@donc Thanks again for the suggestions and if you do find someone, please let me know. I agree that starting now may be a little early. I'm searching now because I don't know how long it will take to find someone and then I don't know the schedule of the trainer, so I'm just trying to get organized so that I can be ready when she is.

I'll try the Esbilac and be more patient.

"I think the only thing better than shoes for these guys when they are young are shoe laces. Walk into a room with a bunch of Basenji puppies with shoes with laces and you'll walk out with shredded laces. They are like mammalian piranha. LOL Laces survive ten seconds top."

This is troof! I try to keep my shoes away from her, but when I walk into the room she's in and I have shoes - her eyes light up and wild horses couldn't drag her away!

This forum has been a little unkind to me - that's ok. I'm a nube to Bs and I guess everyone here is an expert, but I will give thanks to whoever posted the trick about rubbing Vapor Rub on your feet to stop the biting. The girls tried that last night and MAGIC! She took one whiff and in disgust snorted loudly and hasn't touched their feet since. 1 Challenge solved!

@tanza not her. Tried carrots and she couldn't be bothered with them. I think the shirt worked because I worn an old shirt yesterday and gave it to her without washing it.

@senjisilly Lynn, you're the best!

I don't know if I'm typing in another language or if I've just upset the collective forum. We NEVER punish her in her play pen ever. She have never been put in time out in her play pen. That pen is being used for: 1) the place where her crate is at night so that we can leave the crate open as that seems to make her more comfortable; 2) a place where we play and enjoy each other together in addition to our playtime outside the pen; 3) a place we are using to help build up her ability to be away from us slowly. We're currently doing 5 minute intervals.

All that we do is play with her around the house. In every room downstairs. Heck she even goes into the bathroom with the girls when they go. Obviously we work, so there are times she's not being played with, but for those times she's mostly in her bed (a separate bed in the same room as us, not the crate.) I take her on 3, 20 minute walks every day, (I have to limit those to just side walks because she hasn't gotten her third set of vaccines yet). When I said we play in the play pen, it was because we play so much with her outside of the pen, that I worried she would see the pen as a boring ho hum place where she ends the night and therefore would start to resist going into the pen.

We may not be a perfect B household, this is our first one, but we care very much for her and we're trying are absolute best to build a warm, loving, and trusting home for her. That will happen over time and we'll be patient. More patient than this forum.

@jengosmonkey thanks for the response! Because she's so small we haven't ventured into people food too much. We read that frozen peanut butter was the golden crate training treat. Yeah, just spent the next day cleaning peanut butter off the sides of the crate. She just let it melt, then sat/laid on it and then spread it everywhere.

I think one of the other variables is that my wife and step daughter watch her too. I think they are unsure of how to deal with her and give up. Then she runs the roost until I come down from work. Which means that we have to relearn things nightly together. So in part, I hope the trainer can help train us in how to be a united front and give her the best growing experience possible.

But my secret weapon is that I'm more persistent than the waves. I'll keep at it. We'll get there.

@elbrant I also wanted to say thanks on the advice on the frozen shirt. That's working really well as her new favorite chew thing.

@eeeefarm I initially hesitated to post here, because like a lot of things on the internet, responses can seem judgmental.

I disagree with you. 9 weeks is early in the pups life, but by 16, you've really got to have things figured out. So I think I'm right on time to start thinking about bolstering my tactics if I'm not getting the desired outcomes.

You're right, a trainer isn't going to solve all my problems. But if there happened to be a good trainer in San Diego, I don't see how it could hurt. Do you?

Perhaps one useful thing that I would get out of it would be that a third party would help us come together on a united front and help all of us see the value of staying on the same page. Sometimes, people will listen more to an "expert" than they do to people they know, even if the advise is the same. Kind of like, when my wife says I've been eating to much cholesterol causing foods and I blow her off. Then my Dr. says if I don't stop, I'm going to die. I listen a little more.

I'm am in fact trying to find those things that work and to be fair to myself, I've found somethings that do. I also know that I don't know everything and that reading and listing to professionals can help. So I've order several books, read several that are available online, and I'm making the best effort I can to pick things up and create a warm, safe, and happy environment for my pup.

And, if I can find a trainer, that can help guide me, I'll use them. If not, I'll figure it out without them.

@zande In fact as mentioned to @eeeefarm one of the biggest hopes I have for a trainer is that a professional will help train US as a family how to be more unified and consistent with her.

@donc, You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. You also Rock! This will give me time to visit both and get a feel for how they do things.

Thanks!