Basenji Training

Congratulations on your new Puppy, how about some pics:D

LOL! I know that shocked look… Cody has recently started mimicking Moe, letting out a little bark here and there. He always looks around, a little surprised, like he doesn't know where the noise is coming from. He's not usually very vocal and mostly just grunts and "talks". The bark sounds like a cross between a human mimicking a bark and the beginning of a yodel. We try to coax him by howling/barooing at him, but he just looks at us like we're crazy. hmmm... maybe I should look into the book too.... nah!

I think one of the reasons I've been successful with my fence in the last 4 years is that my dogs were trained when they were young. It's a possible reason. Duke has crossed the line a couple times: The first cause was because the battery had run out of juice, my error. The second time was because his collar had loosened up so that it was ineffective. In both instances, Duke was lured by other dogs on a walk with owners passing our house. These things have made me more mindful to check them every couple of months. I do worry about my dogs with the invisible fence, so much that to this day, they don't go out alone, never, not even in the cold frigid winter months. Thankfully, they quickly do their business and come running back into our warm home. However, I wish that we could erect a nice big privacy fence, but my neighborhood association does not allow them or a visible fence of any kind. :mad:

Just curious - have you tested the drug yet? How is it working? I take it you can read norwegian as you live her. If you want to, I can email you som info I got after a session with Gry L?berg regarding my Giants seperation anxiety, it has a training program in it, and some general info.

My Basenjis have always loved radishes… I would start them young with them... just tossing them on the floor whole... they would roll and toss them around the floor and then finally biting into them... a couple of days of that, they were hooked... makes a great treat... but I did make sure they were a bit on the sweet side then the "hot" side

Arlo does "downs" like Zoni (Aries' niece :)) does….with extreme enthusiasm by slamming her paws to the ground. Love it.

Thanks for the link, Ivoss! And thanks for the wire suggestions, as well guys. Chris is actually a plumber, so we have a surplus of PVC lying around! I'm sure that's going to be Chris' next favorite project; once it gets going I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes. :) Any ideas on what the maximum space between pipes would be? We don't want him wriggling and squeezing his way through. This might really help for while I'm away!

Awesome, huge congrats..

I know this post is old, but its always good to have lots of different answers when researching anything on the forum. Mine crate together. I have 2 separate crates in case one is sick or in case they start to not get along in the crate together (like I thought would happen when Callie went into season). However, when I first brought Callie home, she was used to being crated with one of her littermates, so she did not like being crated alone. She escaped almost every day & destroyed my blinds (thank goodness that was all!). I started crating her with Lola, and although Lola gets testy when Callie won't settle down quickly, they both do very well crated together when I'm not home & when in the car. I can still crate them separately, but they prefer to be together so they can cuddle together & stay warm. I do always keep in mind though, it could go horribly wrong sometime when I'm not around. Its a calculated risk I take, but thus far it works out well as I have a small car and am forced to crate them together when we go anywhere.

@bernicem77: I took Luke to his first puppy class tonight, and WOW. He would not listen to me at all. He was more concerned with what the other dogs were doing than what we were supposed to be doing. What kind of treats did you guys use when trainning your B's? Like I said in my previous post, this is similar to what happened with me. Zoni had to get comfortable in the room, sometimes took her about 10 minutes or so. After a while she got used to it but was still very interested in everyone else, particularly if we were moving around the room. Really practice on attention exercises at home and that will help. I went through a range of different treats, and I think I found for class the smellier was better for getting her attention. Although not smelly, beef lung worked really well for me too and it is easy to use and break up into little pieces. Little biscuit-type treats weren't high value enough for her in class.

Nosework is different than tracking though it is a related sport. The dogs are not following a laid track. They are brought into an area and must find a target odor, birch, anise, or clove, hidden in that area. At least that is the long term goal. At the beginning, we are using either a prized toy or treat as their target. It is sort of like the work a drug sniffing dog would do.

Knipper: Kicked him in the head??? :eek::eek::eek: I'd have done more than tear just a stripe out of her. My stomach turns to knots just thinking of someone kicking a dog in the head!:mad::mad: Can't say I blame Blaze at all for growling at her and meaning it. Too bad about kids, though. :( It makes me sad the things folks can do to change a dog's attitude.

I spent 2 tours at Ft. Hood, know how busy you can be. Plenty of fall coursing in the area too. I got my first two basenjis in Tx back in 86/87.

@Thylacine: The shock collar I use is a sports dog. It has given our basenji nearly unlimited freedom on his long romps. He might get shocked twice a week. It changed his whole life. When I took my dog to the vet, the entire staff were congratulating me on making a common sense decision. The vet said" That will be one less basenji in the shelter. Being a dedicated liberal it is painful to see such obtuse political correctness as is often exhibited on this forum. Be aware if you admit to using a shock collar the PC's will hound you to death. HA! I voted for Bush twice, I know all about it. Seriously though, I appreciate hearing from someone that has used it effectively and humanely. And while I agree with the theory that walking a dog helps in training, I cannot believe that any human is going to be able to give a basenji, of all dogs, enough exercise through walking unless they can do 20 miles a day. My dog out runs golden retrievers and still wants more, no way I can compete with that just going for a walk. If I can only get my giant hamster wheel hooked up to my generator…

There are several different sports you can get into with basenjis, with varying degrees of work and effort on your part. Lure coursing is a lot of fun, and is pretty much an instinctual thing with basenjis. If your basenji has high prey drive (rips your arm off to dart off after squirrels while you're walking, etc), s/he will probably enjoy lure coursing. Since its instinctual, there's not a whole lot of training you can do, or need to do. Getting started in lure coursing… go the akc website & do an events search for Lure coursing tests & trials in your state. It helps if you're willing to travel to surrounding states, as there aren't a ton of great places for coursing, so you could also search nearby states at the same time to find events. Also, go to asfa.org and click on the events link there. AKC & ASFA are 2 different lure coursing bodies, so the points you accumulate in one are not applicable to the other. By looking at events in your area, you can find names of the clubs that host events in your area. From there, google them for their website & contact info. You'll be able to find people in your area who can help you further. Just doing an event search on ASFA & then googleing the host clubs, I actually found the Basenji Club of Southwestern Wisconsin http://www.bcosw.org/ and the Midwest Coursing Club http://midwestcoursing.homestead.com/. Those should be a good start for coursing. If you want to get into agility, google agility training facilities in your area. Agility takes a lot of hard work and training for both you and your dog. You won't be ready to compete for a while, sometimes people train for a couple of years before they compete. However, its a GREAT learning and bonding experience for both you and the dog. Its a lot of fun! There's also straight racing and oval track racing. I don't know much about those, but google NOTRA & LGRA & you'll find websites for both. Again, look for events in your area & then contact the host clubs. There are a ton of events, and you can learn about most of them at akc.org. There's scent tracking, conformation, weight pulling, etc etc. You could also look into getting a Canine Good Citizen & visiting nursing homes or children's hospitals. I'm sure somebody who lives in Illinois will chime in with what they do locally.

@NerdyDogOwner: On the topic of pee, I have a question/issue. I have noticed Gizmo seems to quite often have a drop hanging on his penis a lot of the time. Also it's sometimes white, almost as if it's sperm. Now the first thing I thought of was your typical puberty signs, wetdreams etc. since his blanket also has quite a few drops stains on it. Is this normal? Or should I be worried/aware about something else? Possibly just sloughed skin cells.

Rocky does it again! #1 in LGRA/NOTRA for 2009,that makes two years in a row.My boy will be enjoying a nice steak tonight for this great feat!

Yay! Congrats again!!

Congrats to Zest!!

I just saw this, Congrats Nicki and Liz!