Posts made by yodabasenji

Hey guys!
Sorry about disappearing but I decided to quit the internet research, stop panicking and analyzing every aspect of my puppy.
I focused on getting to know him better and creating a connection while applying the methods you suggested above.

I needed to figure out how much exercise and other activity he needs, how to calm him down and he really needed to get used to touching and handling, so slooowly things got better.
He still bites, but much much less (I don't need to walk in boots at home anymore!) and the biting is mostly connected to playing and sometimes him not getting what he wants but we're working on that.

Thanks again for all the advice, it really helped.
And as you said multiple times, it takes time, patience and consistency and it will get better.

@eeeefarm
One of my coworkers suggested using a shock collar, because it worked for her dog, but I really think that is where I draw the line here.
Someone even suggested to bite him back, supposedly it works

@scagnetti
I think it's probably best for us to avoid spraying, since we have problems with positive reinforcement, we can just do more damage with aversive.

Today we went on shorter walks and it was better although I think it's the excitement he gets with runs that are bad for him, because the more he runs, the more he bites.

@scagnetti
Thank you for the suggestions, I tried luring and picking him up today, when he just decided to sit a few times in the middle of the road and didn't want to move and it went much better.
We were doing the walks much like you've described, we take him somewhere where he can experience grass, fresh ground, woods, but we were overdoing things and didn't realize that being in such rich environment is enough for now. Usually he runs at least half of the walk, if not more.

Unfortunately pulling is much of a problem, today he litterally did a flip because he pulled so hard and sudden I do try to stand still when he's pulling and go forward only when he releases, but since he pulls so much, we can do this all day and get nowhere. It's a bit easier on the long leash, since we try to run along (at least for now), but still there is a lot of pulling and I'm really afraid he'll injure himself.

We had first day of puppy school today and it was a disappointment, group trainings are really not for him at this moment, too many distractions.

@eeeefarm
I was worried that he's getting too much exercise. We did start with shorter walks of course, but since this excessive biting started, we thought he needed more. Maybe his behaviour is now worse because he's too tired and doesn't know how to calm down and things just escalate.
We'll go back to 30 minutes and see how it goes.

We are constantly contacting the breeder but she says that biting is normal and that we should spray him with water when he's biting and put chilli on things we don't want him to bite. We were quite reserved with these suggestions, but yesterday we had no other option and tried with the water, although I'm not sure it's a good idea.
I don't have any information how things are going with other pups, but she did send us a video of a dog from her previous litter 2 years ago doing all kinds of tricks, just to show us that it's possible to train her dogs I guess.

@elbrant
Yes, we really need a focus what we want of him and set some specific goals.
But at least we did right by starting teaching him recall very soon, probably the only really consistent thing we are doing.

@scagnetti said in biting..again:

A lot of pet dog owners don't have access to these tools on their own or can't understand it on their own or don't care to understand it period. Having a well-adjusted dog is underrated apparently. In the end, we all want dogs for different reasons, and there are many tools at our disposable that we can use to help shape our dog into what we want (and can live with).

I really want a well adjusted dog, that's why I'm annoying all of you with millions of questions.
I want to at least try doing the right things before it's too late.

@eeeefarm
We are aware that he is getting too much attention and we're trying to limit that but it's going very slow, small victories like JENGOSMonkey said.

@jengosmonkey
Thanks, hope we'll get there someday!

@scagnetti
"all crazy" means those times when he starts biting everyone and everything and is not responding to anyting.
I was observing him this weekend and the biting starts from the moment he wakes up in the morning (or anytime during the day) and we put a hand inside the crate. Then he goes potty and the biting intensifies.
He settles and starts behaving nicely only around meals (so I guess he now understands what a "good" behaviour is) and as soon as he eats, he starts biting again.
The biting gets most ferocious, if we want him to do something he doesn't want to. For example, I knew he was tired after a walk today, because at the end he did a lot of breaks and didn't want to walk anymore. But when we got home, he didn't want to come inside and I pulled him in and then he bit me pretty hard quite a few times.

We go on walks 3 times per day and they last for around 1h. And usually we make him look for things (ball, food, us), try some recall or some trick so that the walks are interactive and there is a lot of running.
We also got a sniffing mat and he got frustrated because he couldn't find the food right away and he bit off part of the mat.
At least the handling drills seem to be going ok (I hope).

Just one more question, if we put him in the crate to calm down without toys and he starts screaming, what should we do?

Thanks again!

@scagnetti
Ok, I think I understand now about the handling drills, thanks.

And our thought was, that if playing in the crate calms him down, that should be a good thing, but I guess we keep doing things wrong.

THIS IS SO HARD!!

@eeeefarm
He doesn't mind being touched while chewing, that's why I asked. But I'll leave him alone to chew it off

@eeeefarm
We've been doing this from the start, he has a favourite toy and chewing stuff in there and he can only use it inside of the crate and he isn't even trying to take it out anymore.
Yesterday he went all crazy after dinner and we sent him to crate and there he amused himself with the chewing and playing for 30 mins and then settled and fell asleep.
That's all good, right?

One more question about the handling drills. When he's chewing on something he's supposed to (toy, bully) and he's super focused on the chewing, is it ok to touch him or is that sending some wrong information?

Thanks!

@jengosmonkey
This really doesn't look too optimistic to me

@zande
Thank you, will send it!

@scagnetti
As I've already written above to eeeefarm, we will try to take things slowly and start expecting less or at least be reasonable with our expectations.
See, it's the little things that we miss, like him going to crate when he wants it, we were just happy that he goes in there willingly when he's tired.
We've started focusing on handling drills and will be doing just that this week, without mixing 1000 of things at a time.

I can't say thank you enough, you guys are really great!

@zande
Yoda is Wakanda Legend Deep Purple.
And this is him at 7 weeks vs. today at 11 weeks

@eeeefarm
Overthinking and confusing seems the most probable problem here. Maybe we'll relax slowly when we start understanding each other and things will be easier.

THANK YOU for all of your advice, it's been very useful. We really need to make a simpler and clearer plans, set some rules and stick to them and most importantly not expect to change anything overnight.

@elbrant
Will try with this feeding method too, thank you!!

@eeeefarm
We are a first time dog owner, so we have zero experience. I am 36 and my sister is 45 years old, so we kind of consider us to be responsible adults able to have a dog
The process of getting a puppy really took us more than 10 years, because we wanted to make sure, we will have the time, space, money to take care of him.
We did a lot of reading about different dogs so that we could choose the right one for us. I wanted a corgi for more than 20 years, but she wanted a basenji and after spending some time with a corgi, I too decided that maybe a basenji is a better choice for us, but I was really afraid from the start if we'll manage his personality. And things do seem a lot easier in therory, especially in YouTube videos!!!
I am a neurologist (with PhD in neuroscience) and my job is to overanalyze behaviours and now I'm doing that to my dog. Whenever I consider something not 'normal', I go and read the internet about it and watch hundreds of videos and get frustrated by so many different options and information. But the whole frustration stems from the fact that we have no experience in raising a dog and we probably complicate a lot more than needed.

I did try chaining method by luring him away with treat while biting and then get him into a sit or heel position and then reward him, but I didn't do it often enough I guess. Patience is not my or my sister's best quality, that I have to admit and we really need to work on that.
And he can't know the rules, because we probably don't know how to set them, that's why we can't wait for puppy school to start.

We are using the clicker training, but instead of clicker we use 'YES', because we knew from the start we'll keep loosing the clicker.

And also, I've never owned a cat either, so I don't know what to expect with that type of behaviour too

Thanks again for all the help!