Thank you very much to everyone for your input! I've tried being more strict with the feeding times and taking it away if he's picking. I think I'm going to consider the switch to wet food and actual meat products because any time I add in some "bonus" meat to his kibble, he goes nuts.

Teething certainly doesn't help, but variety is definitely key as well it seems. Also feed him out of the big Kong rolly thing sometimes where he has to tap it the right way to get food out. Seems to engage the hunter in him.

Anyway, on with the battle! This little guy is growing into quite the little gentleman :)

Hey gang,

Me again! Our lovely little Bailey has recently started turning up his cute little nose at dry food. We use "Oven Baked Tradition" as it was the food our breeder recommended. For the first month he gobbled it up happily but within the last few weeks has started to leave more and more in his bowl.

We have tried adding broth, then adding crushed up dried beef liver cubes. These each worked for a while but then no good.

He's four and a half months and he's definitely teething so that can't help. We tried softening the kibble with broth then just plain water. Also tried heating it. Again, these work for short periods then stop.

Any thoughts? Or maybe better food recommendations?

Well goodness me! Appears there is quite a strong field of opinions on this topic. Our breeder gave no choice on the neutering - preserves the quality of the breed. As for the hernia, it was our choice to do it at the same time as the neuter. Might as well get it over with. He's doing just fine :) Pimple is drying up - false alarm.

Well we had it done at the same time as his Neutering so it was a one-shot deal. Im thinking it's just irritated skin as a result of the surgery. If it gets worse we'll take the little guy in though.

Hey all!

So our little guy had surgery for a hernia before we got him and the stitches all healed up nicely (exterior ones that is...internal ones are still around).

This past week, however, we've noticed a pimple-like bump growing in size next to the scar site. It isn't painful for him and doesn't appear too nasty, but I'm concerned that it's growing.

I did some research online and saw mention of an infected sebaceous gland. Might be that. Any thoughts? I tried to attach a photo (Imgur URL) but it doesn't show :(

Hey all!

So update for everyone. There is light at the end of the tunnel! Our little Bailey has stopped being so bitey and directs most of his attention to his toys. We let him run like a Wildman in the the hallways of our condo (it's freezing outside right now!) and that seems to tire him out. We still tolerate little nibbles because it's playtime but anything that's too hard get stopped right away. He knows it and comes over to lick instead with his guilty-pooch eyes :P

Thanks again for all the advice! Next step, figuring out why the heck he's started waking up at 4am and whimpering when he was totally fine and sleeping all night before!

Cheers,

Hey everyone! Well thanks so very much for taking the time to respond to us. My wife and I have been working hard with our little mister all week and it's paying off. The point made about agitation due to having to go potty was a good one - sometimes we realized that he might have to go and was anxious because of it so we took him out. Several times that was definitely the case.

Other times, he's just excited (usually in the morning first thing and after dinner with huge naps in between) and we try and work the energy out. We live in a condo building but we've started to take him to run full-speed in the halls between the two of us and he seems to really enjoy it! We can't believe how fast our little guy is!!

We encourage playtime and gentle little mourning/bites are okay, but when it's too much he gets "ENOUGH" and right to time-out. He's really stopped biting altogether so I think it's working!

Plus the additional interest/reward of training him new tricks keeps him occupied and gives him lots of positive feedback.

It's a long road ahead but so far we're starting to see progress so thanks to everyone for your input!!

Great suggestions! Our little guy seems to be quite sociable with other dogs for the moment. Early on he was exposed to two very large German Shepherd puppies and they played together well, but perhaps this is where he learned that rough play and biting is okay. Luckily both dogs, while gigantic, were good with him and understood his size. Maybe we need to keep exposing him to other smaller dogs that might be less rough though. He spends a lot of time with us in the apartment and he may be just bored/understimulated.

As for the time-out, I hate using the leash as an element of the punishment since I want it to be associated to fun walks. However, when he's confined to a small area with the leash, it isn't fun and I think he gets the message that the fun stops when you bite too hard. Hopefully he'll get through this and chill out a bit - I think he may start teething soon if he hasn't already.

He's so darn cute though!!! :)

Hey all!

We are brand new Basenji owners in Montreal. Picked up our little guy about a month ago from a local professional breeder. At that time he was three months old. He was super-calm for the first few weeks and mainly slept with very little misbehavior and the usual accidents in the house.

Now he's pretty good on the potty breaks, but he has started being extremely bitey! My fiancee and I have tried to be patient, and followed various online sites for advice, but it seems like nothing is truly effective.

We tried to go limp and yelp - didn't help...that was a fun game for him. We tried to pull away...then he just lunged and bit harder. We are trying 'time outs' by giving him one chance and saying 'ENOUGH' clearly, then taking him to a leash attached to the door (we don't have a time-out space to use like a laundry room etc since we live in a very small apartment). He stays there for 1-2 mins when he bites hard. If he comes back and is calm or bites lightly, it's okay - otherwise it's back to the corner.

We're kind of confused as to the best thing to do right now since he all of a sudden now has just an intense burst of energy (not agression though - it's all playing..but its too tough)

What should we do???