Weve been to several training sessions. He tends to be brilliant in training. But as someone else mentioned, he'd be massively fat if I gave him treats to get him to walk nicely and give me appropriate attention - because, yes, wonders do happen with the right amount of encouragement = treats!

My 1 yo boy is a puller and a yanker. I love the idea of giving them more room to roam by using a long lead, however my b always gets to the end of the radius of it and pulls me in any direction, so he doesn't as much roam, he just drags me from a distance of a couple of meters. So I'd rather keep him close (with a shorter lead). But when he's on short lead, he's almost always either dragging straight forward or leans to the side as far as possible. It feels a lot like he doesn't want to be near me at all altogether... I use a harness with the ring on the top, similar to the Rugwear one, which I know is a "pull harness", but a collar slips down and it looks very daft and uncomfortable when he leans over. We also have a head collar that works really well, but he gets too eager or stressed (wanting to move on quicker, especially if there's another dog nearby), he throws himself around, moves his head up and down rapidly - making me worry that he'll slip out of it.

Some of you mention a harness with a hook at the front, and one that attaches under the chin? Which ones are these?

@zande Thank you, Sally. Oh yes, they can be really cheeky and smooth in the way they try to stretch the boundaries
I am happy that it looks like I have found someone who will be happy to look after him even if he remains intact (many daycare businesses do not...and the one he was at up until says they will not take him again till he has been done - their loss!) - we will meet up with her in a week's time to see if all is doable

Take care,
Kjersti & Cosmo

Hi all,
After days of information overflow, the decision wasn't actually that hard at the end of the day, and as soon as I said it (to the vet), I knew it was right - my beau will remain intact, at least till he is 2 years old and hopefully even longer. Unless his temper changes in any way, but I have no reason to think it might.

Female bs are definitely not messy! I was so pleasantly surprised when my deceased girl came into heat of how little she bled, but also how clean she kept herself and her surroundings. But then she had a 1st phantom pregnancy (something I knew her mum suffered from frequently), and as well as that she had a fairly huge hernia, so eventually I had her spayed and at the same time she had her hernia repaired. She was 20 months old when she was spayed, so pretty mature I'd say.

Thank you for all your responses, it certainly got my brain churning!

@tanza Thank you, Pat. Is there anything in particular you look for, with regards to behaviour or other, when you decide the time is right? Can I expect to notice much change in behaviour? Cosmo is an incredibly calm puppy, but he is a big-time sniffer and I never seem to get very far with him on walks!

Hi,
My basenji puppy, Cosmo, is a 7 1/2 months old male. I will have him neutered, but I'm really unsure when. I don't want to do it too early, nor wait too long... I don't know whether it helps in establishing maturity as such, but he is not quite cocking his leg yet, but I can see for every day that goes by, that he is about to start. Every so often he lifts it, but then sort of leans towards "puppy weeing".
I have booked an appointment to see the vet next Tuesday about neutering, and Cosmo has one puppy tooth left which I doubt will come out (we had to have the very same tooth surgically removed on my last basenji too - is that common maybe?), so I am thinking it would be an idea to have tooth extraction and neutering done under the same anesthetics.
Overall though I am looking for advice from other owners of the breed with regards to neutering, since the bitches have a different heat pattern than other breeds so I'm thinking that the males may be somewhat different from other breeds too in regards to maturing/neutering? My last b was a bitch, so I'm not too familiar with males, and also my bs were both bred in Norway (whereas now I live in England), where we don't tend to neuter unless there is a medical reason, my breeder won't necessarily be able to give me neuter-specific advice.

Thank you!
From Kjersti and Cosmo