Posts made by Charlies_Mommy

Charlie loves to chew on wood, especially the pieces of fence that my mom's lab/hound mix, Bandit, bites off or the pannels my dad has replaced because of Bandit's habit. Unfortunately I think he swallows a few pieces, along with anything else small enough to fit in his mouth.

Charlie loves to curl up against my legs like that when we nap too.
Very cute.

I've definetly considered obedience classes. I actually wanted to get him in some sooner, I just got caught up in my first year of college. Now that the summer is here I'm going to look into the classes at the local Petsmart. Thankfully it's close, since gas prices are getting so horrible.
My only concerns with actually taking him for classes is that he'll refuse to pay attention. He tries to play with every dog he comes into contact with and I think that might cause issues with him actually learning anything.

I know he's a smart boy. He's already learned several commands and such. He just prefers not to listen most of the time :).

Thanks for the replies.

It's been quite a bit since I've had time to post (don't really have time now, but I prefer procrastinating my class work). I'm just getting a bit concered with Charlie.

I figured when I adopted him at 7 weeks that he would have issues trusting people, since him and his 6 siblings were dropped off and put into an unfamiliar kennel. He warmed up a little to me and my family over the first few weeks, but now he's 8 months old and he still seems rather independant.

Charlie gets along great with our two lab mixes, and he even attempts to play with out 14 year old, arthritic and grouchy papillion mix, but with humans, it's like he wants very little to do with them.

He'll cuddle in bed at night, whine a bit when I leave for classes, and run up and greet someone with a wagging tail, but other then that, he tends to avoid everyone.

It also worries me for when I move out in a few years. I won't have any other dog with me, and most likely, won't get another one for a few years after I move out. I'm afraid he'll get depressed or something serious because of this.

It doesn't come off as typical behavior from what I've read here, but has anyone ever had a B like this? Or does anyone have any advice to help me bond better with him? I take him on walks, just the two of us, and I play a little with him when he is actually in the mood, but I'm at a loss of what else I can do.

So it's been awhile scince I've had time to post, so I thought I'd share a couple of things that happened the last few weeks.

About three weeks ago, I was sitting in my room, doing homework. Then I hear my mom scream my name, so thinking Charlie ripped apart something important, I went out to check. I got into the living room to see my mom dart across the room and Charlie sit down in the middle, staring at her. Then I notice what he has dangling from his mouth. Hanging out of one end was a small brown head, and the other end had a long limp tail.

Charlie caught himself a rat.

He looked up at me and had this proud look on his face, like he was thinking "look mom, I caught it all by myself!" I couldn't help but feel proud of him, as disgusting as it was. Getting the rat away from him wasn't easy either. My mom ended up darting into her room, and Charlie followed, jumping on her bed and going after her. After chasing him all around the house, I was finally able to pull the thing out of his mouth. He looked so sad after I took his new "toy" away.

Then, a few nights ago, I let Charlie out to go potty. After about 10 minutes I went outside to call him in, but he just kept darting around the backyard. After about five minutes of trying to coax him in, I went to grab him and drag his butt in. But, of course, as soon as I started walking towards him, he took off and picked something up off the ground as he ran. I could tell right away that it was a little toad. As soon as he picked it up he went into the house. At this point I was getting a bit angery. Figures he won't go in when I want him to, but when I don't want him in the house, he can't wait to get in.
I walk in and hear my mom scream. I go into her room and see Charlie sitting on the bed, and the toad dropped on it.

I guess Charlie just likes sharing his dead animals with his grandma.

He's such a little pain at times, but I can't help but love him :rolleyes: .

I think that dogs look much better when they have natural ears rather then cropped. I know that many dogs with floppy ears get ear infections, but if an owner took the time to clean the ears regularly, then many of the infections could be avoided without having to alter the dogs appearance.
With tail docking, I always remember what my vet tech teacher in high school, who is a licenced vet, told the class one time. When she was starting to work in vet offices about 40 years ago, the way they docked tails would be to take a puppy when it was just a few days old and twist between the joints until the end snapped off. It's just horrible.
Dew claws are a good thing to have removed, they get in the way. One of my lab mixes, Reese, almost ripped one of her's off one time.

That's adorable.
Charlie is, unfortunately, a morning dog, and likes to get up between 7 and 9. I perfer to wake up around 10, like a typical college student. Charlie will usually walk really close to me, so the bed shakes, then sit on the bottom corner on my bed or go to the door and cry until I get up to let him out.

@tanza:

Another question… why are you bathing him once a month? Unless showing, mine are lucky to get baths twice a year...

Right now, we're in the middle of redoing our backyard, since we just got a pool put in. So the majority of the back, where all our dogs spend most of their time, is dirt.
Charlie wrestles with our other two, and of course, all three dogs' favorite time to play outside is when it's damp out.

They all get quite muddy, so I bath him when his white areas start turning dark grey.

After I finished his bath I thought about using treats. It may be a lot of work to get him used to the bathroom and all, but it'll definetly pay off in the end.

I'm just afraid of him getting hurt because he slams himself against the tub so hard…. then again, slamming his head really hard against a wall while playing with a stuffed bear didn't seem to bother him.

I'll definetly try it, and thanks.

So I gave Charlie a bath tonight, and it was horrible. He started whining/squealing and jumping around. He slammed into the bathtub bottom numerous times, and trying to hold him with one hand and scrubbing him with the other doesn't work well.

When he was smaller, I would just take him into the shower when I got in and hold him close while scrubbing. He's just getting too big for that.

Of course, he looks very pretty and shiny now.

I was just wondering if anyone had any tips on how to keep him calm during bath time.
He doesn't get bathed often, maybe once a month. I don't want to medicate him or anything, just get him used to standing mostly still.

And for his ears, are baby wipes good to use?

Much thanks in advance.

So cute!
I was actually going to elf Charlie last week, but got caught up with studying with exams.

I don't have any advice on basenjis with diabetes, but my family owned a mini pin mix that had it. We got him on a good diet to help with it, but he would need insulin twice a day. We had a human glucometer, and would use the inside of his lip to check his bloodsugar twice a day.
Your vet should be able to get you set up with it and tell you how to manage it.

How cute . My boy love the weather down here too. He just likes laying in a pile of dirt in direct sunlight :rolleyes: .

Charlie was nuetered the day before I brought him home from the SPCA at the age of 8 weeks. He was fine… And as much as I tried to keep him from playing too much with the other dogs, he still managed to play extremely rough with them. Thankfully he was glued, because I'm sure he would have ripped stiches if he had them.

Your baby will be fein, and good luck tomorrow.

Just thought I'd let everyone know how my baby is doing now.

I took him to the vet on Wednesday morning. Like I suspected, he had roundworms. He got two little chewable pills for them, which Charlie scarfed down while the vet was in the middle of telling us that he could give them to Charlie or I could take them home to give him.

While there, he also got an overall exam. At 17 weeks, my little man weighs 15 pounds. The spot on his eye that I was worried about is mostlikely a calcium deposit or a deposit from the roundworms. It should disappear eventually and it isn't affecting him at all. He recieved his last two puppy shots, which be did not like one bit.
The four middle teeth in the front of his mouth are all adult teeth. I noticed today that another one is missing and I can see the tip of the adult tooth. The vet said that most of his teeth, excluding his canines, should be in by Christmas. Charlie should also be around 20 pounds at Christmas, which means he can get on a more regular flea, tick, and worming program.

So he's still a happy little boy and he's all healthy.

Well like I said, I'll be calling the vet tomorrow to get the first appointment I can. I've been trying to get him to the vet for the last two weeks. Unfortunately it's near the end of the semester and I've been flooded with papers. I didn't think it was a serious vet visit until I noticed the worms.

That is a good point about the bad reactions. I will definetly keep them seperate and get on a schedule with my vet as soon as Charlie is worm free.

I'm worried about my other dogs too, especially my 13 year old papillion mix. I'll be watching them for worms, but do you think a pet store dewormer would be a good thing to get them on now, just in case?

I haven't really noticed any in his stool, which is weird. I only noticed them in his vomit today though, so I wasn't paying too much attention to his stool.

Advantage Multi is supped to prevent fleas, ticks, heartworms, and intestinal parasites. If it actually does work that well then it would be worth it. I'm just not sure it does.

He is just so adorable.

So I recently read the tread about how Basenjis will throw up stomach acid if they haven't eaten in a while. So when Charlie was in the backyard the other day and he vomited a clearish liquid I figured he just needed to eat.

Then yesturday my mom told me Charlie vomited up chunks on our lab mix Bandit. She figured he just got too many crunchy dog bones/treats because that's what it consisted of. Charlie can be quite a pig when it comes to treats.

Today the three dogs were hanging out in my room while I did some school work, sniffing my rat cage, wrestling around on the floor and bed. After I finished I sat on my bed to relax and watch a little television while all three dogs cuddled on my bed with me.
About 10 minutes later, Charlie got up and started sniffing around a pile of stuffed animals on my floor. When I looked over at him, it looked like he was eating something.
Turned out to be vomit. Then I noticed something moving in it. I'm almost 100% that they were roundworms.

I'll be calling the vet tomorrow to get the first appointment I can.

Since I'm a college student that doesn't work, I'm on a limited budget. My parents will help me out if I need it, but I'd rather not let it get to that.
Is there anything that really works that I can buy from a pet store?
My vet doesn't charge a fortune, but medications are still very expensive.

I was also wondering if anyone has ever tried that Advantage Multi. I recieved info about it from the SPCA and the vet, I just want to hear from people who have used it before.
Is it worth it, ot is it better to stick with seperate medications?

Thanks a bunch for any help.

Welcome to the forum. I own a 4 months old Basenji that is also named Charlie.
You will learn much about the breed on this site. I've only been here for a short time and have learned quite a lot.