When you are dealing with something that an animal is afraid of, the best approach is to find his "comfort" distance from the thing that scares him. A busy street makes this a bit more difficult, as you have to find a way to give him that "distance". If you have a car, maybe transporting him to a less busy area might make a good start. Perhaps a side street, where he is comfortably away from busy traffic. You could then walk toward the busy street, pausing as soon as you see some sign of anxiety, and retracing your steps just little until he is in his "comfort zone" again. Gradually…...with the use of bribery and rewards......ask him to approach closer to the scary stuff. Liberally reward him for being there, then retreat. The idea is to not force, let him decide when he is ready. If he feels he can retreat at any time, he will have more confidence. This approach may take awhile, but is less likely to create a permanent aversion. (it works well with spooky horses).
Rainy Day/ Funny Story
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So Feena is 11 weeks old and we are house training (potty training) not sure what you call it! ha ha So since we got her she has done quite well only a few accidents in the house. She definitely does NOT like the cold weather but she has done very well. She is my first Basenji and I knew from my research that they tend not like cold and water WELL it rained yesterday and SHE was NOT having it!! I took her outside and she screamed, yodeled and crowed like a banshee and hopped up and down! I thought the neighbors were gonna come out!
The twist/ funny part to this story is that I take a bath every night and since I got her she is always beside me. When I get a bath she actually has run to try to get in the bath. I keep telling her your not gonna like it in here! So last night after the "rain incident" she did it again and I thought okay…fine I'll see what happens so I picked her up and slowly brought her in little by little and she GOT IN with me and was totally calm letting me pour water on her. I suspect it was because I was holding her and because the water was really warm but I called my husband and he couldn't believe it!!!
Now I just gotta work on getting her going to the bathroom outside in the rain!!!! LOL
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that is so funny. I have noticed that Ayo doesnt mind warm water. whenever I bathe hi it has to be warm water, he cant stand cold water…
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Boy do our basenjis play tricks with our minds! Last night, Kipawa did not want to do his last pee of the day in the back yard because of the high winds outside. So, I walked him down to the farm at the end of our cul-de-sac and he happily peed in some very tall grass there. Go figure.
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Great story, i remember someone on the forum doing a video of their dog jumping in and out of the bath.
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We have to keep our bathroom doors closed after we take our showers - both the girls will walk right into the shower stall after we are done, and start licking up all the warm water - ick, and not only ick, little footyprints all over the place when they get out!
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when Hope was younger she would do the same. would also catch her in the bath on some occasions! lol
