Not the the size of the dog, its the size of the fight in the dog

[sharronhurlbut]

There are so many ways to get a basenji to play.
I think your wise not to have the dog think its "cute" to put his mouth on you and nip.
Where did you get your basenji from?? How old is the dog?

[tanza]

@Pilotbasenji:

yeah i understand, i told my self im not going to do it again.
its fun playing with him but your right i shouldnt encourage it.
but i havent heard of many basenji attacks on the other hand but i still wont do it

You can still run and play with him, you just need to encourage different behavior other then jumping up and biting you (or biting your legs..)….

[Pilotbasenji]

i wasnt trying to get him to jump i was like running from him to see if he could catch me and he jumped up and bit me

[Pilotbasenji]

he is not notorious for biting people, but he tries to be alpha with the bigger rottweiler, the rottweiler doesnt do anything but lets him know hes boss by growling but never biting, sometimes play biting though, no serious biting, i dont think pilot was actually trying to bite me i think he was playing but still it hurt.

[sharronhurlbut]

Has this dog had any basic obedience training? That is the first step in helping him become the dog you want him to be.
Find a gentle training class and take him.
You both will learn so very much.

[Pilotbasenji]

yeah hes been through training and obedience never pees or poops in the house unless locked in for a LONG period of time, has a getting into trash problem but hes a young pup, my rottweiler got into trash too when he was little. we train him weekly and i think i need to step it up a big notch.
he also has a jealousy problem when the rottweiler comes to play, pilot will get mad and to do the same, or when pilot is sitting with me on the couch the rottweiler passes by and pilot acts alert and gives him a small nip

[tanza]

@Pilotbasenji:

yeah hes been through training and obedience never pees or poops in the house unless locked in for a LONG period of time, has a getting into trash problem but hes a young pup, my rottweiler got into trash too when he was little. we train him weekly and i think i need to step it up a big notch.
he also has a jealousy problem when the rottweiler comes to play, pilot will get mad and to do the same, or when pilot is sitting with me on the couch the rottweiler passes by and pilot acts alert and gives him a small nip

Which indicates resourse guarding… and that would be you he is guarding... and another behavior that should not be permitted.... otherwise you may find that the old he gets the worst it will become... When he does that to your Rott he should be made to leave the couch or you should get up and leave so that he associates the behavior with your leaving and he is sitting next to no one...

[Pilotbasenji]

what i do is pet them at the same time and try to be affectionate towards them at the same time and that seems to work, i do actually make him leave the couch sometimes but usually i do what i mentioned above

[torchsong]

She-Ra growls at the cat at night because he's the only one that won't stay still on the bed (always looking for a better position). We discourage it and it's gotten a lot better.

The best method I saw for handling biting (when they're pups) was to immediately put the back of your hand in front of their muzzle and get them to kiss (lick) it. We did this with our dog and occasionally she'll start in with a playful bite, realize what she's doing, and immediately lick instead. I'd put this down under "What works for me may not work for you" though.

[Vegas]

Pilot, I have news for you. You don't have a mini-rot. Basenjis are not trainable like other dogs. It's not that you can't teach them things, it's just that they learn in different ways, have different motivations, and yes, even do have limitations. I'd be willing to bet you $50 that your basenji gets in the trash at least once a month for the rest of his life, if you don't put it up.

He will never sit, and stay with prey in the vicinity. He will never allow himself to be recalled while he's hunting. Prey drive pretty much trumps everything.

Food in the trashcan to him is probably worth the butt kickin'!

My first one, we tried to train with mousetraps in the garbage. <yelp>He never learned.

Vegas</yelp>

[Pilotbasenji]

i understand he is not a rott but we are training him more different than what we did with the rott, im trying to make this puppy a well trained one like my rott so please, give me any advice you have to offer

[lvoss]

@Pilotbasenji:

i understand he is not a rott but we are training him more different than what we did with the rott, im trying to make this puppy a well trained one like my rott so please, give me any advice you have to offer

You can have a well trained basenji but I think what people want you to understand is that a well trained basenji is not going to be exactly the same thing as a well trained Rott. This does not mean that they can not learn obedience and that they can not be well mannered but it is not the same as a Rott.

I have a friend with Rott, she is a great dog and very well behaved. I have 4 basenjis who I also think are great dogs and well behaved but their behaviors are different than hers. As an example, if my friend is out with her Rott and puts her in a down she will hold it until released. My basenjis would prefer to stand or sit when in a strange enviroment and though they will down they are more likely to break and revert to a stand or sit. Yes, I could probably train them to hold the down but it is going to take a lot more work than it did for the Rott.

The trash can thing and other behaviors like sock stealing, TPing the house, pen stealing are another thing. Though you can train your basenji to for the most part leave these things alone, they will on occasion still decide to have some fun with them. Basenjis love attention and they love mischief and these sorts of behaviors get them attention. They are also stress relievers for them. Check out the thread titled What the Heck Is Going On in the Behavior section. I have a girl who will grab the end of the toilet paper and race around the house yodeling when she is in a really good, playful mood. It is not an everyday thing but every so often she gets a wild hair and just clowns around. My boy's thing is shredding things. I try to leave junk mail for him to steal and shred since it is a stress reliever for him and I want him to have an outlet.

Owning a basenji requires a good sense of humor and a large dose of patience and a willingness to do some creative thinking to convince the basenjis what you want is really the same thing as what they want.

[tanza]

Lisa,
That is funny about you leaving "junk mail" for Nicky… ggg... we do the same with OJ and paper bags... we leave them just at the edge of the counter so that he can steal them and shred!!!! And what is really funny, he knows that is what we are doing... and he appreciates it.... we even chase him around to try and get it back from him.... but he will still "leave it" when asked....

[renaultf1]

What great ideas come from this site!!! Never thought about the junk mail, but I am leaving it for Ruby from now on. Maybe she'll leave the newspaper alone at night…

Fantastic idea...now I won't need to use electricity to shred the mail...another way I can further "green" the house :D!

[Barklessdog]

Owning a basenji requires a good sense of humor and a large dose of patience and a willingness to do some creative thinking to convince the basenjis what you want is really the same thing as what they want.

So true, never a dull moment with these dogs