Mine is only interested in the already-been-used TP. That is a whole 'nother issue, but at least the stuff on the roll is safe (for now).

Thank you all so much!

Yesterday I tried having him sit when we saw another dog approaching, which was difficult for him He did do it, but I think just to appease me, if that makes sense…he was still very focused on the dog, and for longer because we were at a stop. I will try to remember to bring treats with me tonight and do the resume walking command. Usually the only problem with that he doesn't watch where he is going at all as his nose is positioned up toward my pocket!

Well, thank you for your opinion but I am hopeful that someone might be able to help me. If someone else's dog does it and they live in a city where they pass a lot of people and other dogs, they might also see it as unwanted behavior. Whether it is normal for basenjis or not, people and other dogs are not used to it, and I would like him to behave better on our walks.

I should add that Mansa did not always do this–its been a recent thing.

Well, good to hear he is "normal" at least!

Has anyone had any luck changing this behavior? He does it at the dog park too when he is waiting for another dog to come back with the ball (smart dog!) but it is a problem when he is on-leash.

My boy Mansa has this weird behavior when on leash. He will see a dog coming down the sidewalk, and will either crouch down or lay all the way down until the dog gets closer. Then he bolts towards them. Usually if he makes it to the other dog without me getting him away, he will slow down, sniff, and then we are on our way.

He is NOT aggressive with other dogs off-leash, or even if he meets dogs on-leash. We go to a dog park every week where he plays with big and small dogs with no issues (running, wrestling, fetch, etc). I don't think he is trying to be aggressive when he does his crouch-down, but I am sure that it worries the other dogs as well as their people! It does kind of look like he's getting ready to attack!

Any advice for stopping this behavior?

I switch between TOTW salmon and the sierra mountain (lamb) formula. I saw some things about ethoxyquin (which is probably what your breeder was talking about) when I was researching what food to get, and this is what the TOTW website has to say (from the FAQ section):

Does this food contain ethoxyquin?

Taste of the Wild Pet Foods sources all protein meals (chicken meal, fish meal, etc) from vendors that do not use ethoxyquin. As always, only natural preservatives are used in our manufacturing process to preserve the foods.

Mansa does pretty well on this food. I switched from costco food that was giving him digestive issues, probably because of the grain content. Hopefully there are no widespread problems with the TOTW food. Its so frusterating when you as the consumer can't trust that what you are giving your dog is the best for them.

Hi there! This is my first post, though I have been reading through the forum since before I got my Basenji.

He is almost 1 year old and his name is Mansa (pronounced Mahn-sah) meaning King of kings, after Mansa Musa of the kingdom of Mali in the 1300s. A note to all future owners–if you name your dog after a king, he may just try to come in to that role!

Here he is!

If anyone knows of a basenji playgroup in the area (im in north seattle) please let me know! Mansa would really like to wrestle and chase some other Bs.

-Jennifer