Are tri owners crazy or is it just me?
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I Agree that all tri's or any are more certain to be biters, mine just is.
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Mine isn't a biter But he sure is a evil little B lol His nickname is Satan's spawn , Satan Jr. Although he drives me crazy at time's i wouldn't trade him for anything I always say Basenji's are soooo lucky there so cute it makes up for there little additude problems they have sometimes lol :p :p
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Kiora is a naughty for sure, though not a biter. Just a chewer, and shredder, and a hole digging, fridge opening, crate escaping, cat harrassing, mousie/lizard catching little bundle of fun. :D Of course she is the only B I have.
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Dogs with behavior issues come in all colors.
I think its good to get a dog pro in to eval dogs that are biting.
IMO, its never a good thing.
altho I have had a biter and managed him until he passed over.. -
lol, I made a reply yesterday but I got distracted and didn't send it. I use beach towels for Kiora's bedding. I get them at the dollar store and They are cheap to replace. Mostly I find the best remedy to keep her from shredding stuff is to keep her busy and well excersized, and provide lots of chew toys. If she is bored and has pent up energy then she is destructive.
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After fostering 15 basenjis over the last 3 years, along with our own two, we've encountered a few biters (of varying degrees of seriousness).
First, we entered the crazy basenji world 3.5 years ago when my wife and I lost a screw or two and made an impulse buy of a tri at the local mall's pet shop (we paid penance for the sin of supporting the puppy mill industry by joining BRAT). He was a playful, sweet dog, but extremely food aggressive. Not knowing any better, I attempted to do an "alpha roll" on him. It only served to make him more resentful and distrusting. One time, he stole a pizza crust from my hand, and I foolishly attempted to take it away from his mouth. He ended up biting my thumb quite badly. This is while he was taking steroids for a skin reaction to a so-called natural-based dog shampoo.
Our first two fosters, a male and female were a pair that came at the same time. The female was very overweight, 40 lbs (no, that's not a typo). She was also acted very aggressively with our own two B's, but was not a human biter. Based on advice from our highly experienced BRAT regional coordinator, we had her tested for hypothyrodism. Sure enough, she came back positive for the condition, and we got her started on meds. Over a 4 month period, her attitude improved quite a bit, she lost 10 lbs, and her fur condition improved from being brittle and oily to soft and clean.
Because of this experience with the female foster, we tested our own 1-yr old tri for hypo. He was found to be hypo (most likely autoimmune type of hypo), which explained his weight and food aggressiveness. Once he got started on the meds, his behaviors & weight issue improved dramatically. He is a wonderful, sweet B who now can mostly regulate his food aggressiveness (but not his thievery behind my back).
Over the next 13 fosters, we tested those who demonstrated any signs potentially having hypothyroidism (which vary between dogs, but most common are aggressiveness towards other dogs and/or people especially over food, overweight or underweight, poor fur). Of the 17 basenjis we've fostered/owned, 5 were diagnosed with hypo, which is nearly a 30% incidence rate, suggesting that this condition is quite common in our beloved breed. The four fosters with hypo all improved quite dramatically after being started on meds.
5 of the 15 fosters were considered to be biters to varying degrees. 2 of them were diagnosed with hypo. We have found that biters tend to be such only in certain situations. Our latest foster is perhaps the worst of the 5 biters, and showed his aggression when someone approached him on the couch or massaged the top of his head. He has improved dramatically being on hypo meds, lots of love, patience, attention, and positive reinforcement training. He is a wonderful B, but just needed some special attention and medical help that most people are incapable of understanding or giving. Another biter would act aggressively, but when he attempted to bite, it would only be mouth pressure, no teeth pressure, so he clearly regulated his aggression to a point.
Another foster, who was sweet most of the time, could bite during a stressful situation. His current owner put him on melatonin supplements. We recently dog-sat him and couldn't believe how well-behaved he was.
The bottom line is that biting behaviors by some of the Bs can be attributed to a medical condition and/or being poorly/untrained by their humans, and/or a genetic influence. Usually, it's a combination of 2 or 3 of these issues. the key to treating biters is to rule out medical causes first, then implement a positive-reinforcement training regimen. Proper training will do wonders in helping such B's learn how to function properly in the "pack."
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Very well said…check out the physical issue the basenji might have..
Great advice.
Thanks.
