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Whole Dog Journal

Basenji Training
  • This is a great magazine for dog owners, they always have great tips… here is one from this latest issue.....

    Destructive Chewing: Simple Ways to Prevent and Cure Destructive Chewing
    Puppies are notorious for their ability to chew on anything and everything. If you're at all dog-savvy you know when you get a new puppy that despite your best efforts to manage and supervise, you're likely to lose at least one valuable personal possession to the razor-sharp implements known fondly as puppy teeth.

    Puppies chew to explore their world as well as to relieve the pain and irritation of teething. What many dog owners don't seem to realize is that while puppies sooner or later get beyond the stage where they feel compelled to put their teeth on everything they see, mature dogs also need to chew to exercise their jaws, massage their gums, clean their teeth, and to relieve stress and boredom. It comes as an unpleasant surprise to many owners that chewing doesn't end at the age of six months when all of the dog's adult teeth are grown in.

    Puppies develop substrate preferences for elimination in the early months of their lives, and they similarly develop chew-object preferences. Hence the inadvisability of giving your old shoes or socks as chew toys.

    If you give your baby dog the run of the house and he learns to chew on Oriental carpets, sofa cushions, and coffee table legs, you will likely end up with a dog who chooses to exercise his jaws and teeth on inappropriate objects for years to come. You'll find yourself crating him frequently even as an adult dog, or worse, exiling him to a lonely life in the backyard, where he can chew only on lawn furniture, loose fence boards, and the edges of your deck and hot tub.

    Instead, focus your dog's fangs on approved chew toys at an early age and manage him well to prevent access to your stuff. In this way, he'll earn house privileges much sooner in life. By the end of his first year, you'll probably be able to leave him alone safely while you go out to dinner or shopping - or even while you're away at work.

    For more details and advice on ways to prevent and cure destructive chewing habits, purchase Whole Dog Journal's ebook, Simple Ways to Prevent and Cure Destructive Chewing.

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    Thanks everyone for your comments. I feel assured what the breeder said was sound-That the dog can do both lure and show providing they want to. So since I really want to lure how soon should I start with the pup?
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    Google Gazehounds in TX. They do straight and oval racing in the Mckinney, TX area. We come down occasionally for their NOTRA meets. They are having an oval race this weekend if you would like to atttend and watch I can send you directions. We will not be there this time as I'm having surgery Monday and need to take a couple weeks off. Where in TX is Pearland? We do lure coursing in Hutto, Waller and Cat Springs, but the season is at and end now. Will pick up again at the end of Sept which would be a good time for your girl to try some practice runs. There are lots of nice non basenji people in the clubs who will help you train her. Get a good recall on her now, puppy training classes would help for that.
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    myranM
    I agree i´ve used those methods on all my dog´s(long before Cesar came along) not only the basenji and never has a dog questioned my leadership.But I always praise and i´ve never used force never had the need for it so there i´m different.These methods are common methods with working dog´s I used to have a Boxer and i´ve just adjusted certain parts of it to fit the Basenji ;) Many of the dog´s in that show are just left to "run wild" no training or excercise and instead lot´s of silly things with people who humanize their dog´s.And they looked surprised if they need to take walks jeez I take mine out 4-5 times a day and two of the walks are 6 miles and he he plays with other dog´s every single day to keep him socialized as he´s growing into adulthood.I also show train him every day not more then 10-15 minutes just to keep it fresh in his mind. What people tend to forget obedience training is something that you have to keep doing continuously as their memory is not like ours so you have to keep it fresh in the mind. I probably stated the obvious but I do agree with Jazzys mum:)