@julia87 How much do you know about Basenjis? Have you met any? It's highly recommended to learn as much as possible about them before making a decision to acquire one. This would be a good place to start.
Atypical???
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Hello all, I am Paul from Flint Michigan. Newbie of sorts. I am considering a New Basenji form my family and I have some questions. I had a Besenji when I was growing up and she was the " Greatest Dog Ever." Unfortunately I have been reading that what I have experienced may be a bit Atypical. When she was two we introduced a new female cocker spaniel as a friend and they became inseperable(sp). She was never crated, very seldom was she on a leash and only ran away once that I can remember. She never chased cars and was very friendly with all who came to visit, she never chewed up much that I can remember except for my fathers suit coat that was hiding a package of Gum. She also from day one had free reign of the house.
My Family consists of a wife, four boys (5,12,15,16) and one lonley Westie(4). I would love to give Lilly (Westie) a friend to wrasle around with and "Mother" seeing as she just lost the last puppy of a horrible pregnancy.
Was my Basenji a Fluke?? or are there others like her out there???
I really am in love with the Breed and would like my boys to enjoy as well, but my wife could not handle the couch being destroyed.What do you alll think???
Paul
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Welcome to the Forum.
There are others out there, it is just dependent on the dog and the work you put into him/her. I found as I research the breed I read/saw all the horror stories first, it was only digging deeper I discover that that they are not the four legged tornado that most make them out to be.
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Did you have to crate yours at all times??? I do not want to have a dog that has to be locked up all of the time that I am not home. I have a hard time with locking up a pet, it just does not seem right crating a family member.
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My 2 b's are older and not crated. ages 5 and 7
I think the issues of chewing come in with puppies, altho some b's never outgrow chewing .
My 2 sleep when we are at work, but hubby walks them 2 miles before work, and I walk them when I get home.
Just having a yard won't do it re the energy needs of our dogs IMO.
I think it just depends on the dog and the committment of the owners to keep the dogs tired.
Check out the BRAT site. The folks there try very hard to give a complete picture of the dogs they are trying to rehome. -
I do not have to crate my basenjis but I did crate them as puppies so they did not develop the bad behaviors to begin with. Crate training, IMO, is important for all dogs because there are times during their life where it can be very important that they can calmly accept crating, such as after a surgery and for safe car travel. Crate training makes house breaking and helping your puppy develop good manners much easier since they do not have access to things you do not want them to chew or do when they are in their crate. Crates also become a place for your dog to go when it wants privacy. For mine, I have found once they are out of puppyhood, they do fine in loose in the house with some dog proofing, I have one that can and does open drawers and cabinets to take things out of them so I have child locks on most of those, trash cans are kept where they can't be reached, etc.
As others have said, much of how your basenji turns out depends on how much time you put into training the behaviors you want, it also will depend on how honest you are with the breeder about your expectations so they can make a good match for your family. It maybe you want to consider an older dog or puppy, breeders will sometimes have a older puppy or yearling that didn't turn out to be what they wanted.
I would also say it is much more likely that you will be able to find a basenji that grows up to be relatively non-destructive then it is that you will find a basenji that can be off leash in most situations. So you will need to think about what traits are really are important to you because you are not going to find a dog that is going to be exactly like your last basenji.
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When I acquired my second b he had a reputation for being very destructive and absolutely would not tolerate being crated. So I arranged a couple of days vacation and dog-sat the first day with him (one room only - others were closed off). The next day I left for a couple of hours. The next day I left for half the day etc. Then I started opening up the various rooms of my house. This took me about one week. Never ever had any trouble with him being destructive.
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since my boy was 2 we've left him out.. and the only thing he likes to get in is the trashcan, but we have a tall one you have to step on to open and he cant get in it. We keep all the doors closed to the bathroom and bedrooms when we aren't home and have a gate closing off the steps to go upstairs. Only time he's crated is when hes sleeping.. seems to work fine for us
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How old were your other pets when the Basenji was introduced. Were there any problems??
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I only crate when we are gone, which at most id about 4-5 hours, I have never crated any of my dogs at night, and even during housebreaking I have never had a dog that would mess at night, I've some how always woken up if they wake up and need to go
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Mine are all crate trained as babies… they eat and learn to sleep in crates (the crates are in the bedroom so it is not like they are in one part of the house and we are someplace else), however I am lucky that they do not need to be crated during the day, as we have a doggy room with a doggy door outside. Right now my "kids" living at home are all elders... so they all sleep in bed, but they still all eat in their crates.
