Dogs that were fine in crates with other dogs crated next to them are not always happy to be crated on their own. My current boy had been very good in his crate for three years, but with 4 or 5 other breathing bodies close to him. In new surroundings at our house, he found the crate intolerable and ripped up everything inside it, while working himself into a frenzy. Even with a nice meaty bone, we found it impossible to leave him for any length of time. (we did not crate him when we were home) We weren't long working on leaving him loose, and except for a very few incidents he has not abused our trust….....in fact, he is the best Basenji I have had in terms of not destroying things. Interestingly, he is fine if we go out for a few hours, giving him a roller ball with treats as we exit. He is less happy if we are outside where he can see us. He wants to be where we are, which is not always possible, e.g. if one is mowing the lawn, blowing snow, etc.
1st Thnaksgiving
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This was Indi's first thanksgiving it was awesome. You need to know usually he is a really good, but curious pup. He knows the boundaries of the house and usually can stay within them. Well this weekend, I think we hit a turning point.
As I took the turkey out of the refrigerator I could see the flash in his eyes as he turned from my sweet little pup to a crazed turkey monster. Needless to say he was on top of every surface he could be on to find it all day long. He usually does not like people food, but at one point in the day he jumped on top of the kitchen table and ATE THE BUTTER. The whole thing.
But we made it, the turkey was kept safe until dinner, and our little guy got to pig out on the innards. After he got his turkey giblets he passed out. The up shot, it was the cutest thing I had ever seen. The down shot, he has now figured out he can get up ontop of the table and eat stuff before we will notice. Sighs, our little boy is growing up.
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Awesome story!
Shango enjoyed the gibblets too
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:d :d :d :d
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Yes, he is a real basenji now! I once had one eat a whole stick of butter, he was a bit 'loose' the next day.
Sounds like he had a great first Thanksgiving! -
When we give thanks each year, Jim and I remember to be thankful that Tyler no longer steals a turkey leg from the platter and then runs wildly amongst the guests, throughout my mothers house, trying to protect his "treasure":) Truth be known, we're also thankful mom never found out about the robbery as we grabbed the slightly punctured leg, rinsed it, and replaced it on the platter with instructions for my daughter to "call dibs for the leg" before mom found out:)
A year after that, we realized that Thanksgiving with those that expect well behaved dogs, but understand Basenji's, was a necessity. Since then, only one major disaster. A house guest, trying to be helpful, put the turkey platter too close to the edge of the kitchen counter. Ty got a paw on the platter and splatted the whole thing to the floor. The left-over turkey and platter went directly into the garbage.
This year, just a minor problem…..Jim put the butter too close to the edge.....Katie had to shave the edges off the butter--I swear to God, she has Anteater in her genes. We never saw her, she just licked from UNDER the table to the top (Do your kids do this?? Upside down head to hide under a table, with the tongue trying to lap at everything up top??)
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Oh man that must have been hilarious (in that really not funny sort of way of course). My husband and I are laughing wildly at this point but we are both dreading the day that it happens to us!!!
