Yes, I understand all breeds are mouthy and of course they communicate with each other that way but what I mean is that from everything I've read about Basenji's- they are known to always be mouthy and chew things moreso than other breeds so I was just trying to understand if its just part of their breed (where they are more destructive/mouthy than other breeds) or what the reason was…again, just curious

Hi Sharron -
Thank you! I know, I love Kathy - she was so honest with us and I couldnt believe that our Willow's parents were this mellow until we met our pup and see how she is. I mean I know genes have a lot to do with it but a Basenji is a Basenji afterall - at least that's what I thought I am just waiting to see if she will turn insane when she hits 6 months, lol. A vet tech told us this - is that really true? Where the dog's personality will totally change as they get older or is it like kids: you can tell how their personalities are but then they go through the stages (terrible twos, etc)? I assumed they would go through the stages but no matter what if they are sweet and good tempered, they will continue to be that way unless of course they are mistreated…..?

BTW- sorry if I came off nasty/defensive in my other post (didnt mean to)- I've just associated with a lot of Basenji people who almost came off like they were in a cult and swear "their" point of views are the only way and a lot of what they've shared with me has been proven wrong by our pup (so far). I mean we were blessed to have gotten the pup from Kathy who selected the parents by their temperaments and socialized the pups from the beginning so the dog came to us in perfect, well mannered condition so now we are just continuing with what she's used to (non stop love, attention and socialized every day) except she is more spoiled now since she doesnt have to share the attention with siblings and I work from home so am with her practically 24/7

Hi lvoss -

Thank you - really good advice.
I'm totally open to suggestions - I just never found any other way to make our pup stop biting. She actually is really good and stops herself from biting - she has always appeared to do the soft mouth bite and would look at us while she was doing this to our arms lets say and then we would say no bite and she would stop and start licking us. I mean, we've never seen such a smart, obedient dog. She seems to learn so fast so I swear we never had to hold her mouth closed for a long time. She learns commands after a few times and so its a matter of being consistent with her.

I wonder why Basenjis are so mouthy? Does anyone know where that comes from? I'm just curious. Our dog, Willow learned the "no bite" real quick but its almost like she cant control herself and just wants to put her mouth on you so just wondering why that is. Do they just do this as pups and eventually outgrow it or its just the breed that loves biting/chewing on everything?

Thanks for the tips.

I probably should have mentioned that we started off doing this (holding her mouth closed and saying "NO" and "No Bite") until she understood the words alone so just like any other training when you are teaching dogs simple commands: "sit", "give me paw", "up", "lay down", "drop it", etc…you say the words and show the dog the action until they eventually understand with words alone (or signs of course). Again, I'm no expert but from enough research, animal behavior conditioning, and from previous experience with other dogs, we've never had a problem (but we've never owned a Basenji until now either

Our dog is constantly in our faces getting a million kisses everyday so she is very used to face contact and we've never "harsely" forced her mouth down- we simply closed her mouth with enough force as if holding a child's hand and she never seemed terrified of us. We only did this once she was used to us and comfortable so she definitely seems to understand that biting is wrong because now she stops when we tell her "no bite" and we dont even have to hold her mouth down anymore.

I definitely do understand how "harsh" treatment causes dogs to become weary and head shy in time but again, we are not displaying forceful, harsh behavior on our dog. I think it takes knowing your dog really well to know the type of discipline that should be enforced and I know positive discipline is the best way but there arent many methods that I've researched that work on getting a dog to stop biting and being forceful/aggressive with your dog will obviously lead to issues down the road as those of you have pointed out which I agree with.

I am not saying this works with other dogs - it just works on ours and a dog is a dog so an accident can happen at ANY time. Even if our dog continues to be the sweetest thing ever, I am not going to leave my 4 yr old daughter with her alone or let her torment the dog when she wants to play. We have enough sense to know that it doesnt matter if you have a great tempered dog, anything can happen at any time and yes, displaying harsh behavior on a dog will most likely lead to an accident waiting to happen but again, we are not being harsh with her (its one of those things that you need to see for yourself to understand as perhaps I wasnt too clear on exactly how we were doing this in my earlier post).

We've seen too many dogs take control of the household because their owners didnt know how to handle the dog so they would get out of hand and wind up in a shelter (our previous dog was this exact example- the owners were afraid of her and never corrected the negative behaviors until she became aggressive- we took her in for awhile and she was never aggressive with us or our child- in fact she was the complete opposite of what they told us- very sweet and good tempered. She had issues with other dogs but not with us and after awhile we saw improvement in her behavior with strangers and other dogs by socializing her everyday). Animals can sense how people are and even though our dog knows we are in charge-we've NEVER hit her or acted abusive to her in any way to make her understand we are in charge of the household. Holding a dogs mouth to the point where you are causing pain is obviously abusive and that is not what we are doing.

So anyway, not trying to cause a battle here but I needed to clarify exactly what I meant and that I am simply sharing what we do (an opinion) not to offer methods that I claim work on all dogs - just ours and I don't think we are being harsh in any way but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
A dog who becomes head shy or doesnt let you near his/her face, put a collar on, etc was definitely a dog that was mistreated so again, no abuse being done on our dog - by far! She is the most spoiled thing ever and would tell you herself if she could speak

Is there anyone out in the New Jersey area (or knows of a site that I can be directed to) who knows of any vets that have knowledge of Basenjis?

We have a 4 month old Basenji and our breeder took her to the vet at 8 wks but she hasnt been to one since so I've been looking for a good vet for a standard visit and cant seem to find one who knows about Basenjis (well all the vets Ive talked to, act like they know about them but you can tell they've never had one as a patient ;0

Thanks for the help!

I hate to offer suggestions since I have not had a Basenji for very long and the one we have (4 months old) appears to be a Dream Basenji so this may not work for most Basenjis but even though most have similar traits, ours is quite different but I will share what we've done with our Basenji girl incase it can help in any way.

We've had her since she was 9 weeks old and from birth, she was socialized around children so she is very used to them and loves them. Based on your story, it sounds like your dog is just trying to play but of course there needs to be ground rules laid out. Since they are very smart, they often know when you think they are doing something wrong. Our girl started off nipping from the beginning but we took her mouth and closed it and held it down while sternly saying: "NO"! Well she looked at us as if to say: "What?" (lol) but was scared. She of course tested a lot to see how far she could get but again, we kept doing this and sometimes would hold her mouth down until she started to cry a little (we're not hurting her at all but some might take this as cruel behavior…? not sure but in our family, we LOVE our dog and spoil her rotten BUT we let her know who is boss). So anyway she appears to be a really well mannered dog so this may not work with a more stubborn dog and I know most Basenjis are stubborn so perhap we are just blessed with a good tempered dog.

We tried a combination of things: bone, chew toys, etc and the best approach appeared to be this so we just continue to be stern with her and grab her mouth/hold it closed. My daughter is 4 so she would just cry when Willow (our 4 month old pup) would nip at her (she was only playing with her but still) so like most kids do, she started copying our behavior so now I hear my daughter yelling "NO" at the dog and holding her mouth closed (showing no fear whatsoever) and have found Willow crying all sweetly (never thinking to turn around and bite Kaylie- my daughter). She then looks at you and puts her head down and appears to understand because then she comes over and starts licking instead of nipping so again, maybe we just have a special dog (of course, she's special

I think we are just really lucky so this may not work for you and hopefully there arent people out there thinking we are cruel for doing this (we're not beating the dog or mistreating her in any way- I can assure you of that!) but its worth a shot. Dogs will look at kids like their play mates and nip them as they would their dog siblings so they need to look at them as a higher rank and having your child start disciplining the dog (with proper parent supervision of course) could help.

A neighbor of mine told me she would pull her dogs tongue whenever he nipped as a puppy because he was very biting/mouthy and it seemed to work so maybe that's another approach.

Best of Luck!

Hi - I am new to this site and just wanted to share my love for our sweet little Basenji girl: Willow.

I am so happy we selected the breeder that we did after doing a ton of research. Khani's Basenji's are the BEST! Everything Kathy told me about our Basenji's good tempered parents is absolutely correct. Our sweet little 4 month old girl is the most loveable, cuddliest thing I have ever seen. She LOVES children and any dog so far. We've had her since she was 9 wks old and she's been socialized around children since she was born. Well when we go on our daily walks, she probably meets a new person and dog every day and loves it. She pulls me towards all kids that she sees and is she obsessed with my daughter's school bus when it shows up to drop my daughter off. She waits by the door crying to be let out and runs inside the bus to greet the other kids. We've had dogs before (never a Basenji) and so far she has to be the most laid back dog (especially for a puppy/Basnji), mellowest, sweetest we have ever had. So far everything I have read about Basenji's is the complete opposite in her. I keep waiting for her to become a terror and know she is still young but her temperament is AMAZING. We love her so much and she is the most perfect addition to our family. Sorry for rambling, I just can't help myself when I talk about our little, Willow

We had her potty trained in a week!!! We probably would have had her trained sooner if we followed the right approach (trial and error at first) but our little smarty figured out how to use our wind chimes by the front door within hours of putting them up (we didnt have a bell so used chimes instead!). I just hit her paw on them everytime I let her out and before we knew it, she was hitting them on her own. She is 4 months now and has been using them consistently every since she was 10 wks old (she uses them to let us know she wants to go out for a walk or use the potty)..she is so smart!!

Khani - Watch out because I will be reaching out to you for another one in a few years (though I'll be good and wait a few years