Older Basenji aggressive towards 1.5 yo

[tofagerl]

Hello

Long time reader, first time poster!

I have a six year old girl with somewhat aggressive tendencies towards other dogs, but she never bites and after a very exciting five second face off when meeting new dogs, she usually gets on great with them. Not a huge problem, just leads to a lot of time explaining and reassuring other dog owners. Never bitten anyone, and she's extremely friendly to all humans.

My mom has a 1.5 yo male Basenji (her nephew as it happens) which was treated like her own son for most of his life - he was allowed to "breastfeed" from her, he was never punished for biting or being too rough, and quite frankly us humans were much harsher with him than she was.

UNTIL his testes dropped. Now all of a sudden she can't stand the sight of him, and not only growls whenever he comes near, but she'll leap out of the couch and chase him halfway around the room if he dears to come up to her while she's sleeping.
This isn't all the time of course, sometimes she'll deign to eat next to him, she'll even sleep next to him at times, but only after showing him who's boss.

Of course, the little pup is confused as hell about this, and not only misses his "mother", but really wants to play with her. And this creates no end of troubles for us, since we spend a lot of times together at holidays and such, and this has been an issue for about six months now with no improvement in sight.

I wonder if sterilization would help, but obviously it would have to be her, and that's not only expensive, but dangerous and here in Norway it's not easy to get the vet to do it, since they're very careful about it.

[Patty]

This could be just hormonal - she may be realising that she needs to put him in his place.

I'm of the opinion that sterilisation doesn't work in these cases.

[lvoss]

I don't think spaying would work. My 10 year old spayed girl can be that way with her 1 year old grandson. She did it more when he was younger and less now. Still she does chastise him for playing fetch, for whatever reason it annoys her to no end and she feels the need to get up from where she is laying and tell him off. L'Ox is very deferential to his grandmother now and if she is annoyed with him she often can give a much lower level signal and get a response so that may also be why she doesn't make such a big deal anymore. When he was a pup he awful about jumping on her but she never honored his puppy license except for 15 minutes every day, other than those 15 minutes she expected polite behavior from him.

[DebraDownSouth]

Neutering him would decrease the hormones, so it MIGHT help. However, neutering just for this reason … not so much of a fan. He is in his teens... she mostly is just teaching him manners and his place. My bet is that if you stay out of it completely and let her manage it, things will eventually settle down. I do know if blood isn't involved and you interfere, you can make things much worse. Generally dogs are good at working things out.

[Barklessdog]

My mom has a 1.5 yo male Basenji (her nephew as it happens) which was treated like her own son for most of his life - he was allowed to "breastfeed" from her, he was never punished for biting or being too rough, and quite frankly us humans were much harsher with him than she was.

I am understanding this correctly?

Your mother breast fed her dog?

[MacPack]

I think she means her female (now grumpy) let this pup (who was her nephew), suckle as a pup. Now he is a year and a half, and she has decided "he needs manners".

Many adults do become very strict, usually when a pup is about 8 months, when the pups are 'teens', your girl has just been more patient than most. He is a young adult and she is telling him to grow up and behave, most likely.

Of course, being sure she is healthy, not in pain, is a first step. Ill or arthritic basenjis are often very grumpy. If he is sexually mature now, he may be sending a 'silent message' and she is making sure he understands she is not interested.

[DebraDownSouth]

@Barklessdog:

I am understanding this correctly?

Your mother breast fed her dog?

ROFLMAO, just so you don't feel bad, I read it that way too and had to reread it. :)

[tofagerl]

I agree, it'll go away in time. The problem is that my mom (who is not in a habit of nursing puppies, no) is sick and tired of the noise they make. I keep telling her to wait it out, and she keeps locking them in separate rooms to keep them from being noisy. Hopefully this thread will help her realize that this is not just my silly idea.

Including picture of the nubbins a little over a year ago.

[tlish]

^ if i had read it that way, there's no way i could have asked that question with such kindness. great show of restraint!

[tanza]

Regardless, you will still have the noise… I always tell people two Basenji can make the most horrible noises... you can never describe it.... you have to experience it and live with it

[DebraDownSouth]

LOL have your mom listen to Arwen on youtube. The noises, thank goodness, do not match the actions.