Thank you for the information, I just joined the group.
Fostering a Basenji
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I think Lita is well on her way to worming herself into your heart! What good news.
No, still at this point, Lita is still a foster dog. I care about her, and I wonder what her poor short life was like. It must have been hell, because this is one very anxious girl. She is exhausting me.
This morning she would not even go off the porch. She just paced and cried. I tried to engage her with her ball, but she was too anxious to distract. We came in and she paced until I started getting ready for a walk. She was so excited! She got into her little puppy play pose when she saw the lead! It was cute.
After our 45 min walk, she came home and paced some more and cried. Nothing would distract her, so I ignored her for a while. Eventually, she curled up in a little doggy ball on the couch at my feet.
Soon enough, a car door slammed, and she was up pacing again. So, I ignored her again. It didn't take as long this time for her to assume doggy ball position at my feet again.
As I started to write this, she was pacing again, so I ignored her and this time she began to occupy herself with a chew toy! Yay! I'm tired!–On Christmas day, I kid you not, she played with her ball for 7 1/2 hours straight--about 5 of those hours I spent playing with her. She throws it at your feet and looks up at you expectantly--it's hard to say no.
Uh oh, now she?s pacing again....Did I say I was tired?
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I should add, I think Lita would do well in a home with another dog. Sometimes she paces and cries when she hears other dogs bark. Oh and yes, she does bark, but only when she spies someone out front while in the yard, or when someone enters the house. She's not a yodeler, but her bark does get kind of howl-like when she's really excited.
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What about a Kong with peanut butter inside of it or a Bully stick for her to chew on or a beef bone? Maybe that would get her interested enough to stop pacing and settle down with it for a while. I wonder why she is so anxious when you are there and won't settle down. Kind of sounds like she needs a job to do, something to keep her mind entertained. You can buy those big Wobbly Kongs that have a keyhole in the front. You can put her kibbles in there and she has to knock it over to get any out. My dogs love this and it makes their mind work, which in turn makes them tired!
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I would suggest having her be with other dogs especially since she came from a place with so many of them. She will learn from the other dogs. She may not engage with them at first but just watch them. This is how many of my dog auction rescues first behaved since most of them had never been out of a crate! They learn behaviors from the other dogs especially playing, etc. and even being on grass.
Jennifer
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Anxiety, fearfulness etc does not mean a bad previous life– it can be temperament. That said, ignoring her completely when she paces, giving her attention only when she is calm, can help you to change the behavior. And let me add my own HOW CUTE!!! to the others.
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How is Lita doing?
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How is Lita doing?
She's MUCH, MUCH more comfortable with us. Interestingly, she seemed to calm down after I purchased a doggy coat for her; just a normal fleece coat. Now she is letting her personality show, and it's very playful! She absolutely LOVES going for walks and she prances with joy! She is a little too eager for food, though. She will get in puppy play position and bark at us while we are eating to try to get attention for a morsel.
My kids tell me she cries for me if I leave the house. She's really cute and loves to have her chest rubbed. It's funny tho, sometimes she just stands with her front paws on your legs, chest, or stomach and enjoys a chest rub in that position. I don't really like to be stood upon, but if you move her legs she finds a different area to stand on. She's funny, and she seems to have taken to my son fabulously! She was most leery of him when she first came into our home, but they have been enjoying each others company playing ball in the yard. She makes us laugh, and she's so fast!
Guess you can probably guess, she's found her fur-ever home!
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Guess you can probably guess, she's found her fur-ever home!
Hurray! And if your Lita could talk, she would say THANK YOU, Penny's mom !
(My rescued basenji name is Lola, but when I'm scolding her, she has a very long name:
Lolita, Senorita, Margarita, May!
(Perhaps because I've always found my kids' middle names when they are in trouble? :))Basenjis, even basenji mixes, definitely have their ancient instincts, but it's the endearing quirks that make them so special. When my Lola wants attention, she will stand on her hind legs and stretch as far as she can to reach me, and I swear that she's flexing her front toes as a sign of affection. And when she wants to be petted and I'm sitting down, she'll stand right on top of me until I'll concede and pet her.
Such happy news! Congratulations on your new family member!
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Like you we lost our beloved Rory (basenji) after 16 years in early December. It devastated us, even though she had been showing signs that her time was near. It does not make the loss any less. Our male basenji, Tim, took her death especially hard. He had always been with Rory for all 15 years of his life. It was imperative that we get another companion dog for him. Also, for us, to help fill the void left by Rory's death. We got another basenji right after Christmas, a female basenji, 8yr, former show dog. Like you, when we got her, she was so different than what we expected, we felt over whelmed. She would pace around the coffee table. We called it her race track. She exhibited a lot of the same symptoms that Lita had. We have had 16 years experience with basenjis, and we found her behavior unsettling. So, I can only imagine how difficult and peculiar you thought that her behavior was. Patience, patience, patience and food has been the trick for us. Our girl has found her forever home with us and I am really glad that Lita has found hers with you.
As you get to know the breed and their special peculiarities, you will find this forum extremely helpful. They are an extremely smart breed. I have a saying, 'Okay, how can I out smart my basenji today!'. They worm their way into you heart and you can not imagine life without them. Welcome to life with a basenji!
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It sounds to me that a lot of shelters do that. They don't want to advertise that it is a Basenji so people will adopt them but they don't realize how difficult it is to handle a basenji and when the person gets home and the dog is that, obstinate as a basenji can be at times, people don't know how to handle them. Then they wind up taking the dog back. My shelter did the same thing. I was told hound / terrier mix, and when I think of hound, I think of bassets or something like that, and not basenji's. I really didn't know about them at all. I do now, lol, but I wouldn't give him back if my life depended on it. I am totally in love with him!
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BTW, I also use the shunning method with my basenji. He gets into everything and so I have to baby proof my house. Sometimes I leave a drink on the table and he tries to drink out of it and when I catch him with it, I let him know I am mad! I growl at him and then turn my back to him and he gets very upset. When he does anything I do want him to do, all I have to do is growl at him and he comes over to me bows his head and curls up in my lap. I guess it is an instinctual reaction to submit to his pack leader. He hates it when I ignore him in any way. He is funny, because he will sit down and look at me and whine or try to jump up on the chair with me if he thinks I am mad at him.
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