There are more and more Basenji's entering obedience. The thing you have to remember, I find, is that Basenji's think, "What is in it for me?" Shadow is entered in Rally obedience and sometimes he will listen and sometimes he won't. Persistence is the key. I have said that he will get his title in spite of himself. If you want to have some fun, learn new things, and generally have a good time, join obedience and ignore the naysayers. Even if you learn basic commands it is worth it.
Well put Arlene!!
Hi! She's precious!
I always take the dogs to obedience as pups…I figure even if they don't do well they learn something and I always learn something new too.
I got my first B at a pet shop...we all start somewhere. He got me hooked on the breed...I loved that dog. Little did I know at the time that he was everything "bad" the breed had to offer. I think that's why I think of Chey and Apache as "calm"
Pat your right that b's can do well in agility/obedience, but it takes the right mind set of the owner.
I was posting for most owners who are not savy to the "quirks" of the b's we love.
They often think of them as german shepards, or labs, and are embarrassed when the dogs don't do well in many classes.
I want to do rally when I retire.
I figure it will give me all the stress that I usually have at work typed with a smile…
You're also right Sharon, when you own B's, you have to take what other people say with a grain of salt. I had one judge in rally obedience who told me that she could train a basenji to do obedience. I kind of looked at her and said (maybe I shouldn't have) How many B's have you handled. She replied one for the owner. I kind of smirked at her and said try out a few more. One doesn't give you an idea of the variety of attitudes-neither does handling a B one time!
I think more then a mind set it is to keep in mind having fun… first and always.. and understand this is not a lab, not a golden, but a dog that most likely surely would rather be doing something else... And I agree, B owners need to remember that B's are hounds and they were bred to do a job without a human instructing them... but even more, the instructor needs to be the right person..
Well I went today Sunday and spoke to the trainer at Petco about training. She seems quite good and had a lot of suggestions but when I asked her if she had ever trained a B she said no. I am however going to sign up for the class which starts in February. Just this morning my little princess ran my legs off with bringing everything out into the living room that she is not supposed to have ( everything from throw rugs to shampoo bottles - she has figured out how to stick her nose between our shower doors and open and them). Do you think it is a good idea to sign up with a trainer that has never worked with B's or should I go somewhere else. She told me she was going home and getting on line today to read up on the breed.!!
IMO I say give it a try, especially since the trainer is taking active interest to learn about the breed even though she has never worked with one. I would also suggest going and watching one of her classes (if possible leave the B at home as she can distract you).
Just remember with your girl being older it'll take a little more for her to want to change habits and learn new things. Not that she can't but she is set in her ways and retraining is always harder than initial training.
Each dog is different so you have to learn what works for you and your dog. When I was a trainer I had a lady with a beagle that wouldn't eat any treat but smoked salmon. Reggie my boxer it took me and my trainer (before I became one) 4 weeks to figure out the reason Reggie wouldn't lie down in class was because of the floor and it was to uncomfortable for him, so I had to take a rug with me to class. Still to this day at almost 6 he won't lay down on a hard floor unless he's drop dead tired or really hot and wants to cool off. I had a dobie that had absolutely NO food motivation and wouldn't touch any type of treats or food, she worked for one of those squeaky tennis balls.
In the end if you find yourself frustrated don't give up hope, take a deep breath and try and approach the situation from a different angle.
Oh and keep us updated on how class goes
thanks for the reply. as I said before I was going to take her when she was a puppy but I talked to some people that obviously did not know what they were talking about and they told me it would not be worth my money that she would just fail. I figure at this point better late than never!!
Any way you can contact your local basenji club to see where they recommend training?
Most show breeders have pretty good ideas on who is a good trainer, and who isn't.
Course, often, they do their own training..but still, it might be worth it to check to see what your show folks do.
thanks for the reply. as I said before I was going to take her when she was a puppy but I talked to some people that obviously did not know what they were talking about and they told me it would not be worth my money that she would just fail. I figure at this point better late than never!!
I think that is great and the fact that the person you talked to is interested in the breed is another plus. Did you ask her what her training methods are?… reward based? Positive reinforcement? If nothing else, it is a great way to bond with your Basenji or a dog of any breed... And if you go and don't like her, then you can look other places.... Good luck and have fun!
She told me they use positive reinforcement but Trixie responds better to treats. I can get her to sit on command and lay down with a treat. Reward based is treats correct? Pardon my ignorance but I have never taked an actual dog class. All of the dogs we have had up till now I have been able to train pretty well myself. Trixie is a different story!!! But I love her death.
Unfortunately I have not found a local basenji club. They might have one in Tampa or Orlando but that is about 30 to 40 minutes from us. I will look into it.
Just wanted to let everyone know that Trixie and I have been working on her sit, stay and lay down commands. We actually had a good session last night (even though it only lasted about 10 minutes) She went from a sit command to almost laying down (I have to laugh because her belly would never quite touch to floor) but I thought it was great. She did however get agitated with me at one point because I would not give her the small reward I had and both ears went back and she gave me that defiant B look did kind of a hop thing but ended up laying (almost) down for me. I know it does'nt sound like much but I was happy with the session.
Just wanted to let everyone know that Trixie and I have been working on her sit, stay and lay down commands. We actually had a good session last night (even though it only lasted about 10 minutes) She went from a sit command to almost laying down (I have to laugh because her belly would never quite touch to floor) but I thought it was great. She did however get agitated with me at one point because I would not give her the small reward I had and both ears went back and she gave me that defiant B look did kind of a hop thing but ended up laying (almost) down for me. I know it does'nt sound like much but I was happy with the session.
When I work with my dogs – which doesn't happen NEAR often enough -- I intentionally only do about ten minute sessions. Otherwise, I find they get bored and distracted and simply will not listen to a word I say.
I agree!! You could tell she was bored with the whole thing and that was when she got all defiant!!! How do they keep them from not getting distracted when they do the classes at say Petco? We are going in Feb. and I am a little concerned about it.
