@yaleezaforeva - thanks I didn't know about that. We won't be around this weekend, but maybe next time.

My last Basenji's name was BENJI -- we use to love saying "Benji the Basenji" it was always so funny. We put him down around 4 years ago, now we have RUFFLES. lol

I have a 4 year old and live near Mavis and Derry which is almost border to Brampton.

Text me sometime. [private phone number removed]

Recent picture of "Ruffles", age 3.

We are on our 2nd Basenji, he'll be 3 in February. We got him when he was 5 months old. He was bitey and chewed everything not his own.

Try to discourage this behavior immediately because if it gets out of hand it will continue for a long time and eventually he will seek other family members to play bite with that he knows he can get away with (smaller children, etc ).

Get him a lot of toys, make sure to correct his behavior at every opportunity. Do not ever rough house play with the dog using your hands. Get a basket and keep his toys in the basket so his toys are in his pile, not scattered around the house. He will chew the basket too, get another one. Keep his toys together.

I disagree with using crate if that's where his bed is when you are not home and leave him in.

If he bites you, you can hold him by sides of neck scruff and tell him sternly "NO"! An alternative is to lay him on ground and hold him down and say "NO"! You'd be surprised but at 4-5 months he can already be trying to be alpha male over you, so one exercise you can also consider for this is to hold him in front of you and keep a long stare until he looks away, your family members must be the alpha and your dog needs to start learning the pecking order. Some may not agree with any of this, but I'm not here to judge. Basenji's can he difficult breed, some can turn out very very stubborn and this is a very determined breed. Also ask your breeder for recommendations.

The suggestion of socializing with other dogs is good idea so he learns more how to behave around others.

Good luck, it will get better over time.

Both my basenjis did this regularly.

The basenji I have now is 2.5 years old but did it since we had him at 5 months old.

Usually he eats grass first, then throws up. Sometimes he just throws up without the grass eating.

So sorry for your loss Perry, as you know I just lost mine this week and just the thought makes me sob. I hope you are hanging in there. Definitely rescue another one if the chance comes up. I'm hoping to do the same.

So sad to have lost my Benji yesterday, he was a great family pet and integrated really well in our home along with our oldest teenage daughter, 4 year old and new born. Never any trouble at all, he was the greatest dog and I will miss him forever.

The way in which he went was the strangest and something that I'm having such a hard time forgetting and is so upsetting. Note some of this is graphic.

4am Thursday morning he went to the back door to go outside, when he came back a few minutes later he was laying on the step to get in and couldn't get up them. His hind legs were dragging behind him and he was yelping a lot. I pulled him in and he started to just drag himself across the floor fast and couldn't settle down. I brought him on his spot on the couch and tried to comfort and calm him down, and he bit my hand. He's never bit me before at all, or like this anyway. I tried using his collar to control his neck but it was difficult he would snap back quite easily so I'd have to let go of it.

I brought I'm back on the floor to see what he would do and noticed some stool showing but not coming out. I massaged around the area until it all came out. He had no control over it and unable to move back legs at all still. I let him go again and he took off into another room under the dining room table. Always yelping in pain he would move around for a bit, stop, and then carry on again. I brought his bed to him and he just started biting and attacking it. I took a baby gate to try and herd him a little bit and he started to bite the gate, and soon there was a lot of blood and I moments later his canine tooth was laying on the carpet next to him. He was biting so hard his one tooth came out completely.

My wife was on the phone with pet emergency and they suggested to wrap him with big comforter or blanket so he couldn't bite anymore and then bring him in. We got a blanket and I managed to drag him to the front door so we would be ready to leave. We have two small kids at home so had to wait for my sister to arrive so we could leave, there was no way I could drive him to emergency myself. While waiting he had bit me again, this time my arm and it was a really bad one. It's also then I noticed his other canine was completely twisted sideways and pierced through the side of his lip. I broke down I asked him what happened and why he had to do this. I was so mortified and sad by what he was doing to himself and I couldn't really stop him, or it was too late.

Pinning him down in the van the whole way while my wife drove was difficult, as he wanted to move free. The yelping crying was terrible and lasted the whole time. We got to the vet and the vet said it could have been a herniated disc, and didn't seem to have blood in his back legs and that maybe a blood clot formed somewhere that stopped flow. There wouldn't be more answers without more testing but given his age and medical history, I decided that it would be best to put him to sleep. This was not what I wanted to do but felt I had to.

A few weeks earlier we were told through some X-ray's that he had tumours or cancer in one of his lungs, and possibly he had a ulcer because he seemed to have been digesting blood. We took him in because he had developed a cough and short breathing. His white blood cell count was very high, and his platelets were really low. He went on antibiotics and some other medications for his stomach ulcer and after a week practically seemed back to his normal self. That is why all what happened most recently is so surprising and shocking. Maybe it was all related somehow, but still, I love this dog, I will miss him and wish the ending could have been so different. I never imagined an ending like this.

I miss you forever Benji.

@jonny:

learn to run?????
i walk our two basenjis at once. want to talk about pulling. lol
some days are better than others. depends on how many SQUIRRELS are out. and if other people are walking their dogs. :)
usually they are pretty good… until a leaf, walmart sack, bird, cat, squrrel runs in front of us. my sister asked if i ever had any fun walking them. i think they are GREAT fun. :) i get a GREAT work out.

My Basenji Benji walks me every day, he usually pulls and is very eager to get to the park we go to, then for the walk home he's calmed down and more reserve.

In my mind I've convinced myself that when we first leave the house we are going "hunting", but after a failed attempt we stroll home casually and modestly.

Basenji's are so crazy. :D

I'm just writing to update that since the switch back, Benji is doing well again. Bile only once so far, and no mud-pies at all either. Now we're learning to deal with the snow, but that's a whole other story.

I'm still researching what new food to transition Benji over too, also he is only eating all his food late at night, none in the morning or during the day. Because of that pattern, I leave it out all day. If I really want him to eat twice a day, perhaps I should remove it at night all together to see if the next morning he manages to eat?

What a great escape artist! :O

I've owned different breeds, and now only owned a Basenji for 3 weeks and from what I've seen with my Benji if there is somewhere he can not get to, he simply just wants to get there. Basenjis are real funny that way. He has not figured out how to get down wooden stairs to basement and it just kills him that he can't. Too funny.

Anyway, I had a baby gate blocking stairs to the 2nd floor. It worked a few days, then I came home and the bunji cords holding it in place were chewed off.

Due to stool problems (switching foods) I had confined him to a room (laundry room) for a few days just until he's stabilized. Yesterday I came home, my underwear were on the floor, he had chewed his brand new retractable leash in half, opened the closet door and pulled down some hangars, chewed some of my daughters crocks, and clawed the door frame like mad.

I somehow think these little guys just want to feel free and know that they are not confined. My Benji just HATES when a door somewhere is closed even though he does not want to go in there.

In your case, if he is being super destructive to your home or himself, you need to crate him and go from there. Crating is not a bad thing, you can make it very warm and cozy as if his bed. You might even want to make it is permanent bed and leave it open when you are home so he just sleeps there.

Good luck no matter what you do!

Even with his free feeding routine, I found he only ate a little in morning (or none), at dinner time, and before bed. I can try putting out in morning and at night and removing after 20 minutes, but usually in morning he's freaking out over why everyone is leaving, I'm not sure he will settle down enough to just focus on eating. He was free-feeding before I got him, so maybe best to keep that way until he's back to normal.

This week I put him back on KBN unfortunately, but already his stool is firm. I just want to rule out any possiblities with all the changes so that's why I felt I had to. I don't want to go to boiling food right now but if the problems continue I will. I think I did the food change too fast, I thought he was more robust and I definitely did not wait a month as I've only had him for 3 weeks.

What do people here think of Royal Canin - Chicken meal, brown rice, rice, oatmeal, chicken fat, wheat gluten, natural chicken flavor, dried beet pulp (sugar removed)….

Another one I found was "by Nature" - no wheat, no corn, no soy…...

I'm browsing though the dog food section on Petsmart.com

I will continue this topic in the FOOD FORUMS since likely this is not a health issue at this time:

http://www.basenjiforums.com/showthread.php?t=7726&page=2

Thank you everyone for you comments, I am new here, and new to Basenji's so all the help is appreciated. The longer I keep little Benji confined, the more destruction he starts doing to the laundry room! :D

Thing is, sometimes his stool is just fine, othertimes soft and mud-pie splatter everywhere. It's happened twice in the house when I wasn't home (thank god for bissel) so I don't know if it was explosive, or him just going to the washroom and not being able to hold it.

On regular walks and letting him out back in the yard, his stool has been a little soft but still properly shaped.

Can anyone say the exact right time it takes for a dog to adjust to food before you can make a good decision that it is good or bad?

@NerdyDogOwner:

Dear lord, what's with ppl 2xposting topics latley?

Sorry I didn't know which forum was better, but since his problem could be related to either food or health both places made sense to me. I did appologize first thing in the other forum.

To your suggestion however, I hate to think of even doing it, but I think I've decided to do just what you said… put him back on original food. It was probably too much change at once, and also to many variables now to properly determine what is wrong. There could be an underlying health issue so I should go back to square one.

There is just not a lot of consistency with the stool. Sometimes it is okay, sometimes it is not which is where I am puzzled. The bile vomit could just be empty stomach.

Yesterday, he barfed beige colored mush. It honestly looked like mashed potatoes but the food he eats is brown. At 2am this morning, he barfed again and this time it was bits of food and liquid.

Does anyone know if Basenji's are especially sensitive to glueten, healthy or with any diseases common with Basenji's?

I rescued a 4-5 year old male from an owner who treated him more like a cat. Never spent quality time with him, never trained him, no routine, ignored him, yelled at him, and never took him for walks (didn't even own a collar when I got him). Little Benji didn't even own his own bed!

I noticed he was very curious at first about our family, our house. You have to let him explore, get into trouble and use posititive reinforcement only. Especially if you suspect your dog was abused, using negative reinforcement will only cause more damage. Fore example, Benji was obviously use to jumping up on counters to see what's going on, or on the dinner table. In 2 days he was trained to stop doing that with a simple squirt bottle. Now he only needs to see the squirt bottle and he knows it means not to jump. Some habits can be changed, others could be a little harder but use treats and lures to start changing habits. Eventually the lures won't be needed and he will do it because you tell him he is a "good boy" and loves to hear that from the whole family.

My Benji was also very jumpy when you approached him at first, didn't even know how to walk on a leash… but I started walking him 3 times a day and that is the best way to get him use to being very close and beside you. Get all family members to do this and spend one-on-one time with your Prince. Now, Benji just LOVES going for walks. I also went through a lot of treats the first 2 weeks, teaching him to stop on command, sitting at streets, and of course my favourite saying "Let's Go" and watch him run off like a mad man!

Benji now has two beds, stays off the couch, off tables, comes 50% of the time you call him (that's just Basenji trait - hehe), and loves the whole family. I'm now only in the 3rd week and can't believe the transformation of little Benji. He's sometimes up to no good, like chewing apart a bunji cord to keep a gate in place, or clawing a door frame to try and escape confinement, but hey he's a dog not a robot....

:D

Let me answer some questions from various posts:

I should also have mentioned that he will sometimes try and eat grass. I know dogs can do this if their stomach is upset.

The previous owner left his food out all day. I wasn't a fan of this and preferred to put food out in morning, and after work to get him into routine of eating and going to the bathroom. But he does not eat on that schedule and likes to eat whenever he wants to eat. This is usually dinner time and late at night, but never usually in the morning.

He doesn't smell at all, his coat is beautiful, and teeth are very clean. I did pick some plaque off his canines near his gum line because it was forming near the gum line and this is bad and can lead to gum disease (my 14 year old mini daschund was testament to that)

The bile is once per week, the soft stool is not always mud-pie like, usually his stool is good enough to pick up (as I have been for 3 weeks now). I thought he was house trained well, so I don't know if these accidents are a result of something else? The first 2 weeks he did not have a single accident and I let him run around the whole house (but blocked off 2nd floor stairs to limit activity).

Are you sure it is urine? Bile is also yellow in color, but can be odorless. My Benji has started doing this about once per week, he is 4 years old I just adopted him and only had him for 3 weeks.

I'm sorry to post this twice, I also posted this under Health Issues:

I adopted a male 4 year old Basenji named Benji 3 weeks ago.

The previous owner had him on Kibbles and Bit's (poor little fella) so I switched him to Purina Adult Pro Plan Chicken & Rice (blended the two until finished). He is vomitting bile 1 - 2 per week, and is now having occassional soft stool.

I use to let him have free run of the house while at work during the day, but now after 2 major messy accidents I can not leave him with free run of the house.

Does anyone have any similar experience or suggestions? Obviously I don't want him on Kibble 'n Bits, but perhaps the Pro Plan is not working out for him either.

I live in Canada, so might not have all the same food suggested by some people here so please keep that in mind.

Thanks for any insight… we want Benji to be happy and not have to be locked up all day.

I adopted a male 4 year old Basenji named Benji 3 weeks ago.

The previous owner had him on Kibbles and Bit's (poor little fella) so I switched him to Purina Adult Pro Plan Chicken & Rice (blended the two until finished). He is vomitting bile 1 - 2 per week, and is now having occassional soft stool.

I use to let him have free run of the house while at work during the day, but now after 2 major messy accidents I can not leave him with free run of the house.

Does anyone have any similar experience or suggestions? Obviously I don't want him on Kibble 'n Bits, but perhaps the Pro Plan is not working out for him either.

I live in Canada, so might not have all the same food suggested by some people here so please keep that in mind.

Thanks for any insight… we want Benji to be happy and not have to be locked up all day.