Hi everyone,
my first post here: My family recently decided to add a basenji puppy to our family. We have now had her for about a week. And she appears to have adjusted well. And for a breed people say is not very obedient, i find that she is extremely well behaved and obedient.
At any rate, 2 days ago, she nipped and bit my 5y/o son. They were playing and it definitely was a scenario where she just got a little worked up i think. I quickly intervened, told her "no" stearnly, and told my son to not play with her for a few minutes and just ignore her (simply to show that play time ends if she bites)… i also give her a chew toy, which she promptly ignores.
And just for reference, they play together a lot and both are enjoying themselves when they play.
Yesterday morning, she wanted to play and would bite on his t-shirt trying to coax him to play. she caught his arm in the process as well. I intervened and separated them. no play time.
yesterday afternoon, while they were playing, she bit again...
Strange thing is that this only happens with my 5 y/o and not my 8y/o daughter.
Now... she's never bitten hard enough to cause any real injuries, but it does have me a little worried. My son ends up crying, but never holds it against her.
It appears to me that she'll want to play with him and resorts to nipping at him to get his attention at times. At other times, she's just playing and i think she just gets too rough.
is this something i should be concerned about?... am i correcting the behavior correctly? is this a phase that will pass? or a behavior that will likely worsen? I just want to correct this as quickly as possible and move on...
i'm fairly sure this is just a "learning how to play" situation... but is there more that i can do to help teach these important lessons?
just as a point of reference, she stayed with her littermates til 10 weeks....
thanks for any advice and input...