Hello everyone I am a new basenji owner. Just got my wonderful bella. She is wonderful in every way except one. She sometimes gets a pretty bad attitude. I rescued her from a neglectful owner and she is about a year and a half. I'm trying to integegrate her to the family. We have a weiner dog and a tea cup chiwawasp They both belong to my roommate. She gets along with them ok but every once in a while she'll growl and get very aggressive.
For example today she stole the bone while they were playing with it. I went to get it back and she raised her fur and growled at me. I told her no very firmly but not agressively. And as soon as I got close she nipped my hand. Not a big deal cuz it was me but if she does it to my room mate I'm afraid I may have to rehome her. Any advice for helping her out of these habits would be immensley appreciated. I love my bella and it'd break my heart to see her go
This sounds like a resource guarding behavior. She growled to let you know that she did not want you take away the resource she had, the bone, when you continued to try to take it away by reaching for it she escalated her message using the nip. Rather than try to take it away from her when she is clearly saying she is uncomfortable with that, try to trade her for it. Offer a piece of chicken or cheese, in exchange for the bone.
With resource guarders the best thing is to give them their chewies in their crate where they can enjoy them without being bothered and work hard with trading up so that they will surrender the thing they are guarding for a treat reward. A good book to read is by Jean Donaldson is called Mine, http://www.dogwise.com/itemdetails.cfm?ID=DTB740
I would also highly recommend working with a behaviorist or trainer who can observe the behavior.
Bella is most likely resource guarding. I would start by feeding her by hand and making her do something to get the food. With bones I would take them away altogether for a while until she starts to realize her place. She should not get on the furniture until you give her permission, or your bed. She should sit before she goes out to pee and before she comes in. Repeat that for a week or so to when she seems to respond positively, and then giver her a bone but again, she has to sit to get it.
Bella is most likely resource guarding. I would start by feeding her by hand and making her do something to get the food. With bones I would take them away altogether for a while until she starts to realize her place. She should not get on the furniture until you give her permission, or your bed. She should sit before she goes out to pee and before she comes in. Repeat that for a week or so to when she seems to respond positively, and then giver her a bone but again, she has to sit to get it.
Yeah I make her sit before I give her food or take her out for walks. I also have her sit as soon as we get back from walks and patiently wait for me to take the leash off. Thank you for all advice I definately am willing to try anything.
Since her previous owner was neglectful, it may take some time and a lot of patience working with her to learn to trust others. She needs to learn that you are now the one takeing care of her and that all good things come from you; lots of praise and treats for good behaviors, no punishments for bad ones (she probably got lots of that in the past). Trading her bone for treats (especially if really tasty) is a good suggestion - it has worked for me. If you have the time I would also suggest a basic obedience class; if not there are good books and websites for clicker training - which works well with basenjis.
Is this the same Bella as in this thread…
http://www.basenjiforums.com/showthread.php?t=7165
I am just curious as it sounds very familiar, so I am confused..
Is this the same Bella as in this thread…
http://www.basenjiforums.com/showthread.php?t=7165
I am just curious as it sounds very familiar, so I am confused..
Yes it is the same dog, but the link you posted is closed by the admin as stated at the end of that thread. Basically don't believe all things you read there
The original poster of this thread is the true owner of this dog and BRAT and him are working together to help get the animal in rescue.
Basenjimamma I was confused also but all ready knew admin closed the thread. I am happy to hear true owner and BRAT are together to make the right thing happen.
Rita Jean
Good, glad things are getting resolved..
hi, try apple spray it will help you very much!!.you have to take the alpha role back from her!. right now she is the alpha of the whole house hold!! not a good thang, get some apple spray and spray her if she goes to bit or growl at u. !!.
Please, do not alpha roll any dog. Its counterproductive.
"what are you talkin about!??? do you ever watch cecar the dog whisper? if i'm not the alpha then who is!????? sure not the dog!!!!!> i will not have a dog that will control my life style!!> there's different ways of being the alpha to different kinds of breeds!.but if your not alhpa then your out of your mind!. just like in a pack there always 1 alhpa in the pack. !!. please explaine this to me.
"what are you talkin about!??? do you ever watch cecar the dog whisper? if i'm not the alpha then who is!????? sure not the dog!!!!!> i will not have a dog that will control my life style!!> there's different ways of being the alpha to different kinds of breeds!.but if your not alhpa then your out of your mind!. just like in a pack there always 1 alhpa in the pack. !!. please explaine this to me.
It has been totally proven that doing an alpha roll is the worst thing that you can do. You are setting yourself up to fail and the dog too. Those of us that believe in possitive reinforcement training all believe this is not the way to train a dog. Alpha rolling is very, very old school. And without starting another flurry of like/dislike, many of us do not approve of the "dog whispers" methods. However we all agree that dogs should not and should not aloud to be an "alpha" in the human pack. But there are better ways to teach behaviors.
In Sharron's post there was nothing said about the human not being the "alpha" in the pack, just that the "alpha roll" is not a good method of training
I think the problem here comes from the misuse of the word roll, when the poster meant ROLE. As in "you must take the alpha role so that your dog will follow your lead."
Not as in "perform the alpha roll so your dog knows you are the boss, and can force him to submit."
So what is the right way to train???>please explaine more!!.
If there's a pack of dog any kind. Watch them and you will see that if the alhpa doesn't want a dog in the pack to do something then the alhpa will let that one dog know.
Actually, if you read references published on this website, http://positively.com/positive-reinforcement/the-science-behind-the-philosophy/, that modern science and trainers have found that dominance theory is not correct. David Mech the person who first published work on dominance theory has stated there were some pretty significant factors he didn't account for when he published his original theory and his new observations do not support Dominance Theory in wolves.
Several people on this list live with or have lived with multiple dogs, enough that most would consider it a "pack". I know in my observations the dynamics of the "pack" are fluid, changing with the situation and the resource of interest.
k, i have question for you then i take my b boy to the park to play with other dogs but if there's a doberman in there he goes nuts and wants to fight that breed, because he was attacked before by one but i have to correct him and then he will head hunt this dog till i get mad at him and tip his butt and tell him no it's not going to happen!!. then and only then will he stop head hunting the doberman.!!.
Punishment can work to deter a behavior but it can also increase aggression. Also punishing a dog for giving low level distance increasing signals will increase the likelihood that the dog will escalate to higher level signals and bites.
If your dog is not comfortable at the dog park when Dobermans are there then you shouldn't be there when there are Dobermans. Rolling him over is only reinforcing that the Doberman is a "bad thing" because every time he is around your dog gets rolled over.
when there is a doberman in the park i take my guy or the other guy goes to the other side of the park there they can get to know eachother throught the fence!!. but i just cant have them on the same side of the fence!!. and he's like that to the doberman is because he was attacted by one there!!. that don't come out there any more but he seems to thank all are mean and he goes on the defens with them now!.but now just this past fall he was getting to be friends with a doberman named toby and they played together for a 1/2 hour!!. the other doberman thats goes there is kinda standoffish trys to test other dogs there. and his owner don't know what to do to stop this behavior! just they chase eachother through the fence! and only throught the fence!.
