He has been a bit less responsive lately… Some of the tricks he used to do, he is slower at, he doesn't want to roll over anymore... Part of that I blame on myself, I had a major busy summer and the training kinda fell to the back burner... I noticed in the mornings, he is content to just stay in his bed and doesn't come downstairs when i tell him to...

This morning, I got up earlier so I could take him for a medium long walk just to get him out. Then when we got home I kept him on his leash, and kept him in the kitchen (if he got to the living room he'd be on the couch and not want to move)... When we were in the kitchen we played a bit, did some tricks with treats (sit, high five, shake, ring hte bell, etc).. Then we moved over to the other room with the crate. I said 'crate time' and pointed to the crate, he sat down and just stared at me, i looked at him and back to the crate. He whimpered a bit, but after a bit he went into the crate. I gave him a treat and then told him to come out (I had him go out and in a few times, with treats, to hopefully make it easier on the dog walker). Once he was in, I gave him a big kong stuffed with treats, and then left. I didn't hear any whimpering when i went out the door (like the last few days), but he was also paws deep in the kong... Hopefuly he is ok and doesn' shread the new cratepad i bought on wednesday!

I don't think we're through this, not by a long shot, but I do feel like we're moving in a positive direction

For the longest time he was going in his crate on his own… Up until the last few days I had not had to pick him up and put him in his crate since he was a few months old... I am convinced that either something happened that spooked him, or he is just being a teenage rebel...

I went through that whole rigamaroll when he was young to get him good with his crate, now it looks like I am going to just start over from scratch... Dog ownership is a never ending journey i guess!

Yes I give him a treat… Our little ritual is I would give him these chicken jerkey sticks, treats he only got when he would go in the crate.... I tried throwing them in there, but he knew better than that... I will probably just have to go back to crate training 101... Do you think trying to get him to go back to sleeping in a crate is the way to go or should I continue to let him sleep outside of the crate?

Hey,

Bandit, my 11 month old Basenji has always been really good about going into his crate. When he was a puppy we worked on "crate time" alot and it payed off. In the last month or so, because he grew out of his crate in my bed room (I had 2 crates smaller crates due to hand-me-down), and he was getting older, I transitioned him to sleeping in a doggie bed in my bed room…

The last week or so, he has become very hesitent to getting into his downstairs crate (it is a larger one). His dog-walker reported to me that she had a hard time and he was getting agressive... And I had noticed slightly harder than usual time of coaxing him in. This morning he would not listen at all, he just jumped up on the couch and got stand offish... I was running late, so I went over and tried grabbing him and he went crazy, snapping at me and getting the most agressive towards me I had ever seen... Eventually I was able to pick him up when he was off gaurd and put him in the crate w/o problems. I really don't like doing that, physically putting him in, but I was already running late for work and I didn't have time for more of it...

Anyways when I was leaving he was howling, whimpering and pawing the cage. I hadn't heard him make such a fuss about being in his crate since he was 3 months. Part of me thinks this is just him entering into his "rebelious teenage years" but idk. Does anybody else have any experience with this, I could use any help you could provide

vince

I spent 5-6 hours working in the backyard with my dad this Sunday, and had bandit outside with us the entire time… I didn't force him into the grass or anything, but his confidence and curiosity grew over time... Seeing us out there working together, and just being there helped him, and now he is back to being addicted to the back yard... It's great to see him having fun again, even though he makes watching hockey games without being interupted to go outside impossible

thanks

No nest still there… Right now i'm debating on what to do... Just give up for a few months and only go on walks, or take the tough approach, where I take him out back wait for a while, if he doesn't pee, time out in the crate... That was what I was told to do when potty training, but idk if it's the right thing to do here

So my 7 month old pup, bandit, used to love playing in the backyard… It was borderline annoying, he would just go stand by the backdoor and ring the bells until I let him out so he could frolick and play... Last week or so, he was out there and got stung by a bee... His face balooned up, we went to vet, no infection, steroid shot, all is well...

Now the last few days, I have noticed he is terrified of the back yard. When i take him out, he just sits on the porch by the door till I let him in... For the time being, we have been going on walks so he can go potty, but obviously, I want him to feel safe again in his own yard... Anybody have any experience with this? Any tips or tricks, or is time the best medicine?

vince

Yes… I guess I should clarify... When I say later, it's usually no longer than 5-10 min... At first he was a bit apprehensive about it, but now he responds pretty good to the eat command... I still get the impression that he is eating just to appease me, and doesn't seem as thrilled about eating as some other dogs, but that may just be his general disposition... In any case he is eating his daily meals and getting water and is a seemingly healthy boy that makes for some good photo ops...

Ok… So, to clear all this up now...

• No I didn't just open a new bag of food... I transitioned him off what he was eating at the kennel over to the food i give to him now over a 2-3 week period... After that he was scarfing the food down...
• We went to the vet, not about that, but for getting shots, and all was well
• I started feeding him in his crate, and closing the door, he eventually started reluctantly eating the food as a way to get out I think
• I started transitioning him to eating outside of the crate. Now he does pretty good, but he is not the type of dog that goes crazy to eat at his scheduled time. I put food out in the AM before work, and the PM when I get home from work. Sometimes he walks over and slowly eats it, and sometimes he just ignores it to comeback later.

Anyways, all is fine. He is going through his puppy rebellion phase, but overall nothing too bad, and honestly I can't complain.

Thanks for all the suggestions and thoughts, even though they didn't help me, I hope they can help somebody else...

Attached are some more recent pictures of El Bandito

So I have had a 3-4 month old puppy for about a month now… When I first got him home, he was apprehensive about eating, then he became a machine... He was actually eating so fast that I needed to slow him down cause he had the hiccups after. So i put a kong in the bowl, and he worked like a machine around it...

The last 2 days, he seems basically uninterested in kibble. When he got home, i fed him exactly what he was fed at his kennel (iams puppy or something), but quickly started working him over to TOTW High Prarie Puppy. I have tested both, and he doesn't have an interest, so neither of the foods that he liked about a week ago seem to interest him...

I usually wet the food, but that doesn't seem to matter. Also I have tried other sources of delivery, like kong, the floor, my hand, and none seem to interest him... It's been going on for 1.5-2 days, and he doesn't seem out of any other sorts... Still has the same energy, seems to mope a bit, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Is this a phase, or something I should be seriously worried about?

Here is one of them! This is Bandit… I adopted him 2 weeks ago, and just stumbled on this post... Don't worry, he has a great home, and I hope that his brothers and sisters do alike...

Trust me, he is a basenji... Looks and intelligence!