• 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.


  • Not sure what was being used before, my mum was taking care of the bathing as she was a family dog. Before this incident the only time when our girl ever got a flee on her is when we put her in a boarding kennel for a holiday we went on – never again!

    But yah whatever we were using before for the ticks didn't work! 😞 I can remember the vet saying that front line is good and we used that after she was in for a three night stay. It was horrible, I didn't sleep a wink.

    Shelby is right, there is probably more of a potential with the ticks in Australia, esp. on the eastern coast where I am from, but the paralysis tick also exists in the US and in Europe too. So I guess you can't be completely safe anywhere.

    I've been living in Florida for six months now (moved bcuz my hubby is from the US), the skeeters grow pretty big here too!! LOL. I didn't feel right taking Ash over here as she very old and is my "family's" dog, even though technically I picked her out of the litter, trained her and fed her for years. I miss her alot!


  • This is all too funny. It definately must be a basenji thing. Alani will also walk very far away to do her business. She will never pee or poo any where near our building. And she also spins around for about five minutes until she poos and even then she sometimes isn't satisfied with the spot and will have to walk even farther. She won't go where dogs frequent (most people don't clean up after their dogs in my complex, very annoying) so we have to find a, somewhat, unused area.


  • Oh yes, Jazzy usually must spin a few times before she can actually "go".
    I've never had another dog do that.


  • Giz doesn't spin but he sort of seperates the grass with his paw, like he is sifting through it to be sure there isn't anything there before he squats. He has to have his back to us, too. When my hubby and I first started walking both dogs together, we couldn't figure out why he would NOT go. It took us 15 blocks before we caught on that there was someone on both sides of him so he couldn't turn his back to us.:D Poor Gizzy!


  • Oh yes, Jazzy usually must spin a few times before she can actually "go".

    How funny!! Both my B's do the same thing! 😃


  • At the wintertime, my dogs will pee near by front door. But won't poop. As you can guess, there is some difficulties about that when it's really cold weather and lot of snow. Temperature might be under -40 c in worst case.


  • Lexi will pee on grass, but prefers pinestraw. She will not poop unless we take her to "her spots" which are at the opposite ends of the earth. We can take her around and around and spend a lot of time– OR we can just go right to her spot and she'll go as soon as we get there. So at least we get to choose: time or distance. hahahahaha...


  • I forgot to mention that today was the first day Lexi has seen snow. We only have a few patches, but she kept going up to each little patch and sniffing it– and then she kept marking on them. I guess she thought they were little while poo piles. It was really cute because she just couldn't quite comprehend what they were!


  • I think Giz would love to be somewhere where there was only a patch here and there. We just got a few inches and Giz just gives us the MOST disgusted look when we take him out in the snow:rolleyes: you just know he's thinking "stupid human, must we do this?"


  • It isn't so bad for us unless it's a blizzard out. The last big snow storm we had she refused to go out in. But when it's just a few inches on the ground she doens't mind. She LOVES the mounds that we have from the last storm. She likes to climb to the top of them like she's queen of the mountain. Find the next one from the top and run down to the next.


  • OMG!! me too me too!!! We had snow for the first time & they looked around like what's the deal with this stuff…I don't think they liked this at all :eek: and this morning they would NOT poop...I'm worried I'll find a present when I get home today. UUUGGHHH!

    Can it really be too cold or snowy to poop??!


  • Joey too will pee in our yard, but NEVER poop! He has his spots which of course are way down the street and are field areas with taller grass! (More privacy you know.) He does the, what I will now call "the B spin", before he poops too. Sometimes it takes him FOREVER though to get the last little tidbit out. I think he thinks his insides have to be super clean too!
    As for snow, he is indifferent. He moves a bit faster as I am sure it is cold on his paws, but doesn't act as anything is too different.


  • Can it really be too cold or snowy to poop??!

    Stormie says yes it can be - and too rainy, as well. Life with b's is always interesting! lol!


  • 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?

    When my two were indoor dogs for 3 years in a condo community, we had to walk and poop everyday. I always had to have them poop in specific areas so that the other people living in the community wouldnt get mad.

    Here are the things I did to get them to poop immediately on our walk. I fed them after work. So the routine when like this. I came home. Peed both in the back yard as soon as they were let out of the crate (gigantic). Then they immediately came in to eat. I do not free feed because of Beta's food aggression and my fat cat experiences. Once fed, we immediately went for our walk.

    They both walked together on a splitter leash and I kept the leash short for the first half on the walk. If they pulled, I stopped and stood until they would both sit and look at me. Then we would continue. They recognized early on that walks required them not to be lunatics on the leash at first until they went potty. I didnt let them sniff the grass or pee everywhere. We just walked in the road until they got to the spot I wanted them to use. That was the first grass they touched. I usually could determine where the spot would be based on (please excuse my crassness here ) there ahole. I would call it the eye jokingly with my husband. I think the key with this was not letting them wander in the grass until it was time.

    The rest of our walk (a circle) was long leash the whole way back to the condo. They understood that business came first, and then free range sniffing because I wouldnt have to worry about them going in someone's yard.

    Plus! Coordinating poop pickup by yourself with two basenjis on a spliter leash should really be considered an art form!

    Doing this with my kids made it much easier on me and I enjoyed our walks together.

    Caesar always likes to walk it out a bit when he is preparing to go. I found early on that a slight tug when he is preparing will turn him around and change his direction. If I give him a slight tug each time he turns, he will poop closer to me than far away. Beta would just unleash her business when it was time without any need for pacing.

    So what do you think about that? It was my routine. I never let them pee in our front yard because the other dogs in the neighborhood would try to mark their scents. I used stinky plants and flowers in our beds to keep animals away from the yard. What are those flowers called? The little yellow and orange hearty small round flowers contruction people use in landscaping? They are also used to line gardens to keep rabbits out? Anyone know what I am talking about? Chresanthemum? Is that it?


  • I used stinky plants and flowers in our beds to keep animals away from the yard. What are those flowers called? The little yellow and orange hearty small round flowers contruction people use in landscaping? They are also used to line gardens to keep rabbits out? Anyone know what I am talking about? Chresanthemum? Is that it?

    Marigolds maybe? I use them around the border of the veggie garden to make it semi-bunny proof.


  • thats it,marigolds!

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