I once saw a basenji clicker trained to scratch at the proper grade sand paper that was glued to a board. The basenji even curled his paw so the pads were not injured. This kept the nails perfectly trimmed. Perhaps the scratching/digging behavior could be re-directed into the more productive behavior and nail clipping would never be an issue!
Is your basenji smarter than your baby gate?
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O.k so maybe instead of my crate wooes (we're probably more against it then my how bout if I put up one of these gates and keep him confined to a particular area when he is bad boy or even when we leave so if he poops it will be in an area we'll consider the doggie area. As you can tell I'm trying to exhaust all options before going for the crate.
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Really, I don't think either option is good for punishment or somewhere for him to go when he is a bad boy. I know some people do use a time out, but I'm not sure exactly how they do that. I crate my dogs when we cannot be there to supervise them, I don't use the crate as a correctional device. From your other posts, it sounds like your B isn't being bad, he is having seperation anxiety. I would approach the whole thing from that angle and try to resolve the seperation anxiety.
While you are working it out, I think a gate to keep him confined to a more easily cleaned area while you are away from home is a great idea since a crate is something you are not comfortable with. -
you may want to post this topic in the behavioral area to see what responses you will get over there….i am sure other people will have a lot of feedback for you!