Male and Female basenjis fighting with each other outside.

[Matt Riemann]

My two basenjis will constantly fight aggresively with each other while outside in the fence when they see my neighbors and their dogs outside. is mostly a lot of screaming and up on two feet wrestling but it sounds like they are trying to kill each other and it is very loud. Every time I go to work outside in my yard while they are in the fence they will do this and I always want to yell at them to shut up but it never makes a difference. My neighbors have asked me more than once if that is normal behavior for their breed and always just say that I cannot stop it. They get along with each other in the house and always play with each other but outside they act like enemies. Please help if you are having the same problem so that I know I am not the only one.

[eeeefarm]

If the behaviour usually occurs when they see your neighbours and their dogs, it is most probably transferred aggression. "If you can't bite the one you want, bite the one you're with" My girls used to do this while out walking if they saw another dog (usually one that barked at them) that they wanted to get at. Since they couldn't, they would attack each other!

[tanza]

Exactly right eeeefarm…. "bite the one you are with"?.... very normal behavior... and I don't think it is just in Basenjis... many terriers will do this also. My girls do this all the time when people walk by the house with their dogs... as did my previous males/females, same sex, different sexes, spayed/neutered/in-tact..... or whatever...gggg

[Chealsie508]

I know a beagle and Australian Shepard that did this…they both got so riled up and then took it out on each other...it's not breed specific but basenjis also tend to be loud and eccentric players with each other so that doesn't help. When I went to a coursing event there was another basenji there and people just kept staring at me and the other owner and our dogs, they thought there was something wrong but it's just how basenjis are with each other.

[tanza]

As they say, the louder the fighting… the less serious it is... it is the quiet fights that can be deadly.... And Basenjis can make very, very loud noise! I remember my Mickii (bitch) when my boy OJ would accidently run over her running from window to window when people walked by with their dogs... she would get so pissed at him... she would pin him to the floor and then he had to groom her ears till she was satisfied that he was really, really "sorry"... but poor boy, he never did learn...gggg

[krunzer]

My two are the same also. Becca seems to hate Tucker and Tuck is the aggressor when it come to 'see another dog bite Becca'. Then they go at it. But it is a lot of growling and 'fighting' but no blood and no one is hurt. That is the main thing. If there is no blood or puncture wounds I would say it is normal B behavoir.

[tanza]

@krunzer:

My two are the same also. Becca seems to hate Tucker and Tuck is the aggressor when it come to 'see another dog bite Becca'. Then they go at it. But it is a lot of growling and 'fighting' but no blood and no one is hurt. That is the main thing. If there is no blood or puncture wounds I would say it is normal B behavoir.

Once again, I am going to point out that this is normal "dog" behavior.. not just Basenjis… they just make more noise in doing it....

[agilebasenji]

@tanza:

Once again, I am going to point out that this is normal "dog" behavior.. not just Basenjis… they just make more noise in doing it....

I often say "They don't bark, but make lots of other interesting noises."

[curlytails]

My male Shiba will lash out at my female Basenji if there's a squirrel on the fence that he can't reach, and they both run for it. Her screams are absolutely horrific… but luckily she doesn't actually engage him, she just tries to get him to back off. I go out there clapping and yelling at them both to knock it off, and that usually does the trick. It would be a big problem requiring separation if they weren't easier to cool off.

Amazingly, she has adapted to his fence tyranny by controlling her urge to chase. I find that impressive, as she's basically squelching her prey drive, which you all know is pretty difficult to do with a Basenji! When the both spot a squirrel running along the fence, Bowdu will go nuts trying to chase it off his perimeter, and Bowpi will track very intently with her eyes, but she'll stay back, muscles quivering with anticipation. Perhaps secretly she knows it's useless anyway. But when Bowdu is not out there and she spots a squirrel all by herself, she'll chase to her heart's content.

[Matt Riemann]

Sounds exactly right to me. This is exactly what they are doing. I feel a whole lot better knowing that there is nothing wrong with my Basenjis because I live them so much. Thanks everyone who replied, you were a lot of help. Also I am glad someone mentioned one running into the other one and getting pissed cause that is another time the aggresion occurs.

[Lysh]

i have an entire girl and a neatured girl. the only time they squabble is when they try and play with the dog through the fence next door and Ebby (neatured) gets in the way of Hope (entire) and she does her tasmanian devil sounds and bares her teeth but nothing comes from it cos Ebby is wise and just hops out of her way. and if she doesn then they do the whole dancing on the back legs/body slamming screaming thing at each other. its rare to see but its just like the others mention in posts about diverting her frusteration. we live on acreage so they have plenty of room to move about and a long fence to run if needed lol

[DebraDownSouth]

LOL and at least it's each other and not you. I have seen dogs bite owners if the doorbell rang or they heard trucks outside. Barrier frustration, redirected aggression, whatever the cause, I wouldn't worry if they aren't doing more than a lot of noise.

But you might consider a privacy fence if possible, or work on total retraining, one dog at a time, til you get a solid "leave it." Involve the neighbors, get them to purposely cause a lot of noise and activity, and work on getting the dog to ignore them. I think that getting a solid fast recall is pretty important even without the current issue, btw.

I have to admit, I'm a bit lazy so I'd probably just watch for escalation. That said, if they do escalate and a REAL fight breaks out, you then have a new more serious issue and risk having to separate.

My dogs learn young that barking resulted in IMMEDIATE return into the house. A bit harder with these danged nonbarkers because by the time you know trouble is afoot, troubles pretty deep.

[Lysh]

Heh I'd love a privacy fence but not possibke while on acreage. Neighbors are hardly ever home. The dogs get along well with my two thankfully. They even all sleep under the tree beside the fence during the day.

I have seen my friends border collie bite her out of excitement & frustration at agility.

[nobarkus]

My last 2 also did that. Used to scare the bejesus out of visitors at my house because it sounded so viscous but never an injury. Usually a squirrel on the porch would do it then they'd both rocket out the back dog door to see it went that way.