I found a really excellent method which fixed this quickly. I just give house guests (esp males) a few pieces of chicken and have them freely give it to the pups when they meet them. They LOVE house guests now.
Aggression ONLY when in trouble…URGENT
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His response is pretty typical for a dog that responds poorly to having been punished when caught in the act of doing something wrong. Amy, I understand that you haven't physically hit him…but if he was hit, or really intimdated at his first home for things like getting into the garbage, anything and everything that surrounded those events will be imprinted in his memory. So the act of you coming in and finding him in the middle of something he shouldn't be doing, may cause him to freak out because he anticipates being punished. If you yell, or show signs of anger that may make him remember punishment. So at this point, the only thing you can do is try to reverse that association. Try to change your POV so that he can do nothing "wrong"...set him up so there is no way he can get to a garbage, or get into any trouble. If he does (which he will) you chalk it up to your mistake. For the moment, I would try to never use another angry word with him...even if you are gritting your teeth, smiling at the little $h!^, you say 'what a naughty, naughty boy, come over here so we can do a training session'...and the minute he turns away from the trouble, without anger, he gets huge rewards. Yes, you will feel like you are bribing him (and you are, for the moment)...and yes, it will feel very un-natural for you...but as I said before you cannot "correct" him into behaving at this point...he does not have that type of temperament.
Check out the book "Click to Calm" by Emma Parsons
http://www.amazon.com/Click-Calm-Healing-Aggressive-Clicker/dp/1890948209
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Well said Andrea….
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sorry to hear about the problems you are having with Anubis.
My first Basenji was very difficult and would bite if pushed too far (in his mind, not mine )
Years ago i didn't know anything about the Basenji breed and thought they were normal Dogs
I soon discovered that raising my voice escalated a bad situation. The best advice i was given was to talk him down and this did work although it was quite frustrating untill i got used to it. Previously when i asked a Dog to stop doing something i expected immediate results. The same person told me that Basenjis over react and this advice has stuck with me.
The best advice i can give you is to try and make sure he doesn't get anything he shouldn't, as much as is possible. If it's not life threatening , try to keep calm and maybe offer something as a trade off. -
Pat rage syndrome happens out of the blue, not in response to a correction.
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Andrea, my name is Beth not Amy. And maybe he was hit or punished wrongly in his old home. So maybe its triggering those memories. I dont have their contact anymore so I cannot ask them anything. Your ideas about 'what a naughty, naughty boy, come over here so we can do a training session' sounds Ideal and I will try it for sure! And it will feel un natural lol. Most people associate bad behavior with punishing it…not distracting them from it and basically ignoring it lol.
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Shelley, thanks for responding. Yeah I got a baby gate now and put it up to block my kitchen doorway so he cannot get in the kitchen and possibly get into his favorite thing…the trash! Its a baby gate that has a door on it so I can open and close it to get in and out. But he cant get over it. And if he does try I can easily correct him by calling him over to me and distracting him with a toy. It keeps him barricaded in the living room only.
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@Anubis's:
Andrea, my name is Beth not Amy. And maybe he was hit or punished wrongly in his old home. So maybe its triggering those memories. I dont have their contact anymore so I cannot ask them anything. Your ideas about 'what a naughty, naughty boy, come over here so we can do a training session' sounds Ideal and I will try it for sure! And it will feel un natural lol. Most people associate bad behavior with punishing it…not distracting them from it and basically ignoring it lol.
Ooops, sorry Beth! For some reason Amy stuck in my head. My apologies! Yes, I completely agree..it sounds backwards. And if you were starting with a baby puppy, or a dog with a normally sound temperament, it probably wouldn't be the right advice. I started learning about canine aggression because I have a problem child too! And I had to change a lot of my previous thoughts about how pets should behave, and how to get the behavior I wanted.
It sounds like you are totally in love with Anubis, and want to do the very best for him, so please, invest in some books about changing canine aggression; be prepared to open your mind about how to bring out the best in your dog, and you will be sooo pleased with the results
I will try to get a list of books together for you. -
Oh, kitchen trash - try a trash compactor. Wonderful invention that and it's BASENJI PROOF!!!
also check out the links i gave in my first post, especially the trading up link.
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Our dog does a similar thing and if its something really good, like food he should not have, he will not back down or take substitutions. He does not care what voice or posture we use, he tries to gobble it down ASAP.
Yesterday on our walk (in the dark) he found a big turkey bone / drumstick / neck or something. He could not swallow it, but would not drop it. I had to get it away from him. Luckily he was on his leash so I walked him home, with thing in mouth. When we got inside I held him away from me with the leash and told him to drop it, my wife got the squirt bottle and I repeatedly squirted him in the face till he dropped it, which he did. As soon he dropped it, I walked him away, with no agression once he dropped it.
I did not want to do it that way, but I sure as heck was not going to grab it with my hand or hit the dog (We dont do that).He will only do this for a food he knows he is not supposed to have & is too irrestiable. Anything else you can substitute or even take away. He draws a line in the sand for human food, which is is not allowed to have.
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Oh, kitchen trash - try a trash compactor. Wonderful invention that and it's BASENJI PROOF!!!
also check out the links i gave in my first post, especially the trading up link.
For sure on the trash compactor… gggg... only thing I would have in my house. It has been a life saver!!!!
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I know a lot has been said about this issue both here and on the Yahoo African site and much I agree with. Actually what you designate as 'wrong' or 'bad' behaviour is just normal Basenji behaviour - Anubis doesn't see it as wrong but just doing what a Basenji has to do. You say when he peed on your carpet you corrected him in some way. Actually it would have been better just to have ignored it - what's done is done. I know this is too late for that but remember when the act is over Anubis won't know what you're so mad about.
Find ways (many have been suggested by these very knowledgeable people) to avoid direct confrontation. Many Basenjis without early training will not accept anything taken away from them (if they've got it it's theirs!). Personally when mine steal food unless I can remove it from them immediately I leave them with it - it's my fault if I've left something where they can reach it. Of course if it's something dangerous for them I take it away whatever because I know that I can. Personally I'd expect to get bitten if I grabbed food from someone else's Basenji and made them give it up.In early days in the UK Basenjis were thought to be aggressive and have bad temperaments but this was not actually so, many of their owners and breeders tried to treat them as other dogs. As Karla on the other forum said they are a landrace and need to be treated acccordingly.
I'm not convinced that this is a 'rage' problem just because it started after some months - if you've had all the necessary medical checks it could just be that it is Anubis has now matures and asserting his masculinity.
I do endorse the use of the water spray to prevent an action as Barklessdog suggested.
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Beth, how is Anubis doing?
Has he settled down? -
Yes he has
Ive got him blocked from the Kitchen so he cant get into his favorite thing, the TRASH lol. Hes confined only to my living room so now there's nothing he can get into. Therefor I don't have to get mad at him for anything. Things are MUCH MUCH more peaceful around here…and Im getting him fixed in the next week or two. Jacque did a home check so Ill be able to foster a Basenji once I get Anubis fixed -
That's great to hear! Were you the one that posted the hilarious You-tube video of a basenji escaping from his crate? Does he try to sneak into your kitchen?
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As Karla on the other forum said they are a landrace and need to be treated acccordingly.
It's true that you are never too old to learn! I'd never heard of "landrace" before and had to look it up.
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Haha yeah that was Anubis! He knows how to get outta those wire crates. Well the one with PLASTIC treys in the bottom. I got one that has a metal trey. He chews the plastic ones so that he can slip through the slats in the bottom. Now he cant get the metal one chewed so hes stuck in there lol. He hasnt tried to sneak in the kitchen yet but Im waiting for it. The gate is pretty high and he hasn't figured out if he can get over it yet. Hes crated when I leave so that he cant try when Im gone.
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LOL please post the link!
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He usually has blankets in his crate but they were in the wash. And I wasnt even gone long lol. Just long enough to tape him escaping lol. I would come home to the crate on its side and him on my couch so I decided to tape him. So I purposely left for 20min with the camera running lol. This was a 20min video made into a time lapse video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94SteIaymNc
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THIS one's the best lol. I had a lot of fun making it
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@Anubis's:
When he does something he's not supposed to do then how should I correct his bad behavior? If telling him No sends him into his aggressive state then how else should I go about correcting it? He's bitten me twice…today in fact. He got into the trash and I said No Anubis Leave It and when I picked the trash can up he lashed out. He knows what Leave it means. I dont have the money for a trainer.
I do have an idea for you. Basenji's are very inquisitive and like to be stimulated mentally as well as physically. Do stop any 'correcting' you are currently implementing…Try distraction techniques: when you catch him doing something inappropriate, redirect his attention with an appropriate toy. Always change out toys too, rotate the toys every 3 weeks or so. The new 'allowable' toy will redirect him, and greet him in a happy voice, and make him interested in it. He will forget the trash or whatever and go for it, especially if you run from the inappropriate material. Trick him into thinking he caught the new toy and make a game of it. This will change your negative 'phermones' and energy and make you laugh, and he will not feel like he has to be aggressive or defensive from your (or anyone's) loud voice or body language (which you give him and he sees even before you realized you were upset….) He may or may not get over his way of 'lashing' out, but this technique will shorten his 'bad' mood, and maybe prevent his escalation into full blown aggression with a bite. Remember, you want to REDIRECT the bad behavior into appropriate behavior. Hope it helps, let me know....(I did some of this with Buddy when he would not 'come' when called, I would make believe I was chasing a rabbit in the opposite direction and he came 'this way' to me in lieu of running the way he originally planned.....)heheheheh
