Need right advice on …

[funnybunny]

Milosh -my 1.5 yr old B, has sometimes slipped through my legs as i leave out the door for work - and runs down the stairs complex out onto the street!!!!(mind you its a quiet street!) but this behavior is no exception and thinks its a chase game!- i try to keep my kewl andslowly 'follow' him but call him..and try to corner him by a gated area- BUT!…how am i supposed to train him so he knows this behavior to run out the door w/o a leash its wrong!!!
-- its happened x2 already. he feels once he gets away from me its a free for all not knowing the difference on street and sidewalk. and worse! traffic!!!

Please help!!!!--

[bcraig]

My suggestion would be to work on some "door training." As a puppy Ella was very excited around the front door and a constant escape threat. Train "sit" and other commands right in front of the closed front door every day. Of course, he should sit while leashed in front of the closed door before it is opened when you go out for a walk. This is a great habit. Hopefully, he is a food motivated. We started this way and eventually graduated to keeping her in a sit while the door was just barely left ajar. After a few months she would sit in front of the open door while leashed and we could drop the leash. After many months she is relatively trustworthy at the door. We keep a close eye when the door is open, but she is not a constant escape threat every time it opens.

Plenty of people will tell you that Bs escape instinct at the door is natural and it is. But I think with a lot of patience you can control it most of the time. Almost nothing is quick and easy with a Basenji, but I think we appreciate them more because of it.

[funnybunny]

yeah he knows the basics of sit & down-stay(30sec tops!)…i will try by the door and see what develops.

I also wanted to know if there was anything i should had done once i managed to get a hold of him-(i didnt yell at him or hit him just couse i know at the time he probably though we were at the park unleased running- so iam not sure if yelling or hitting him was the proper thing todo, but i hope he knew what he did was wrong and out of character couse when i walk him around the neighborhood he is leashed.

is there anything i could of reacted to when i cought him?...voice tone?...look?...etc? to let him know i wasnt happy with what he had just done?

[Patty M]

I think the door training is a great habit.
I've taught my Lola to respond to "Treats!". When we are on a walk, I'll use the longer retractable leash so that she can get farther away from me, and when she's not tugging, I'll get her attention with "treats", and she'll come to me. When I feed her the treat, I'll have her sit first, and then as she's eating the treat, I will lightly grab her collar, so that she's used to the action of me reaching for her…. all with high praises. This has come in handy when she's escaped out of our back door... and rather than dog biscuits, I use lunch meat.... (something she can smell and think it's worth sitting for).

The worst thing you can do, in my opinion, is to try to command in an angry voice to get him back.... it doesn't seem to work with basenjis. He's not running away FROM you, he's running on an adventure, so to be stern and to yell will get your blood pressure up and he won't care. When you get him back, hugs and happy voices, and more treats.

I've heard of people crying and pretending to be hurt to get their basenjis to come back, but that hasn't worked for me.:)

[thunderbird8588]

Hi funnybunny, good advice there from bcraig. We have trained Malaika 11 months to sit and wait at the door and gate whilst we go through first, we then tell her to come and again make her sit and wait whilst we shut the gate etc. We reward her with treats. All this work is done on the lead and i wouldn't trust her off lead if there was a chance she could escape. We are lucky that Malaika isn't the type of Basenji to bolt for an open door.
My first Basenji did and he escaped through my legs several times untill eventualy he got run over (fortunately he survived )
Even with lots of training i would never trust a Basenji unleashed by an open door if there was chance they could get onto a road.
As for how to behave when you catch him, it is important not to shout (even though you probabably feel like it ) as next time he will remember and be even more difficult to catch.
In his mind he's not being bad, just a Basenji off on an adventure as Patty M says.

[DebraDownSouth]

I trained my dogs to not go within 10 feet of the door unless on a leash. Not an option. One dog I had to take back to sit 10 feet TWENTY THREE TIMES before she GOT IT, lol. Anything but the door, she would stay til the end of time, but that door, lol.

Work on stay, then work on stay back away from the door without opening it, toss treat. Then work on cracking the door, toss treat. Work up to opening door, standing slightly outside it and release as toss treat right before closing it.

And, frankly, know where your dog is before you open the door. If you have to put up connected gates around the door for now, do it. A loose dog is often a dead dog.

And while I don't advocate punitive measures I know a gal with a Siberian Husky who ran once and got hit by car. Something like $5000 vet bill later, the dog tried to bolt again. She had a friend stand outside the door with a rubber trashcan lid and wack the dog as it started out. She said never tried it again. I'd go with a super soaker instead, but the issue of safety is the one area I wouldn't fault some punitive responses. (okay and not so mild punitive when it comes to snakes… use of shock collars there may be more than justified)

[listeme]

Really Reliable Recall is a good place to start. You can google it.

Our recall word for Simon is NOW, and let me tell you, he LOVES the word NOW. It means pizza or huge piece of cheese or drippy hamburger. What you want is for your dog to think coming back is the best idea on the planet.

[tanza]

Rather then to "temp" fate…. I have gates... and all gates are closed and the Basenjis are "located" before anyone opens the front door. You can teach "wait" till you are blue in the face... however if on the otherside of the door is a cat, squirrel, bird.. leaves blowing you are just asking for trouble. Not saying that you should not teach the wait command and work on recall, but these are hounds and they do think for themselves. Better to be overly careful then sorry later on.....

As already noted, biggest thing is know where your Basenji is before you open the door. And it can easily become a game to see if they can get out first.

[Patty]

I agree, no matter how well a Basenji is trained there is always the chance that something untoward happens and they decide to chase. I am fortunate in that I am not directly on to a road and I have a double gate system out of the house area. My Basenjis all know to 'wait' on command and also to 'get in' when we are walking on the road but I am fully aware that it is against their instincts not to chase a running (or flying) object and so I'm always on the alert.

As for what to do when you catch him to show that he's done wrong - I've no answer. He should always feel that you are his loving person when he comes to you (or is caught by you).

[MacPack]

Agree with the sit/stay away from the door. We used to toss treats back into the house as we opened the door. Once they know the "escape game" you really have to work to make staying more fun than escaping. And no matter what, once you catch him, love on him. Never let him coming to you, or you coming to him, be a negative thing.
We have a fenced area around our front door, not terribly attractive, but safe. YOu might put an x-pen arrangement that you have to step over to get in and out, around the door, once he sees that he can't bolt, the sit/stay and treat toss will be more interesting.
Good luck! Where in Fla are you located? We are in the Tampa area and have a very nice basenji meet up every week.