I am new to the forums. My basenji is 1 yr old and this is our 1st dog. Rocky will not go pee or poop unless he is about 2 blocks from home. When we tie him in the backyard he does not do his business so when we get home we have to walk him to his favorite spots far away. This is ok unless there is a big time crunch. How do I get him to have a fav. spot or area in hte yard?
Welcome to the forum. I personally can't help you out on this one, but I'm sure someone here will! It's a great place to learn and share.
No, I can't help you either. We have to go halfway to China to potty.
Basenjis are naturally clean dogs. They do not like to potty in their living space. By keeping him tied in the backyard, he is actually be discouraged to potty there because he will not want to potty in an area that he is spending much of his time. My boy is very picky about where he potties and will not go in our yard. We are lucky and have a park to walk the dogs in that is only about a block away. Walk time is just scheduled into the daily schedule.
My basenji had a dog door to the backyard and pretty much free access in the entire house. My backyard is large, with a large grass area, a decorative rock covered area, and some flower bed/dirt areas, a some small concrete areas–and he would potty anywhere in the yard--even right close to the dog door. But he never ever pottied in the areas where he liked to lay in the sun--which were the flat concrete areas. Once he was housetrained--he only did his business outside. Maybe he thought of the house as his living quarters and the backyard as the recreation/potty area?
I can not take Cali anywhere near my place to use the potty. I live in a condo and we have a place right outside my door that she can go and potty, but she refuses. I always pick up her poop because it is a requirement for this community. Regardless of whether it is raining or cold we have to walk close to the woods that is behind my building before she will relieve herself. This morning we had a raining ice mix and it was very cold, but we were outside for 20 minutes before she would do her business.
After reading some of the posts on the forum I feel pretty blessed with Rocky. He def. likes his territory clean! We don't have problems with accidents in the house or crate. Just to clarify, since I am new to the forum, we do not leave him tied in the backyard all the time. He does have a tie-in on the back porch with a doggie bed nearby that is used when we are gone and he wants to stay outside.
I have to chime & agree that my dogs do not like to go where they play unless they REALLLY can't hold it. Try to make a space in the yard for potty only (if you can fence it in do that) and teach him that he can potty there & play in the rest of the yard.
I too have to walk a few minutes before they can potty. I also noticed that my dogs will potty after a little walking. Maybe you can take him for a quick 5 min walk to "motivate" the bowel movement LOL 
and then take him to the yard where you want him to potty.
Good luck!
My dog has to trek far away before he will go. He also won't go out in the open, so he has to find just the right blade of grass growing next to just the right shrubbery before he will do anything.
If you find a solution to the hike before the potty, let me know!
I don't have a hiking problem with this issue, but after reading these posts, Duke would always pee & poop out in the front yard. (not visually pleasing), but now I might assume that he considers the back yard, his playing area and wanted to keep it clean - nice for when the kids are playing back there too. I had recently cut off his access to the front yard because he would harrass the pedestrians, and now notice he will "go" in the brushy wooded area in the very back of the yard. I love that - no more poop scooping! (I hope)
My Tobias will not poop in our yard either, but strangely enough I think he knows exactly where the property line is, he will walk me to the edge of our property to do his biz. Does anyone have an answer to pulling when on the lead? has anyone tried the Halti? does it work?
Does anyone have an answer to pulling when on the lead? has anyone tried the Halti? does it work?
I sure don't. We've tried a number of things with Giz, but he just keeps pulling. Some days are better than others, it just depends on what kind of mood he's in. It's either the "oooo squirrel" mood or "yummy yum yum, squirrel, squirrel squirrel" mood.:D there is no in between.
Rocky is a very funny dog. After finding the right spot he will spin around several times only to eliminate in a completely different spot
There is a whole thread about pulling on while on lead. I know some people have done well using the gentle leader or easy walk harness by Premier. I have been working with my dogs on loose lead walking pretty consistently for 2 years now and though they will still pull it is much less than in the past. Just this week my obedience instructor commented on how proud she was to see that my basenjis are walking on a loose leash more often than not now.
Jazz has no choice but to potty in our yard, as it is fully fenced. But she never goes close to the house.
When we visit my mother, who has 30 acres, Jazz never poos anywhere near the house. I like that….except at night and in the very early morning when we go out in the dark -- Mom lives in the mountains near the woods, and we've seen our share of cougar scat in the yard!
Sahara will go in our yard, front or back, depending on her mood. She is great most of the time about making it snappy. The only time I have trouble with her going fast is when it has been raining and the yard is soaked. Of course I have to do the poop scooping , but that is ok, better than the house. Also at night she will not go out by herself, so I take her out on a leash in the yard, (did this when she was just a puppy) and she will go in 5 mins, but not on a leash and it takes forever, go figure!!!! I also have a doggie door so she goes out all during the day, and when I am at work.
Yup I think most of our dogs need to find the right spot and are very selective when they go potty.
Make certain that if you have long grass or long shrubbery nearby that if he/she goes and does her business there that you check for ticks if you have ticks in your area every day!!
My girl got a paralysis tick on her when she was 13 years old at the time and she was very close to death. It only took a day with the tick on her before she started dragging her hind legs (they were paralyzed) and getting VERY sick. We were very fortunate the vet was able to save her and she was able to recover her leg functions completely.
We didn't keep our girl outside she was an indoor dog, we live in a suburban area and never thought that could have happened to us but it did.
What? A paralysis tick? We live in TN. and I dont think I have ever heard of such a thing. Do you use Advantx or Frontline on you basenji? If you do and it did'nt work to protect your girl, let us know. Here in the south we have a big problem w/ fleas, ticks, and mosqitoes.With the winters getting warmer and warmer, I think prevention is key, wherever you are. Thanks for the heads up.
Yonae12 is in Australia where everything can kill you. Here in the USA we don't have the same ferocious critters, luckily. Some ticks here can cause Lyme Disease and there are some people who have allergies to certain kinds of ticks but that's all. Of course, your b could have an allergy but unlikely. I spent some time recently in Australia so I had the opportunity to learn quite a bit about their fauna.
Also at night she will not go out by herself, so I take her out on a leash in >>the yard,
LOL Jazz won't go out alone at night either. She just hunkers down at the edge of the porch, peering out into the darkness {we have woods up against our fence.} We have to make our old dog go out with her. Once Gypsy steps one foot out the door, Jazz will take off into the darkness. I guess she just needs to know that someone is there.
Gypsy is 12.5 yrs old though, and beginning to show definite signs of age. In another couple of years, I suppose it'll be me out there in the dark with Jazzy.
