• Good Morning!
    My new owners got me from the dog pound. Could it be that I was just too much for my previous owners? I'm trying to be the dog the new guys want…but it's SO hard. I think I'm about 8 months old,so my Doctor says anyway. Will I ever outgrow my "puppyness"...quit the destructive behavior,(chewing up stuff, getting into the trash cans etc)...or do I need to better train my owners?
    Thanks for ya'lls help
    Noobie
    Nubian Princess


  • Weeeellllll….

    The trash cans are probably never going to be able to be resisted, since your genes for scavenging are pretty strong. You're like an olympic gold medalist at scavenging.

    If trash cans are your sport, I see chewing as more like your day job. Just make sure you keep it to things you're supposed to be chewing, like, you know, your TOYS.

    My guys are very much happier and healthier when they can spend a lot of their days gnawing on stuff. It's like they have a mission and purpose.

    (I know there are other things that they "work" on, but the gnawing job is one that they are really good at.) 😃


  • Welcome Noobie! I got my first basenji many years ago from the Humane Society for–-are you ready for this--three dollars. Her name was Pumpkin because she was the color of one. Her area of specialization was shoes. You just about had to suspend them from the ceiling to guarantee that you'd have at least one pair or at least two that looked alike. My current basenji Abbey is 2. She's not into garbage or the toilet paper, and has finally stopped trying to gnaw the toilet seat (yuk!!), but shoes are still to her a delicacy and she spares no effort to get one. Toys are fun of course but to a basenji gnawing is both sport and serious business. After a while you will learn what is okay to gnaw and what is not, but you'll still have that urge. Good luck!


  • Good morning!
    Thanks for the welcome. I sure like my rope the best!…but sometimes the hand tugging the other end is just too much to resist. It's been awhile since I forgot and bit the feeding hand, all the marks are nearly healed. I just wish they knew what happened before I came to live with them.
    noobie
    nubian princess


  • Welcome to the forum Noobie. I too got my basenji/whippet mix from a shelter. The best things though, she was approximately 1 1/2 years old at the time (no real puppy chewing problems, although she is destructive with her toys), and she was house broke! I knew nothing about basenjis at the time, but with the help of this forum I am now truly educated about the breed and still learning daily. I look forward to seeing pics of your basenji.

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