Biting problem

[tuckersmom]

Our Tucker is 11 weeks old and is relentless about biting. i know some is normal for puppies but he's constantly chewing on us and biting at the neck of our English bulldog. We can't seem to distract him or calm him or teach him not to. All the training sites say to stop play or yelp, he seems oblivious to that…just keeps trying to get at you or your feet etc. with a frenzy. we've tried wearing him out, which helps, but only lasts a short time.

any ideas?? especially with our bulldog.......we'd like to let them play, but the bulldog is losing his patience.

thank you

[RedVelvetLynx]

Hi -

I am a novice basenji owner, but I had the same problem with my female when she was around 6 months or so - she still jumps and nips at me when she's excited. I'm not sure if the problem just went away on it's own or what we did worked. My husband & I would either ignore her when she bit or we would pick her up, wrap our hand around her muzzle to keep it closed & put her in her crate & say NO!! - like a time out, sometimes my husband would even bite her to let her know what was up, although I'm not quite sure if she ever got anything from that. We have also tried to pin her her down on her side with the "lay" command & not let her up until she had settled, but she is way too dominant for that to even phase her. We never hit her or batted her muzzle. And as for the bulldog - maybe try squirt bottles filled with water? When my 2 kidz get too rough, I squirt the play apart & they usually get it. I love squirt bottles! A trainer once advised that in order to stop this, no licking, mouthing or any mouth to skin contact could be allowed - impossible to not have basenji kisses! Good luck - I know how much of a pain this is!

[JazzysMom]

Good luck with that. Keoki is 2 yrs old, Jazzy is 4. He is RELENTLESS in biting and pulling on her neck. He literally drags her across the room, and doesn't stop even when she yelps.

I've tried the squirt bottle, but it only works for that second that the squirt hits and then he grabs her again. Tried the clicker, but that only works for a second also before he's back on her.
So far, all that works for me at all is to physically stop him, make him sit/stay {which he is getting remarkably good at!} for several long minutes. Usually, once released he starts after her again, but then if I say "Keoki, STOP" or "Be nice" he will look at me sadly and then leave her…...usually. Sometimes he ignores me and goes after her anyway and then has to sit/stay again.

It's a constant...CONSTANT... battle that takes place many, many, many times every day.

[sharronhurlbut]

Put some bitter apple spray on the bulldogs neck.
Often its so distasteful, the b will quit after one taste.
Some folks say this doesn't work for their b's, but it has worked for me.
You can find it in Petsmart or Pet Co.

[RedVelvetLynx]

@JazzysMom:

Good luck with that. Keoki is 2 yrs old, Jazzy is 4. He is RELENTLESS in biting and pulling on her neck. He literally drags her across the room, and doesn't stop even when she yelps.

I've tried the squirt bottle, but it only works for that second that the squirt hits and then he grabs her again. Tried the clicker, but that only works for a second also before he's back on her.
So far, all that works for me at all is to physically stop him, make him sit/stay {which he is getting remarkably good at!} for several long minutes. Usually, once released he starts after her again, but then if I say "Keoki, STOP" or "Be nice" he will look at me sadly and then leave her…...usually. Sometimes he ignores me and goes after her anyway and then has to sit/stay again.

It's a constant...CONSTANT... battle that takes place many, many, many times every day.

Haha! Sounds like my 2! Our female drags the baby around by his neck as well! She understands "be nice" too - but like you say, it all resumes eventually!!

[JazzysMom]

@sharronhurlbut:

Put some bitter apple spray on the bulldogs neck.
Often its so distasteful, the b will quit after one taste.
Some folks say this doesn't work for their b's, but it has worked for me.
You can find it in Petsmart or Pet Co.

haha yeah. I think mine think it's a treat.

I actually considered buying a spiked collar for Jazz….... :rolleyes:

[ComicDom1]

@sharronhurlbut:

Put some bitter apple spray on the bulldogs neck.
Often its so distasteful, the b will quit after one taste.
Some folks say this doesn't work for their b's, but it has worked for me.
You can find it in Petsmart or Pet Co.

You can use what Sharron suggested or use Tea Tree Oil. I can tell you from my experience the Basenji is just trying to play and get attention. When ours attempted to do this constantly I put my hand in his mouth and either put my thumb inside the bottom Jaw or finger up in the top jaw and held it there for a min and said no biting. This seems to work for us.

Jason

[Danny]

Your basenji is 11 weeks old, asking him not to byte is like asking a baby to change his diaper. Be patient with bite inibition, it works. Make sure to get him a lot of toys he can chew on, and again be patient.

My Rocky is almost 5 months now and he's improved a whole lot since we got him. He barely does it anymore and if he does it's usually because it's time for his walk or he wants food.

How did you get an 11wk basenji? I got mine when he was 13 wks and I still thought he was to young.

[renaultf1]

@Danny:

How did you get an 11wk basenji? I got mine when he was 13 wks and I still thought he was to young.

Just curious why you think 11 wks is too young. Most responsible breeders let pups go home at 10 wks. I believe I read on here that 11-12 wks is ideal. I think the problems are when pups are allowed to go home at 8-9 wks as they miss key time/lessons with siblings. Anyway, my pup Aaliyah came home at 11 wks and could have come home a week sooner had I opted for that. And she came from a knowledgeable and responsible breeder that fully health tests before and after breeding.

[Vicki]

@sharronhurlbut:

Put some bitter apple spray on the bulldogs neck.
Often its so distasteful, the b will quit after one taste.
Some folks say this doesn't work for their b's, but it has worked for me.
You can find it in Petsmart or Pet Co.

True, they don't like the taste, but my Bs roll in it!! :rolleyes:

[snorky998]

tuckersmom, my 1st basenji was brought into my home with a resident 5 year old Bulldog that was not only laid back and fully socialized, but a good role model for the B.(He was also born deaf and hand sign trained) The pup (Tyler) chewed the crap out of our Snorky's neck. We tried everything, squirt bottles, redirect, time outs in a crate, etc., etc., etc. It wasn't until Snork stood up for himself that Ty took him serious. He NEVER hurt Ty, but he certainly put him in his place, claimed alpha male, and ruled the roost until the day he passed. They were the best of friends for years.

[JazzysMom]

@ComicDom1:

You can use what Sharron suggested or use Tea Tree Oil. I can tell you from my experience the Basenji is just trying to play and get attention. When ours attempted to do this constantly I put my hand in his mouth and either put my thumb inside the bottom Jaw or finger up in the top jaw and held it there for a min and said no biting. This seems to work for us.]

I think that's great when the pup is biting humans. It's a little trickier and a LOT more difficult when it's going after another dog. At least, in our experience.

[ComicDom1]

@JazzysMom:

@ComicDom1:

You can use what Sharron suggested or use Tea Tree Oil. I can tell you from my experience the Basenji is just trying to play and get attention. When ours attempted to do this constantly I put my hand in his mouth and either put my thumb inside the bottom Jaw or finger up in the top jaw and held it there for a min and said no biting. This seems to work for us.]

I think that's great when the pup is biting humans. It's a little trickier and a LOT more difficult when it's going after another dog. At least, in our experience.

Oh boy,
There were two suggestions given from me in what you have quoted here. The first included Sharron's suggestion with the additional suggestion of using Tea Tree Oil.

The Tea tree Oil is a suggestion Tanza gave me after I had my Basenji neutered to keep him from licking and biting at the stitches. If the Basenji does not like the smell of Tea Tree Oil on the Stitches and leaves them alone it stands to reason that the Basenji would not like the smell of Tea Tree Oil on another dogs neck or collar and leave them alone too. We have used Tea Tree Oil on other items we did not want our Basenji to touch and it works great.

The second suggestion was what Miranda and I used when our Basenji was biting at our hands trying to play or get attention. We still use this when and if necessary but it is rarely called for now. This works very well for us and is similar to the situation described in the original post.

Both suggestions do address both issues.

As many know we have a Boston Terrier that lives with our Basenji. Typically our Basenji will bite at her neck to get her to play just like with the Bulldog mentioned in this thread, so we are familiar with the behavior and the problem.

Jason

[agilebasenji]

FYI - tea tree oil is great, however it is toxic to cat, so if you have cats, you may want to rethink (or at least not put it on the cat)

[tuckersmom]

thats what i've heard as well…10 weeks is acceptable.

[tuckersmom]

@agilebasenji:

FYI - tea tree oil is great, however it is toxic to cat, so if you have cats, you may want to rethink (or at least not put it on the cat)

Good to know about the cats…thank you we do have 2.