Behavioral Issues

Shirley, excellent video. I love Susan Garret and have used her stuff before. In fact, I have known trainers with dogs who used that for cat chasing or reactiveness to other dogs when walking. For many dogs who didn't have incredible prey drive (especially in a home situation) .. it really worked.

My Basenjis would head right for the horse poop and the only question was whether it would be eating or rolling in it. Usually eating......they preferred to roll in more disgusting things. My niece's GSD was attracted to goose poop. Hard to do a tracking test across a field where geese had been. It can be very difficult or impossible to keep a loose dog out of poop. As Debra says, perhaps you can hose it away. Good luck! (BTW, this is one of the reasons.....and there are many.....why flex leads are not a good idea. Most owners have no idea what their dogs may be consuming at the end of a long lead.)

Acepromazine is a drug I will never ever give to a dog again. http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=570 I agree with Shirley, it seems very fearful. Sadly, that's often a trait you can work to help control, but it is something your dog simply may be born with. You can work on desensitizing to vet... by doing by, let them toss a treat, go home. Do it for quite a while. Ditto on muzzle.. do it at home for a few mins, take off and treat. Work on making both as unstressful as possible. But better to muzzle than have a bite incident.

I have stood out in the rain with Cara for over an hour, her screaming, crying, holding up one foot after another... over and over. And no, she ever, ever pottied. Which is why I found the concrete back porch acceptable.

@neve said in Endless energy: @eeeefarm I think I would like to expand her vocabulary (and yes, I would love some insight into teaching her to find named toys). And then get her into agility in a few months! This is how you proceed. First, teach "pick it up" as a generic term. Use a favourite toy. You can clicker train this behaviour easily, moving from clicking proximity to touching to picking up the toy. Perhaps she will offer picking it up without going through all the steps, but you don't want to throw it for her, just have her pick it up from the floor. After she is doing this reliably (and not before!), add your cue words "pick it up" so she understands the meaning. Once she is reliable you can generalize the behaviour with other objects and in other places. When she is reliably picking up anything you indicate, start again with one object. This time say "pick up the ______" (whatever it is). Get her doing this reliably, change to a different item. Again, use "pick up the ______" but with the new name. Then put both items together. Start with the one you know she prefers, and ask her to pick it up. If she gets it wrong, don't reward, but ask again. A few repetitions until she is getting it correctly, then ask for the other one. Again, don't reward until she gets it right. Practice until she differentiates with the two objects, then add a third and name it.......and so on. Don't go too quickly, give her time to understand. Once she is reliably managing to pick up the correct item by name, you can gradually move to having her find and bring you the item you desire. I like Charles Eisenmann's methods, so I would start using full sentences and let her find the meaning, e.g. I could say to my boy, "I sure wish I had a red bone right now", and he would go find it and bring it to me. Or "I wonder where the frog is?", and again, he would search for the item requested. Makes for great games, especially when you hide the items around the house! :)

Obviously I agree that a vet check for a medical issue is first and foremost. The dramatic increase is a signal that something medically is off-- could be urinary track, hell could be crystal or thyroid or many things. A full evaluation is called for anytime your dog has a sudden change or increase in a behavior. However, >>We've always had a bit of difficulty getting her entirely housebroken - she messes in the house every once in a while, but had a months long streak of being good.<< is not a great sign. Even if she has a medical issue, you still have a problem because you have a dog that is not housebroken and it is so much better to spend the next 3 or 4 months really addressing this than spend the next 8 to 10 yrs living with it. Housebreaking is a bit like being pregnant... you are or you aren't. Sure, a sick dog doesn't count. But unless sick, or some crisis leaving a dog so long it has no option, pottying in the house is simply not okay. So once you get the medical checked out, go back in time, and retrain as if a puppy. It's a little easier since she already knows to go out when you are home... but a whole LOT harder because when she does potty, you generally aren't. I see no way to do it without returning to crate training, not just when you are gone, but home also. Basically you are going to have to go out with her to potty, sing her praise, give her a treat. Take her out when she gets up in the morning, every 3 or 4 hours during the day, after meals, before bedtime. If she doesn't ever potty in the house at night, great. If she does, then her new sleeping zone is a crate. It helps if you have one where she generally sleeps and a 2nd on near the main action for during the day... because you need to start putting her in the crate when you cannot actively watch her even when you are HOME until you get 100 percent no house accidents. I'll put a couple of links with clear instructions. Since this mostly is if left alone, separation anxiety might be the stimulus. Sometimes medications for a while, plus really good toys they only get when left alone (especially mind stimulating ones like Shirley suggested), Kongs with some smeared cream cheese or peanut butter (don't use a lot!! Keep a couple in the freezer!), safe chew toys, can help get the dog over the anxiety. Talk to your vet, because you can't effectively do housetraining while not helping with the separation issues. http://www.vetstreet.com/dr-marty-becker/its-never-too-late-to-house-train-an-adult-dog-heres-how-to-start http://www.canineprofessionals.com/housebreaking-adult-dogs

Absolutely agree with what's been said. Training at home in his safe area with little distraction will help cement the desired behaviors before you need to take him out to a distractive environment. I have a boy who was very reactive (though not at the level of yours) at the various dog events we attended. To fix this, I would sometimes go to class or a local event with him not to participate but to "acclimate"; we would just site there and watch. At first I would bring his crate along and he would get treats dropped in the crate every time another dog came near, eventually we worked to the point where he could sit on my lap but still get treats when anxiety levels rose. Now he only gets aroused when particular dogs appear and even then he's pretty laid back compared to previously. The muzzle idea should work but you will have to train him to accept it first at home before you take him out. It takes time and patience and you can't rush this.

I set up a schedule for my dog's and they always potty train quickly. I take the puppy outside first thing in the morning, after meals, after playing, after nap and right before bed. That usually works well. Of course, I have the luxury of working from home. But this should work for you on weekends.

@Muro-Pads Rule of thumb, best to do opposites... not always a hard/fast rule, but 90% of the time. As they say "it works till it doesn't"

@kjdonkers said in Help! My basenji is bitting: @DebraDownSouth No use for further discussion, if everyone outside your sphere of reference is a quack, a nut job, a con artist. Different planets. Stay healthy! Everyone outside of provable or at least probably science, especially when they peddle for money, does fit my definition of quack and cons. But I slept with a bar of soap in desperation with restless leg syndrome. I have tried things that have almost as little scientific basis, but I do so armed with knowing that. My issue is people selling things as science/proven when they aren't. My issue is vulnerable, desperate or uneducated people getting taken in by hustlers. Not a different planet, just the science based and honest part of the same one. Having seen too many people hurt, or their animals hurt, or children hurt, by false science/medicine/therapies... I am sorry that you think belief in scientific proof and honesty about what is or is not proven is wrong. If someone says to me, "I drink vinegar and it helps my arthritis, but there's no research proving it works"... good. I might even try it. But when some quack says "pay me $100 and I'll tell you why your dog bites or where your missing child is or if your husband is cheating on you or whatever"... they deserve to be horsewhipped. I am sorry if I sounded dismissive to you personally. It wasn't my intent. It was reaction to what you wrote. In general, we're on common ground. We don't have to agree on things to stay on the same planet. :)

@Muro-Pads said in Hiperactive 16 month old B...: He's 16 months old. I did hire a personal trainer, and accomplish basic training, basenji style with no immediate come, short stay and no heel what's so ever 😜 Lol. But now that you mention it, I haven't been paying much attention to brain stimulation. I will try that. Any games in mind? He won't fetch...not that I expect him to... Well, you should be able to get an immediate come in an enclosed area. Even if you use a 40 ft line and reel him in, it does help. And heeling... they can do it but it's more fun not to. :) My basenjis all played fetch, btw. I start out with them inside, tossing the toy up in the air, playing tug with it... get REALLY revved up...toss off bed. They get it, bring back. Happy reward, more play. Then I work to the hall way. And I had to admit, once outside, it's 20/80 on getting it back more than a time or 2. HOWEVER, I took a lunge whip, tied a toy to it, and can get them to chase it in circles til their tongues hang out. As for mind/senses use. Teach scent games. :) My daughter used peanut butter on treats and went in room, down hall, places in the house, eventually outside. She was 8 working with a rottweiler who has far less ability than our basenji. :) Here's a page with some tips http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/pets/dog-behavior/fun-nose-games-for-your-dog Dog toys that they have to manipulate to get the treat help. I have to admit mine never liked them unless they were so noisy you needed ear plugs. Favorite ever was a freaking heavy wigler milk jug which I could throw a few treats in, toss outside and let the dog knock it all over the yard getting the toy out. But not really that mind stimulating once they figure it out. I keep looking at this one but not sure how well Cara would go for it: http://www.amazon.com/TRIXIE-Pet-Products-Board-Level/dp/B0054Q9TMA/ref=pd_bxgy_199_img_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1226G4ZQN61BFCV4RSE9

Please spay your bitch now. While it may not help, it could and it absolutely can prevent an oops litter with her son. I agree totally, wait until he is older to neuter. Her age.. just now maturing. It isn't uncommon for them to become dog aggressive as they mature, and no, you can't stop it. The only safe method is control, keep safe, and accept that some things are simply the nature of the dog. More dogs have been killed/injured by people trying to make them get along with other dogs than anything. Dog management is the key. Absolutely thyroid testing, but don't expect that, even if she has issues, to cure the problem. Can you talk to the breeder to see how her bloodline and litter mates are?

Sounds like a healthy, decent, civilized B to me!

Unless there is true fighting leave them alone. They will work things out - the resource guarding may be behind it - but one simply doesn't want the other to be so close or whatever.

Oh gosh, Alex, yeah could be the meds. :( Do you belong to any of the canine seizure groups? They might be much more helpful.

@Micmayhall Michelle, potty training when you aren't home all day is hard for anyone. Options include restrict to a safe room with a large pan with potty papers so the pup doesn't have to go in crate or places you do not have made easy to clean. Since they can only go about an hour per month without wanting to go, it's pretty hard up to about 5 mos if no one is home. http://www.clickerlessons.com/housetraining.htm

@margiem Yea, he bites his blanket. probably because he is still a puppy. He doesn't do it to cover himself. Garcia, Allan

First, wow first time I saw your post from 2 mos ago. The old forum really had notification issues so please don't think people didn't care... they probably missed it. Hopefully the new format is helping. As for >>She was also recently diagnosed with Generalized Demodectic Mange which we now realize had started prior to us getting her<< Sadly, I have way too much experience with mange thanks to fostering/rescue. ALL dogs who nurse have mites. So yes, your dog had the mites. But if there was mange, you'd have seen signs pretty fast. An actual occurrence can show up prior to a year... which is when it HAS mange. Again, until an actual outbreak, all dogs have the mites. So if she arrived without patches, then the breeder had no way of knowing it would happen. (unless irresponsible breeder who knows their dogs have an issue) Some dogs who in adulthood have severe stress/autoimmune issues/sick can also develop it. QUOTE: >> It is not uncommon for nursing puppies to become infected with this eight-legged skin parasite during the first two to three days of life. The mites can be passed from the mother to the nursing puppies because the puppies have weak and underdeveloped immune systems that allow the mites to overgrow, causing occasional localized patches of hair loss, redness and scaling.<< Generalized Demodectic Mange is a sign of immune issues. If this puppy came from a responsible breeder, they need to know. If no signs before, it may really be stress related outbreak and not really generalized (which as this article explains, is defined by, though I'm sure your vet knows. Either way, the breeder needs to know because there are genetic components. Here is a great article. http://www.marvistavet.com/demodectic-mange.pml

Agree with Debra: apart from any medical issues, it looks like he is protecting the new life. Cute as it may be, it's not his job. Your husband should step up to the plate and take first position in a clear way. All the best!