Well that's out then. Champ is a wannabe escape artist (he hasn't learned how to climb) but I can see him pushing the expen throughout the house causeing a bigger mess. I look at him when he's wilding out and I just give up most times. He looks at me like what mommy let's play. What else to do but grab them, give them a huge hug and accept the fact that I'm owned by my B not the other way around. It's crazy how nuts he gets me but I love him more each day. I love holding him and kissing him, even chasing after that little brat has made life somehow better. This morning he ran into my daughters room and took her sock (what a shock it was on the floor) so I chased him and grabbed the sock, well he stormed back into the room as soon as I had pulled the sock out of his mouth and grabbed another one and started running around the house and I couldn't help but laugh. Little stinker!
It sounds like Champ would really benefit from a good positive reinforcement training class. It would give you a vocabulary to communicate with him and some good techniques to divert some of this behavior.
Yes we are planning on doing this real soon. Have someone who is good with dogs give us some basic lessons for a few weeks starting next week and are also looking into going to the petsmart classes.
Thanks for the site Lisa. Hmmmm-could be a family thing then. Ha Ha-sounds just like a Basenji thing. I know Shadow would lift it up too-luckily he's just too lazy! He puts himself in the crate now_with the door closed_and then lets himself out. Plus because he's such a stinker for doors,everything is baby proofed and battened down!
Crate, my B can't even look at it. I tried gussing it up with toys, treats, blankets. He just pulls everything out. Now I just use it as sort of a time out for a few minutes since he dosen't potty in the house anymore(only when he's left out of a room we are in).
Hey everyone. Our female B I don't think was ever kennel trained properly… When we first got her 6yrs ago (@ age 5), we used to put her in her kennel. She used to throw these wild fits (I call them her temper tantrums)....she would lie on her back and flail her legs in the air, whine and shriek and chew on the bars....after that we did not put her thru that again. When she is locked up with our other B then she is fine. Aside from that our 2 seem to pretty well behaved.....neither one climbs and they are never locked up, they seem to sleep all day.
Yeah our B is now trained and he even goes in on his own when he knows we are leaving but as soon as we come home he starts crying until we let him out. Happy to have come this far though.
Keoki is crate-trained at night only. When it's bedtime, he goes right in and waits for his treat, then goes to sleep for the whole night. Most morning I just about have to coax and cajole him to come out to go potty.
Any other time he's put in the crate, like if I have to leave for a while during the day, he gets crazy. He pees everywhere and tears up whatever is in the crate. It's a disgusting, pee-covered mess. When I get home, he is clawing at the door, screaming, desperate to get out.
I actually have day bedding and night bedding because the night bed is expensive and I've already had to sew it back together after leaving it in during a day trip. When I go out during the day, he gets some cheap fleece and paper towels.
The stupid thing is, he goes in by himself and sleeps in his crate during the day all the time.
Daisy is crate trained when we leave the house during the day, but she used to kick up a storm in there. Neighbors commented on the sound of a crying child. Whatever it takes, but she has no choice being crated while we're gone. Duke is in his own crate, so good they observe each other. She has to calm herself to sleep, I can't worry about it unless of course there is damage to herself or the crate. No problems with that. But at night, she won't have anything to do with the crate. So we let her sleep with whoever she wants. She does sleep all night and no messes (anymore). I shouldn't say or even think this, but "knock on wood" I/we haven't had any messes in the house for a couple weeks. (fingers crossed) She is 6 mos old plus 2 weeks.
Luzmery-how great that Champ is doing better with his crate. Hard work does pay off!! 
Good for you!
Yeah our B is now trained and he even goes in on his own when he knows we are leaving but as soon as we come home he starts crying until we let him out. Happy to have come this far though.
Well that would be normal, wanting out when you get home… You should hear mine when we stop while on a road trip...gggg... it is not pretty....
Keoki is crate-trained at night only. When it's bedtime, he goes right in and waits for his treat, then goes to sleep for the whole night. Most morning I just about have to coax and cajole him to come out to go potty.
Any other time he's put in the crate, like if I have to leave for a while during the day, he gets crazy. He pees everywhere and tears up whatever is in the crate. It's a disgusting, pee-covered mess. When I get home, he is clawing at the door, screaming, desperate to get out.
I actually have day bedding and night bedding because the night bed is expensive and I've already had to sew it back together after leaving it in during a day trip. When I go out during the day, he gets some cheap fleece and paper towels.
The stupid thing is, he goes in by himself and sleeps in his crate during the day all the time.
here is a possible thought…although I don't know if it really matters....does he scream right away as soon as you leave? If not, it may be that he can't hold it as long during the day, and he is actually flipping out because he wants to pee in the right place. Everyone (dogs and people) can go longer thru the night without peeing because our kidneys slow down production a couple hours before our normal bedtime. during the day, we all need to pee much more frequently. Just a thought 
He gets upset as soon as he realizes he's in the crate w/the door shut. I can be gone one hour and he'll have urinated everywhere and torn up whatever is in the crate w/him.
Last night I knew I'd be gone for several hours so I tried occupying him – I let in his crate with him a KONG stuffed with a little canned dog good and some raw carrots {a favorite}, two empty paper towel tubes, a small rawhide chew, and a bunch of loose paper towels. I also left a radio playing. The other two dogs were next to him, Jazzy in her crate and Gypsy on her big pillow.
When I got home the rawhide was gone,the KONG was empty, the paper towels tubes disintegrated, and the bedding full of holes and urine -- all as I'd expected. LOL
I let the dogs out for about an hour, brought them in, put him to bed in his crate as always at night and he curled right up and went to sleep like a good boy.
Maybe it is because we are a homeschooling family, so we are here ALL the time -- the dogs are only alone during the day one - three times a week -- and he just has it in his head that closed crates are for night time only. During the day we are expected to be home to serve his needs!
I wonder would it help if you put a cover over his crate to make it look like it's dark out. I know they probably are too smart for that but it might not hurt to try.
I don't know… I could try that...but we are talking about a dog that has a nightlight next to his crate at night.... seriously, w/out he cries and cries. I think he needs to be able to see that Gypsy and Jazzy are nearby.
I will try the blanket idea tomorrow; we are going on another hike and I don't think the dogs can go on this one.
good luck.
So I was out at my first lure coursing trial this weekend and came home to feel very sad/upset, like an outcast.
Does anyone have the answer to this question…..why do Bs not like whippets. The club I belong to is majority whippets (of course!), the first or second day I attended a practice with them Heix kind of snarled at one of the whippets. I gave him heck and they said "don't worry, Basenjis don't like whippets!"
This weekend at lure coursing every time someone walked by me and Helix with a whippet they were like, "no, leave it, that's a Basenji", "no you can't play, that's a Basenji", "oh I didn't know there was a Basenji laying there, otherwise I would not have let the puppy go over there,"..........every time, "NO THAT'S A BASENJI" (I'm glad people know their dog breeds!). No one wanted to sit with me and talk b/c Helix was with me. I felt like I had the black plaque or something. One moment in the afternoon one of the ladies standing in front of me talking w/ a couple other ladies, blurted out, "Basenjis are nasty creatures, they have the personality of a terrier!" :mad: Cow, did she not realize I was right there. She's a freak anyways. Everytime Helix looks, sneezes, walks, runs…etc up to her whippets, she literally hurls herself onto her whippets to protect them from the mean nasty Helix- screeches, "no, get away". No wonder there are no other Bs in the club except for mine and another ladies….everyone else in the city was shunned and did not come back! One whippet owner put it a little nicer, she said, "Basenjis have this bubble around them and nothing is allowed to penitrate the bubble, the bubble protects dog and owner! It was a cute way of putting it! But still...I just think someone had a bad experience between their whippet and a B and has now blown it all out of proportion. If you allow the behavior to happen, the issue will never resolve itself. A correction has to made for the bad behaviour! :rolleyes:
I also practice the same corrections as one of the other ladies on here mentioned...
If Helix approaches another dog and I see the hair on his back stand up, I immediately make him sit and wait- that is always my first indicator that he is not approaching friendly. This weekend he did good practicing that for the most part. He approached a whippet and an ibizhan hound, seen his hair stand up, made him sit, he gave them a little "hello" yodel and stayed sitting waiting patiently, hoping that they would come over to him to say hello but after 2min of him waiting, the owners would not let the dogs approach. The other thing I do too is to tell him to "leave it" and it could be anything.....dog, food, garbage, and pull the leash in towards me and he ignores it.
I just had to get that out b/c it really ticked me off. I understand they do not get along, but could they just simply say, "no, leave it". Rather than constantly reinforcing the obvious!
A little side note....if they were worried about their dogs getting hurt or eaten, I could have let our 12 year old B- Metinga- loose on them....she's the alpha and the scrapper in our family!!!!:D
Rhonda Sitter (mom of Helix and Metinga)
That is too bad, here in No. Calif… Basenjis typically get alone with all hounds, of course 99% of them were raised from being a young pup at lure trials.. and all the other breed owners like our Basenjis as to their dogs... We rarely have a problem with someone pointing fingers at Basenjis... And I am sure in your case that these other owners have had a bad experience.. BUT that can happen with any breed....
Yeah, I have to agree with Tanza….that is not the norm in the area where we course. Of course, the basenjis around here, for the most part, have gone a long way towards improving the reputation of the breed. Occasionally you will get a comment about 'you naughty little 'senji' Or something like that. And I am sure that some of the people we course with have the attitude you mentioned, but they keep it to themselves...and quietly keep their dogs away from ours.
I think since there are a couple breeders in our area that do A LOT of coursing with great temperament dogs, the folks in the coursing clubs have learned a lot about Basenjis...like, they sound like they are going to kill your dog when they really just want to say 'hi'
My dogs have no problems with whippets, in particular....actually none of the coursing hounds...I think mainly because none of them are in your face dogs.
I think those people just have had bad experiences and think all Basenjis are like that. Keep plugging away if you can manage it. Have your boy display exemplarly manners, and try to change their opinion
Good luck!
Exactly right Quercus….. keep going and show them that Basenjis can be well behaved... it only takes one person to spread rumors or have seen a bad behaved Basenji to ruin it for everyone. But on the other hand, takes only one GOOD Basenji to change their minds.... The breeders here in NO. Ca have always run their dogs... and have bred for sound temperaments. Not to say that they don't have "scraps", but that usually happens with in-tact B's if they run this time of year (being B Breeding season). In fact, most of the people with in-tact don't even run theirs this time of year.
