Sharron, I think the most important thing you mentioned was the walks. For our dog that is the bonding time. Roo really likes it when I am able to get everyone in the house to go for a walk with him and that includes our other dog. Most likely he sees that as fitting into pack behavior. Having said that, when he was very young, I always made him sit and then gave him a treat at the end of the walk. After the walk I took him off his regular lead and put him on a flex type leash or 20 foot lead and let him run between Miranda and myself as we taught him to come and sit. We always make hims sit in front of us for his treats. Then the other person calls him. After about 10 to 15 mins of this on a daily basis we allow him to just run in a circle for about another 10 or 15. We have found after a 3 mile walk this mellowed him out. As you know I did another 3 mile walk in the after noon. Before winter I was able to push it to 4 miles in the morning and 4 miles in the after noon. Not only did Roo really develop his muscularity very well, but another great side effect was I lost weight and became healthier myself.
Unfortunately we are in the cold part of the season and we do have some snow days. We have walked in 26 degree weather with the wind blowing and Roo seems to handle it fine and so does my Boston. On those days we still get in at least 3 miles in less than an hour. We get out when we can but are unable to do this on a daily basis because of the time of the year. We have found that our Basenji loves to run in the snow.
As long as we give him some play time and cuddle time he seems to have adjusted to the reduction in exercise. He is now a little over 10 months old and we have his neuter scheduled for Feb 5th on his birthday. It will be interesting to see if the neuter slows him down or changes his behavior in any way.
I really think the exercise and attention that I was able to give Roo all summer has really helped in forming his personality. He has not been destructive at all. Of course we keep enough toys around to keep him busy and that helps.
We have spent quite some time teaching Roo not to bite but I think its normal behavior for a Basenji to attempt to paw or mouth you when they want attention or something else. I have noticed that our Basenji has never really tried to bite us but if you are unprepared for them to mouth you and jerk your hand away you can unintentionally get hurt or get the impression that they are biting even when they are not.
Anyway, I think the daily walk will probably have the most impact on both the dog and the owner.
Jason