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Biting

Behavioral Issues
  • eeeefarmE

    Agree with the above, but more details would be useful. Did anything happen that might have changed her attitude to strangers? Is it possible someone inadvertently hurt her? Is it all strangers now, and is she O.K. with people she has met previously, or is it an issue with any visitor? You mention her "jumping up to say hello". Apart from anything else, it is bad doggy manners to jump on people, and you might want to teach her to greet with four feet on the ground. A stranger reaching for a dog is IMO always a bad idea. It can be perceived as aggression. Better to let the dog do her sniffing and investigation, then offer the back of a hand not to pet but for the dog to sniff and accept, before any attempt to touch. Does she growl in warning and give the stranger a chance to react and back off, or is the bite immediately delivered as she growls?

    Oh, and one other thought: does she have any sore areas on her body? Any chance that the act of jumping up hurts her and she associates that with the visitor? (does she jump on you with no adverse reaction?) If the thyroid turns out not to be an issue, then one wonders what has changed. Not coming into heat could be a sign of something going on…...I had a situation with a mare who had cramps when she ovulated, and was "off" to the point of looking like colic, so "female troubles" can show up in unusual ways. It took us a while to diagnose her difficulties.

    "In order to get along with a Basenji, you have to be at least half as smart as the dog!"

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  • K

    Lots of good advice all around.
    A few things from our experience with our Lela:

    • we ask strangers to totally ignore her initially (no touch, talk or eye contact) and let her sniff it out;
    • we will ask the strangers later to offer her a treat;
    • when she starts barking (yes!) when someone enters, it is usually a person with a strong energy field; we tell her to go in her basket and we spray some http://alaskanessences.com/collections/sprays/sacred-space-sprays in the room - that helps a lot;
    • we went to see a holistic vet about the issue and he prescribed tailor made blends of flower remedies - they helped a lot too
      All in all, Lela just does not want to be touched to her head and she is very particular as to how much space she needs to feel safe.
      When we pay attention to this, it works out well.
      Good luck.
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  • B

    As far as I know nothing bad has happened. She has always been friendly to everyone but I will make sure in the future to let her investigate first. She doesn't seem to be in pain when she jumps on me at all. She went to the vet today and he checked her thyroid, he thought she may have a problem and noticed the hair on her back was a little thin. So I am awaiting the results. He didn't know why she didn't go into heat so I don't know where to go with that.

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  • B

    Thanks for all the info, I appreciate everyone's advice

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  • eeeefarmE

    One other thought. Ask your guests not to look directly into her eyes, but avert their gaze. Some dogs interpret eye contact as aggression. You didn't say whether her behaviour extends to those she has met before or is limited to total strangers.

    "In order to get along with a Basenji, you have to be at least half as smart as the dog!"

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  • tanzaT

    @Benti:

    As far as I know nothing bad has happened. She has always been friendly to everyone but I will make sure in the future to let her investigate first. She doesn't seem to be in pain when she jumps on me at all. She went to the vet today and he checked her thyroid, he thought she may have a problem and noticed the hair on her back was a little thin. So I am awaiting the results. He didn't know why she didn't go into heat so I don't know where to go with that.

    Note that if the thyroid is low/normal, that is typically too low for a Basenjis

    Pat Fragassi

    Tanza Basenjis

    www.tanzabasenjis.net

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  • B

    so typically if the result is low normal they need medication?

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  • B

    it seems to be with total strangers but I haven't had any people over recently that she would be familiar with. she did growl at me twice when I went to close her crate for the night. she was already in it and this was definitely not normal behavior for her.

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  • tanzaT

    @Benti:

    so typically if the result is low normal they need medication?

    Yes, medication

    Pat Fragassi

    Tanza Basenjis

    www.tanzabasenjis.net

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  • eeeefarmE

    @Benti:

    it seems to be with total strangers but I haven't had any people over recently that she would be familiar with. she did growl at me twice when I went to close her crate for the night. she was already in it and this was definitely not normal behavior for her.

    I would say that is a red flag. I'll be surprised if the thyroid levels are normal. She seems a bit old to be going through a "I'm mature now" change in behaviour. Sounds like she is not prepared to tolerate things that irritate her in any way.

    "In order to get along with a Basenji, you have to be at least half as smart as the dog!"

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  • tanzaT

    And I would still look at having her spayed

    Pat Fragassi

    Tanza Basenjis

    www.tanzabasenjis.net

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  • B

    so her thyroid came back 1.7, and normal is 1-4. the vet is saying this is normal, in your experience is this considered low normal? I am a nurse practitioner but have no idea what to do with the furry patients?

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  • B

    her thyroid came back normal the vet said, 1.7, normal is between 1-4 they are telling me.

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  • tanzaT

    @Benti:

    her thyroid came back normal the vet said, 1.7, normal is between 1-4 they are telling me.

    1.7 IMO, is low normal and too low for a Basenji. Did they do a full panel? Or just T4? should have been a complete panel that is sent out, not done in the Vet's normal testing

    Pat Fragassi

    Tanza Basenjis

    www.tanzabasenjis.net

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  • B

    I spoke to the vet and I think just a t4. he was convinced it was going to be lower actually because she had thinning hair above her tail, and didn't want to cost us extra money for other testing, which I do appreciate. I told him what all of you said and he is going to do a little research and get back to me, in your experience have you had to tell the vet to give medicine when they didn't consider it necessary? he also gave me the name of some trainers but I don't really want to go that route if her aggression is from a medical problem. she's always been a very easy dog up until now.

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  • tanzaT

    @Benti:

    I spoke to the vet and I think just a t4. he was convinced it was going to be lower actually because she had thinning hair above her tail, and didn't want to cost us extra money for other testing, which I do appreciate. I told him what all of you said and he is going to do a little research and get back to me, in your experience have you had to tell the vet to give medicine when they didn't consider it necessary? he also gave me the name of some trainers but I don't really want to go that route if her aggression is from a medical problem. she's always been a very easy dog up until now.

    Many times, Vets are not always, nor can they be, up to date on specific breeds of dogs. So I would ask the Vet to please prescribe a low dose of Soloxine (generic is NOT preferred) and see if it makes a difference. If this is the reason for her behavior and growling, you will see a change very, very quickly. If no change then you can stop the medication

    Pat Fragassi

    Tanza Basenjis

    www.tanzabasenjis.net

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  • B

    thanks I will do that.

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  • DebraDownSouthD

    Saving money sometimes isn't the best route… a full thyroid panel gives massively more information. But a low dose won't hurt, and as Pat said, if it doesn't help, you wean off easily and done.

    Debra

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  • C

    Desperate for help with my biting basenji

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    Hi - a few thoughts in case they are helpful, although ours doesn't bite. For biting: Figure out the reasons for biting first. if it is around toys/possessiveness - we gave him the toy on his bed and let him be there gnawing on his own. Then walked close by (not too close) and threw him something yummier in his view (eg a small piece of sausage that he can eat quickly) and walk away. Do this at random (though not too often) and have different people in your family do it. Soon she will associate your coming close to her and her favorite toy as something good. Progressively get closer (ie throw the sausage from closer), and then squat down, then touch on head briefly, then hand sausage to her, then move hand towards toy but don't touch it. By this time she will anticipate your coming to her when she has a toy as "yay, something more tasty coming my way". Evenutally, you should pick up the toy/bone hand her the sausage then hand back the toy/bone. Pretty soon she'll let you pick up her toy/bone without biting or thinking you are going to take it away. The key is to progress slowly in terms of distance etc, and mix up the treats (sausage, cheese, chicken). -if she does bite someone, then immediately isolate her in a basenji-proof room where she cant destroy things. And when letting her out, ask her to sit and be calm for a few seconds first so that she's not hysterical and she learns to watch and listen to you. There may be something else that one does for biting, so maybe others or a trainer would have good ideas. For pulling on walks, 2 things worked for us: A gentle leader - suggested by our trainer. This means she can't control her head (if they pull forward their head moves to the side like a horses halter) and so she won't be able to forge ahead. It will give your arm/shoulder immediate relief while you work on the rest. In the yard and on walks start rewarding with small treats every time she looks back at you/checks on you. At first she'll do it by chance, or if she is checking to see what you are doing, and sometimes it's a side glance. As soon as she does it - give big verbal praise and get her to come to you and give her a treat and lots of pets. She will begin to do this more often. initially treat every time she looks at you, and once she is good at it, then randomly. On walks you'll find her looking back and coming back to you more often, and as a corollary less pulling, which is a relief. We usually keep the leash in one hand and a handful of small, soft treats in the other - so you don't run out and have to keep going into your pocket to get treats. So, she'll come and nose your hand and you can pet some times, treat sometimes, etc. The one thing is to progress slowly, praise the right behavior and don't get impatient (count to 10, stop training or go do something else for a bit till you feel ready to try again). When doing the praise really have an excited voice and go overboard even! Our basenji really loves being praised. It takes more time perhaps than other methods, but it's long lasting because they see these behaviors as rewarding so you don't have to get into a battle of wills. And once they get the idea, they'll improve rapidly, even over one walk. Good luck!
  • D

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    female til she squeeks and then lets go of her. Sometimes he uses this method to drag her out of the room. She has never done this to him.
  • W

    Biting

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    I sure hope you can find out what is causing this behavior change. Sounds like your b have a "golden" life on your island.
  • wizardW

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    @AJs: This might be relevant… My cat of Questionable Heritage is the most friendly animal anyone will ever meet. She has never met a stranger. There is a very rare visitor who does not wind up with a cat on his or her lap. My step-mom is wonderful with animals, pet-sits for everyone and can approach the meanest junk-yard dogs anyone has ever seen. She can even "pet" bees. They won't sting her. They met each other when Sumi was a kitten. Sumi took an instant dislike to my step-mom. To this day, when Mom comes to visit, Sumi hisses, whacks her on the leg and stalks out of the room. Sumi has never done this with anyone else in her life. My point is, sometimes, animals take a disliking to someone for no apparent reason and there is no convincing the animal otherwise. It is not necessarily a reflection on either the person or the animal. Perhaps this is the case here. Like Forest Gump says " A Basenji is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna get".
  • M

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    @JoeyQ: Yikes, have we done something really wrong??? Joey has not been aggresive at all. When we play with him he will "bite" our arms, but not hard. If we say "ow" or "no biting" he stops immediately. Should we not encourage this behavior? or is it ok to do when we are playing which has been the only time that Joey uses his mouth? We do the same thing. Alani will put her mouth around our arms but never bite down enough to even leave an indentation. However, sometimes she will grab a toy to play fetch and if I don't respond or tell her I don't want to play she will lay the toy across my arm and act like she's chewing on her toy but feel for where my skin is and start pinching it. I know she's doing it on purpose and she thinks she's so sneaky…but I know.