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Aggression and initiating fights. How to deal with it?

Basenji Training

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CanisBasenjius
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My advice is to leave the park the moment you see a dog you believe may trigger him. And make sure you see it first!

To change your dog's reaction, you need to begin a desensitization and counter-conditioning program. Which means that you cannot expose him to his "scary thing" to the intensity such that he begins to growl. Once he's tipped into an emotional behavior, you've missed the boat on your opportunity to change his internal reaction.

If he's growling at say, 20 feet, you can probably start to notice other warning signals before hand, such as a freeze or hard eye. Even that's too late. You have to get to him before he starts to tip - while he's still comfortable. Which means working in a controlled environment. That is with dogs on leashes.

A good trainer can create a training program for you and work with you on this, but repeatedly exposing him to large, dark dogs and waiting until he's already growling to get outta dodge is reinforcing his fear. And the recent scuffle really reinforced it. I'd say you really need to up your situational awareness or start skipping the dog park. Every time he has an unpleasant experience with a large, dark dog just tells him he was right to be uncomfortable, even if the other dog does nothing but appear.
-Andrea Stone

Saorsa Basenjis

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. –Wayne Gretzky
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@elbrant said in Operant Conditioning (explained):

@eeeefarm said in Operant Conditioning (explained):

some professional trainers suggest to their classes that they starve dogs that aren't all that food motivated

This is just disturbing... in today's society, this type of behavior would be considered animal cruelty. Certainly we can find a way to encourage compliance without depriving an animal basic care.

I know, it shocked me too when I heard it. The first instance was a friend of mine whose Border Collie was disinterested in food rewards, and she was advised by the instructor not to feed the dog anything on class days so there would be an incentive to accept treats. The second instance was my niece, and in this case a German Shepherd dog that again didn't want to take treats, and she was given the same advice by a different trainer, in fact in a different city, so it appears that it isn't unusual. Both these dogs work well for praise and in both cases the owners declined to starve the dogs....
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@zande - I have place pups at 9wks, but typically to prior Basenji owners, they know the "ropes"... also I do eyes at 9wks, so 10 works better for me in placing pups and yes...(LOL) mine are raised in the home, no kennel.... and the breeders that I know that use kennel runs, still have their pups in the house for house time and "education".....
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@sanjibasenji

Looks like you said that difference in your second post, so we are on the same page.
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• • • Little_T

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Chase is great... if he's chasing you. But if you're chasing him, this is very bad.

Playing chase, with him chasing you, will also help with engagement. Play chase with food.

Also, I would recommend hand-feeding for (at least) a month. You want to build value in you.

In addition, it has to be said, that some puppies are just lazy and like being bummy. You can encourage active behavior by making yourself valuable (so he wants to be around you) and by making activities valuable. At 6 months however, you might be out of luck. Still, it's your dog, so it's probably worth it to give it a dedicated try.

You also, might want to try using more valuable food rewards (like steak, cheese, etc. (whatever he loves and doesn't typically get much of)).

Best of luck.
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• • • NTASD

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@klangill
I asked in the Facebook San Diego (CA) Basenji Meetup group about trainers. A member recommended Crewsn K9 Academy. https://www.crewsnk9academy.com/

I posted early in this thread about checking with the local breed club, South Coast Basenji Fanciers, for advice.
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I have two basenjis - male and female, and a young mixed breed female. My basenjis lives on separate floors. The male was the first in the house. A year later I got the female so he would have a playmate and all was fine at first. But slowly the female started bullying him. I wish I had been more aware of it at first - I might have been able to intervene before it escalated to where it is now, but I can't let them in the same room. I'm convinced she would kill him if she could. He's terrified of her and not much of a fighter. She can be fierce. They both got along with the new dog at first, but then Rose started picking on her a bit. The luck here is that Gracie weighs 20 lbs more than Rose. She'll never start a fight, but can always stop it. As a result, Rose has learned not to pick on her, but she also won't play with her now that she's full grown because Grace has become too much for her with the size difference. The both played with Grace when she was small.

Because I have a multi-floor house I've been able to manage things with gates. I love them both so much that I didn't want to part with either of them. I will enjoy it, though, when the gates can come down.

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Aggression and initiating fights. How to deal with it?

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Fighting among my basejis