Greetings! We're so excited!

[stash]

As you gathered we love photo's, especially puppy photo's. This time of year makes me want another puppy, scary thing is Kaiser was such a good pup I can't be that lucky twice. Basenji are very smart so I think the trick is if you can get the dog to understand what you want from it, learning is easy, obeying will always be their choice. So after pup has settled in start training, short training sessions, you will be amazed what a pup can learn. Started Kaiser on a buckle collar but went to a harness as he was a reluctant walker as a pup and they can easily slip out of buckle collars so martingales are important. 4 weeks will fly by and then the fun starts.

Jolanda and Kaiser

[CrazySenji]

Congrats!
Martingales are my choice for my B. I like the fleece or leather lined ones as they don't rub their necks as others will.

http://fuzzywumpets.com/
I have 3 collars from her and I LOVE them. She is a whippet breeder and knows what a sight-hound needs ;).

[Aristophanes]

Congrats! and welcome! I just picked up my little girl and she is everything I could have asked for. Im sure you will love yours too!

-Aristophanes

[mtins]

Hi everyone! We just welcomed Loki into our home yesterday morning! He cried most of the hour-long car-ride home, but he's really settling in quite well. He's only had one accident in the house (number one) and has very quickly learned that going to the bathroom outside gets him a treat. He made it through the whole night last night without any accidents in his crate (from about 11pm to 7am), and has almost already mastered "sit!" We just got back from our first vet visit, and all is well.

As promised, here are a few photos!

[eeeefarm]

He sure looks right at home! Cute pup.

[tanza]

@mtins:

Hi everyone! We just welcomed Loki into our home yesterday morning! He cried most of the hour-long car-ride home, but he's really settling in quite well. He's only had one accident in the house (number one) and has very quickly learned that going to the bathroom outside gets him a treat. He made it through the whole night last night without any accidents in his crate (from about 11pm to 7am), and has almost already mastered "sit!" We just got back from our first vet visit, and all is well.

As promised, here are a few photos!

Consider youself lucky with only one accident…. be prepared for many to come and all will be "YOUR" fault... honestly... 11pm to 7am is a pretty long time... so again, consider yourself lucky... be ready for a possible potty break at about 3am....

[QuizBasenji]

What an adorable little boy

[stash]

Cute as a button, enjoy every moment.

Jolanda and Kaiser

[mtins]

Thanks, all! So far so good on day 3. He cried more in his crate last night, but I ended up sleeping on the floor next to the crate to keep him calm. Still no accidents though, and I'd much rather deal with the crying than clean any messes out of the crate when I'm trying to get ready for work. Other than that, Loki's doing pretty well in terms of training - "sit" comes easily to him, and we've gotten him some hard, solid chew toys to try to distract him with when he insists on biting hands/arms/stomachs. Such sharp little puppy teeth!

[tanza]

If you would put the crate in the bedroom next to the bed… you can hang a hand down by the crate to sooth the pup.... for biting... "normal at this age".... yelp and then give a chew to to them... when they take it and chew, praise them....

[mtins]

Pat - We have heard SO many things from so many different people/breeders/books about overnight crate training. We've been told everything from "keep it in the bedroom with you so you can comfort him" to "keep it downstairs where he'll be far from you and it's quiet and don't go to him" to "if you're eventually not going to crate him overnight, why would you give him the mixed signal of crating him in the beginning?"

How do we know who to listen to? Yes, we will eventually allow him to sleep in our bed/his bed in our bedroom at night, but only once he's 100% housebroken.

[mtins]

@tanza

Pat - We have heard SO many things from so many different people/breeders/books about overnight crate training. We've been told everything from "keep it in the bedroom with you so you can comfort him" to "keep it downstairs where he'll be far from you and it's quiet and don't go to him" to "if you're eventually not going to crate him overnight, why would you give him the mixed signal of crating him in the beginning?"

How do we know who to listen to? Yes, we will eventually allow him to sleep in our bed/his bed in our bedroom at night, but only once he's 100% housebroken.

[eeeefarm]

The first Basenji I had (Val, 8 months or so when I got her) slept in a dog bed…..not a crate.....next to my bed. Never a problem at night. The second one (Lady) was a puppy, and we did the "traditional" thing of having her in a separate room at the start. It sort of worked, but she would raise a racket when she woke in the morning, and we finally got smart and started her sleeping in our bed, where she would remain contentedly even after we got up. The next one (Tamu) we got at seven weeks as a second Basenji when Lady was seven years old. I slept on a cot next to her crate initially......for only a few days.....then she slept in the cot with me. Very quickly we "graduated" to the bed with husband and Lady. Tamu was housebroken amazingly fast, because whenever she got restless at night I immediately got up and took her out. She was quiet because I was right there to comfort her.

Our two boys both were older when they came, and housebroken. They were "bed dogs" from the get go. IMO, if you are going to have them in bed, the sooner the better, and they will certainly be happier at night close to their "pack".

[lisastewart]

My girls are 4 an not 100% house broken, when they get excited they sometimes pee, no matter where they are, but they have all slept with us from day one, just put a towel under them, you are quite likely to wake up at 3 am when they come shooting up from under the covers to pee, all my adults tend to get up mid way thru the night and use the wee wee pad in the bathroom, expecially in winter.

[tanza]

@mtins:

@tanza

Pat - We have heard SO many things from so many different people/breeders/books about overnight crate training. We've been told everything from "keep it in the bedroom with you so you can comfort him" to "keep it downstairs where he'll be far from you and it's quiet and don't go to him" to "if you're eventually not going to crate him overnight, why would you give him the mixed signal of crating him in the beginning?"

How do we know who to listen to? Yes, we will eventually allow him to sleep in our bed/his bed in our bedroom at night, but only once he's 100% housebroken.

Of course everyone needs to make their own choices…. but IMO (and this is how I have always raised my Basenjis and advise my puppy people to do the same) is that the crate is in the bedroom. I don't want my dogs way on the other side of the house where I can't hear/see them at night... not only the separation factor, but even things like "barfing" in the middle of the night or again as a baby puppy, when they need to go out. With my pups, I would wake them up in the middle of the night 2 or 3 am and take them out to pee or to the litter box (I can do outdoors here is No. Cal).... most every time, they pee immediately and are still not quite awake, put them right back in the crate and back to sleep they go.

That said, I also tell people that if you have to crate your pup during the day, then at night they should be out with their humans... including sleeping in bed. I have never had a pup have an accident in bed unless sick (or very old)... and yes a towel works under them. Baby puppies, especially the girls, I have found can have a bit of a UTI and may pee while sleeping... or they may have accidents when teething...

I think it is important that they are crate trained for a number of reasons, not just house training.

[Timesthemyth]

My experience was similar to eeefarm

If you plan on bringing them into the bed/bedroom anyways why not just start out from there? [at least in the crate until older] it shouldn't take them too long to be able to hold their bladder all night. I brought my boy home a little later (9ish weeks) and by that time his bladder was able to withstand the night….he never had an accident in the bed - I ended up using the bed to potty train since he would go in the crate, or anywhere else really, but would never go in the bed voluntarily; the only time he went in the bed was when he had an onset of the UTI (which is how I found out he had one). It was nice having them in the bedroom [if not in the bed] at the very least just in case they throw up or get diarrhea or something.

@lisastewart

Are your females spayed? Just curious. I'm hoping to get a female for a second dog eventually but I keep hearing rumors that females [mostly large breed dogs] have a chance of ending up a little incontinent if they are spayed too early….and you have 4 of them so that makes me wonder if this is a common problem in females [though so far I've only heard the rumor that spaying too early causes slight incontinence].

[lisastewart]

Mine are not spayed, just never became fully housebroken, my fault not theirs. I have one that I have to race to the door I. The Rv to take her out when we are on the road as when she beats me there, she stands up to look out the door window and gravity takes it's toll as she pisses on both of us while I'm trying to get her leash on

[mtins]

Thank you to everyone for all of your advice! Loki stayed in his crate last night in our room, and I ended up sleeping at the foot of the bed so he could see me, and it really made a difference. Much less crying for him, much better sleep for us. It's not the most convenient thing to carry the crate up and down our stairs, but hopefully he'll graduate to his own bed soon.

We think he may also be cold, making the crying worse than just being lonely. His crate is loaded with fleece, but it threw my electric blanket in his crate this afternoon just to test it, and he is very obviously waaaaaaay happier in it now. He still prefers to sleep in my lap, but he stays in his crate when I lay him in it as he's sleeping. Definitely a temperature issue. We left him alone in the crate for 30 minutes today, and he cried much less, even stopping briefly by the time we walked back in (we left a video call on my laptop so we could watch him while we were gone.)

He's still not messing in his crate, which am supremely thankful for. No accidents today, either. Now, to just work on the biting…

Thank you all for your support! Here are a few photos to show you all what we've done. You'll notice that I have part of the blanket under the door, so he can't chew the cord. Puppy life is so rough

[tanza]

That is a great start….. about carrying crates... LOL.... I have way MORE crates then Basenjis... I use the wire fold down crates.... and can stack them when not in use... some for the SUV, some for the bedroom, some for the doggy room... it is the house of crates.

[eeeefarm]

A cold Basenji is not a happy Basenji! I think many cases of mischief start with a dog who is uncomfortable. Good that his is happier now!