Let's also consider that when you chase your dog, the dog thinks it's a game and will run away from you. Like... "you can't catch me!" Man, Basenji's can bolt! On the other hand, when you are the one running away, the dog instinctively joins you because you are part of the dog's family/pack. This is not to be confused with a learned command to chase an assailant, in Police work, for example. That would be a totally different game of chase.
Fighting among my basejis
-
Personally I'd separate these 2 girls. You've said yourself that it could end up them killing each other. Do you want this on your conscience? Basenjis, and especially bitches in my opinion, will fight to the death. I see no point in giving further advice as I'm not sure that there is any other solution.
I agree with Debra, if you don't have facilities where you can keep these girls apart, one should be rehomed and without any other dog . Which of course is a decision only you can make.
We do have some rescues here that just rehome dogs without assessing them or the prospective purchasers.
-
Hi, my oldest girl was always laid back. When she walks into a room she almost floats thru it. The male and the young female always have to shoot off like rockets when they move from room to room. Kandi the young female always has to be with me. She follows me everywhere and hides behind me when sasha comes around. Sasha always starts the fights by walking in very slow and defensive. She always challenges kandi. Now all 3 basenjis are fighting for my attention by lying on my lap and switching places every 5 minutes. And yes, when they start to growl, i raise my voice and usually they will calm down. But just in the blink of an eye the worst fight can break out. The young female craves so much attention and the biggest problem is her and the male are so hyper, when they are settled down everyone is fine. And yes like you i love them all so much that i cannot imagine rehoming any of them. I do let them know i am the alpha dog in the pack and they do respect this. If the 2 girls could just stop challenges . By the way the young female is super charged. She never stops playing. Since she came she sleepsin my bed every night while the older female sleeps with my daughter. The male goes back and forth to keep peace. We have to keep the bedroom doors shut or they will all keep running back and forth and fight. And you should hear them growl at each other thru the door.
-
IMO you should re-home the younger female. IMO it is not fair to the one that was there first to have to defend her territory when she is clearly not happy about the new bitch in the home. It sounds, if I am reading this right that your older girl got along OK when just the male.
I have had to make those choices before, not easy, but it was the younger one that left each time, regardless if they were causing the problem or not
-
I have two basenjis - male and female, and a young mixed breed female. My basenjis lives on separate floors. The male was the first in the house. A year later I got the female so he would have a playmate and all was fine at first. But slowly the female started bullying him. I wish I had been more aware of it at first - I might have been able to intervene before it escalated to where it is now, but I can't let them in the same room. I'm convinced she would kill him if she could. He's terrified of her and not much of a fighter. She can be fierce. They both got along with the new dog at first, but then Rose started picking on her a bit. The luck here is that Gracie weighs 20 lbs more than Rose. She'll never start a fight, but can always stop it. As a result, Rose has learned not to pick on her, but she also won't play with her now that she's full grown because Grace has become too much for her with the size difference. The both played with Grace when she was small.
Because I have a multi-floor house I've been able to manage things with gates. I love them both so much that I didn't want to part with either of them. I will enjoy it, though, when the gates can come down.