it comes to some stuff) but they seem to be more worried about the consequences and either leave it or gives it up to me, of they are up to mischief I come in with a stern voice and that's usually enough for them to call it quits. (I don't replace their stolen good with something better as Hope is rather smart and would simply do it again to get the better treat.. damn they are smart!!)
I'm thankful I don't have issues like that but wanted to say how their behavior is interesting to learn from, I never thought I'd be a 'pack leader' (as I never thought I'd have 2 basenjis so Hope would always look to my partner as the leader) but its fascinating how the roles change.
Here's hoping that your problem can be fixed, what a nasty bite in that photo.
Here another resource guarder. He won't try to steal something, and even if something is just lieing on the floor and I tell him to 'leave it' he won't touch it. He doesn't have a problem with me taking his food, toys… But if I give him a bone then I can't take it back before he is finished with it. or better, I couldn't. The way I fixed the problem is not by trading of just taking it away, but by making him feel comfortable with something while I'm very close to him. So basically. I first give him a bone, and I would hold it while he was eating it. Then just sitting and walking around him and giving him a little treat from time to time, without taking his bone away. The next time, I took a book and went to sit right next to him, completly ignoring him. Doesn't took long before he stopped gnarling at me if stretched my hand at him while he had a bone. And after a while I could just easily take, whatever he had, away from him without a reaction. Most of the time I just give it back, but if it is something he really can't have, I'm now able to just take it from him.
I don't know if this will help or not, I have only had one resource guarder, and he was brought up by someone else. All the dogs I have raised have never, ever had a problem with me taking things from them as I would start from the beginning putting my hand in their mouth and working with them to that end of taking something from them and trading up.
The one dog that was a guarder, I would having something, preferably very, very smelly and not terrible for him, and pretend I would be eating it first and then turn away from him and pretend I was resource guarding it from him. It would just peak his interest enough whereby he would drop what he had and would come over to see if what I had was better than what he had. I would then throw it and while he went to retrieve it, I would steal what he had. I realize this would probably not work with many dogs, but it worked with him. Sometimes you have to figure out your own way to fake out your own dog. Only you would know if it would work with your dog and adjust a method to work into your program.
Good luck.
Not quite on topic, but my sister had a GSD that devised her own distraction methods to get what she wanted from the Shepherd/Husky cross that shared the house. If he had something she wanted, she would run to the door and bark! He, of course, would come running, and she would double back and steal his treasure. Smart dog! I mention this because this type of distraction can also work (at least once) with a Basenji. Ignore the theft, go to the door, either ring the bell or open the door and pretend you are talking to someone. With luck, the dog will be distracted enough to leave the loot and come see what is going on…....at which point you grab the dog (don't get into a race for the loot, you will lose!) Pretending it is walk time can also work.
Basenjis are smart enough to catch on, and not so easily fooled next time, but in an emergency there are lots of distractions that may have the desired effect.
LOL, my oldest rottie, if one of the other dogs was on HER bed, would go to the window and bark. They would run to the window, she would run to the bed. However, other stuff, they let her have it– she was the ruler. If they got too rowdy, she got up, took their toys away one by one, put on her bed, laid down on them. Play over.
I like eeefarm's suggestion purely because my basenjis use distraction when they want something from another. They for instance will jump up excitedly to look out the window and when the one with the article gets up to see what the excitement is the first will grab the same.
All this talk of creating diversions to thwart a resource guarder reminds me of this guy:
http://animalsbeingdicks.com/post/12598824899/diversion-dog
(wish I could embed)
Yeah our dogs do similar things to each other all the time, but usually in order to steal someones spot on the couch. Our dogs act like their is something outside, then when the other dog comes, they steal it's spot on the couch or with someone.
