New update: Tika is no longer in heat! Yay! Remy got neutered and is doing great! We got a dog trainer to come in assess the situation and she thinks it is starting to improve compared to how I described it when I booked her to come. Only Maia seems to need the muzzle, she seems to be very unsure of the puppy. We are working with her to build her confidence. The puppy doesn’t seem to have any stress with Maia around and won’t start anything. The muzzle is on just in case when I am home alone as I don’t want anything bad to happen when if I can’t separate them. The puppy is getting lots of training time to help her learn how to behave properly. With 2 people here we can have the girls on short leashes and they are fine together. They did have a small altercation of snarling but no biting and no one got hurt. The older female backed down and walked away. As much as I want her to be the top dog it seems that the puppy has a much more dominant personality. If they figure out the pack hierchy hopefully everything will settle down. The trainer says there are no pack instincts in domesticated dogs, but after having 6 basenjis I can’t agree with that in regards to basenjis. We can walk the girls together without muzzles now so I think things are more positive and they seem to be improving every day. When Remy is healed from his neuter I will get the puppy spayed and hope that calms things down even further. So far there is a lot more peace in the house. Please anyone let me know if there is anything else I should be doing to keep these girls on track. Thank you for all your advice and guidance! I am so grateful for this forum as what is normal for other dogs is not so much with these guys!
"Basenji-proof" sweater or coat for sleeping in cold bedroom
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Our puppy sleeps in our room with a warm pad under her crate, but gets cold nonetheless because our bedroom is unheated. We tried a knitted sweater, but she had it off and was chewing it apart. Any ideas for something durable?
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Have you considered chain mail or armor?
I honestly don't know. We do have sweaters and jackets for ours, but they only work for walking. If they're in the house and we leave them on... they remove them. Then chew them. Then destroy them. Them play with all the bits.
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@jocaroth 3 ideas:
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Drape the crate with a blanket or towel. The heated pad, and body heat should be retained in her "den"... it should make her much more comfortable, or
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Allow your pup to sleep with you in your bed and possibly under the covers. Lot's of Basenji's tend to do this, My girl sleeps with me, but prefers to be on top of the blankets, or
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You could look into heating your bedroom. Not sure where you are, or what your situation is... I've slept in under-heated buildings before. Don't care how many blankets you have, it's no fun. For anyone.
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@elbrant Draping her crate (which she likes) is a good idea. We like to sleep under blankets with cool air, hence the cool bedroom.
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@jengosmonkey Nice black and white basenji there - the straight tail indicates it is very relaxed. Maybe the breathability of chain mail is a point in its favor - thanks for the tip. Maybe something in titanium. It would also help dull those mouthy teeth that she has (she's a puppy).
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Best solution, let her sleep with you. Mine always have except when I had two and sometimes they slept together under a blanket in "their" chair. I also preferred a cool house, so having the dog with me was the logical solution. My rule was "no dogs in the sheets" but under the top cover was legal and sufficient. My Basenjis always liked to sleep in, and often were abed long after I had gotten up!
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I love love loveeeee letting my Basenji sleep in bed with me. He's like a real life breathing hot water bottle
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Yeah, guilty. Ours sleep in the bed with the humans. Same rule as @eeeefarm: "no dogs in the sheets". We keep extra smaller blankets on the bed just for each of the dogs. Mine don't seem to like heavy blankets, so experiment a bit. I don't mind them piled on me, but I'm weird. :face_with_stuck-out_tongue_winking_eye:
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Basenji’s are truly heat seeking dogs. Trigger sleeps at the foot of the bed under the covers in the same spot every night. I chuckle every morning when I get up and see just his nose peaking out of the covers.
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@jengosmonkey that is hysterical
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All my Basenjis have slep with me they are happy and quiet all night
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I love for my basenji to sleep with me, but he kicks (hard!) sometimes. I bought him a Snoozer bed (google it - it's a bed with a cover). He is always welcome to decide on his own where to sleep. I think my tossing and turning disrupts his beauty sleep, so he usually prefers to sleep in his snoozer or under a blanket on the couch.
@JENGOSMonkey, I'm weird too.
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I adopted my current basenji at 3.5 yrs old. He slept in bed under the covers at my feet like an angel for the first 2 weeks. Suddenly, one night he was up at 2 am running from window to window, door to door. He wouldn't settle down. I let him in the back yard, but he didn't want out. Eventually, he settled down and we went back to bed. I worried this was a new undesirable behavior. The next morning at the local dog park, I found out there was a burglary less than 2 blocks away from my house the night before. He hasn't behaved like that since that night.
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@alibobo She is QUITE warm - as you said, like a hot water bottle.
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Mine always got to be bed dogs when I was away at a show with some of them. Up to four at a time more often than not. We had a very useful guide book called 'Dogs Welcome' which listed B & Bs (Bed & Breakfast) all over the country. Some we stayed in every year for the same show.
Deedles would always sleep at my feet and middle of the night if he got too hot, would sit up and stretch and using his shoulders, gradually work the duvet off the bed onto the floor. Then he would come around and tell me to pick it up again, he was now cooler, thank you.
Hope would lick my closed eyes until I opened them. Then she would say ' oh, its ok, you are still in there' and go to sleep herself.
They all had different preferences and it was one of the perks of travelling and showing. Another was the long walks in new areas I contrived to find before the journey home.
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Is she interested in sleeping with you in bed? All my basenjis have slept with us. Some by our feet some in the middle. I'd also recommend putting a blanket on the crate to insulate it a bit.
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We occasionally let our B's sleep in the bed with us, but on those nights in a queen size bed we both wake up in the morning clinging to the edge of the mattress with a small section of the covers just over us while the dog is blissfully sleeping with all four paws stretched out; essentially taking up a 24 x 24 inch square right in the middle of the bed!
Or, he snuggles under the covers, and then gets too hot and comes out of the covers and sleeps on top for awhile and then paws at the covers and drags them off us while attempting to dive under when he's feeling cold again. Not the best sleeping partner!!
I agree that putting a heavy blanket over the crate is a good idea. We usually put a towel the crate and then the blanket so if there is any inclination to chew, the towel gets it but not the blanket.
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@B5004EVER , sounds familiar! Yes, they do like to make themselves comfy at your expense. One of mine liked to sleep horizontal across the bed, leaving my husband and me to cling to the edges, as you describe. Another caused us to almost die.....laughing. The covers were pushed up, and when we moved them we discovered her sleeping on her back, legs in the air, little butt right next to our heads! Hysterical! But most of the time our Basenjis were trouble free sleeping companions, although on occasion they did snore....
