Posts made by BaliDad

As mentioned above Kong is great, frozen Kong even better, it lasts longer.... I'd recommend leaving her inside the house ie go to a different room, garden, out the front, and ideally try and come back and reward her before she notices, no reward is she makes a fuss or comes looking for you. Camera would definitely help to know how bad the problem actually is.

Sounds like you were a bit unlucky with your Mal, getting him at 2 means you weren't the one responsible his upbringing so some of these comments are a bit harsh. Basenji's are great but a lot of people do struggle with them, we for example had to tell Bali "no biting" constantly as his instinct is in nip and bite (not aggressively) anything be doesn't like, or wants to dominate!! He was 8/10 good at not biting then he had a operation, got pampered, slept in our room, and then went straight back trying to take over again.... So we are back to training every day, he's already learning again and is even now secretly turning a bite into a pretend yawn as he knows it's wrong, couple more weeks he'll be better than before. Point is they are not easy to manage.

In return they do offer a lot of love and will never complain about having you lay next to them, they'll make you stop in the street to tell everyone "he's a Basenji", "Congo", "yes he loves being told how gorgeous his is", and they'll keep watch for those pesky squirrels incase they ever invade.

Sorry I don't know any Irish breeders, probably worth looking to travel to the UK, but as they are hard to manage it is definitely worth researching into whether you have the energy to train them properly, if not they won't attack you they'll just end up owning you.

Cheers EF, you could be right that he is just up for exploring and not yet needing praise, i thought the bribe would help. Currently he is house bound as he only had his second injection yesterday so 6 more days to go before he can go on walks properly, any luck the new exercise will make him hungrier (for both food and affection). I'll consider the rationing of treats, currently everything is a new trick, mastered sit very quickly, certainly doesn't like the idea of staying yet and I can actually use it as a trigger word to come!!

Hello Basenji Lovers

We have just got a brilliant new Basenji Puppy called Bali (he was born whilst we were out there on holiday) who is 10 weeks old.

We are trying to take the reward don't punish approach but wanted to ask some ideas on what they actually like!!? He doesn't seem to like being petted or patted on the head, so saying "good boy" with a pat just gets on his nerves and shakes us off. He also goes off treats very quickly whether that be chicken (prefers M&S to Tesco), Beautiful Joe's ethical dog treats (bored of them now, certainly won't entertain eating half of one, not worth it) and apple, loved it the other day now it's just fruit....

I am sure some of your have found what they like, reinforcing good behaviour is much easier if they actually like and want something, any ideas will certainly be appreciated.

Thanks BD