@CrazyBasenjiMom:
Thank you Jason, we did do a round of the flagyl, and an antibotic, and the flortiflora, we followed the course and had improvement, In thinking back, dumb me, I introdcued a new treat for trainning purpose and this may be the root of evil, I'm giving them away tomorrow, what would you suggest for the "bribe treat" we are sitting and staying, leave it is a slow to come and when I call him he doesn't alwasy come, this boy was really brutalized, scared of doors, if you try and pet him he still ducks and backs off, he has high anixety, paces, he eventually calms down with singing and lavender on his nose…..I want to keep it simple " boys are exactly 10 months old, My Belle will be 2 and she is on Wellness whitefish and sweet potatoe, seems she is board with it now, not eating as much, she want the pups food. I have to seperate them. Whew, who knew, I'm crazy for these 3 but it is hard work. Tomorrow is dog blessing at our church....hope it takes.....
Sounds to me like this boy has really had it rough. I am sure he will eventually warm up with a lot of patience and love from you. He is very nice that you have given him the opportunity to have a wonderful and loving home. As you know Pacing seems to be part of the Basenji makeup. When mine gets ready to go out he does pace back and forth or will walk in a circle around me until I stop and leash him. He will also pace back and forth if he thinks I am going to take him somewhere. Recently I picked up a rescue dog for transport that appeared to have been abused, neglected, and half starved to death. Her name happened to be Bella also. In the short time she was in my care, I made sure she was comfortable and had plenty to eat. On a leash she was somewhat skittish so she ended up staying close. Before she left us she was licking us affectionately and rubbing up against our legs. She went to a nice foster home and is a lucky girl in that respect. It really upsets me and breaks my heart to see dogs abused, starved, or put in harms way. I could never be a foster home for a dog because I know I would want to keep all of them.
I am not suggesting that you change Belles food, but when we had our Boston decide she wanted some of his puppy food it made it easier to change to EVO for us. Inova EVO feeds the same food from puppy to adult so there is no change except for the amount.
As far as treats go. I have had great success training with plain regular Cheerios. Generic Cheerios will do and I believe there is another here who has had success with them as well. They are very cheap and our dogs seem to love them even to this day. If you call him he likes Cheerios, then you can give him one every time he does come and that will make it a positive experience for him.
Another Treat we use is called No Grainers. It is 100% Grain Free, made in the USA(Springville UT), made with fish and is all natural. I think you will find your pups really respond to this one. Roo is sitting here with his head on my knee because I put the bag on my desk so I could get information off if it. So far we have found the cost on the No Grainers pretty reasonable.
We use a product by Vitalife, however I did find that when Roo was younger his digestive system had issue with these so I discontinued feeding him them. Now that he is older, his digestive system has matured and he appears to handle them with no problems. They are called Chicken Chips. They are 100% Chicken and very high in protein. In fact the manufacturer suggests you limit the amount you give of these to your dog in one day based on weight. They are 64% Protein. They even have a money back guarantee. So you cannot beat that but I would wait until after he is a year old. They do make other versions like duck, but again better tolerated if he is older.
Last but least, we recently found another chicken product by Dogswell called Vitality with Omega 3's. Basically it is Chicken Breast Jerky with Flaxseed & Vitamins. It contains NO Hormones, NO Antibiotics, No Fillers, and NO Byproducts. It is from Cage free all natural chicken what ever that means. This product is the highest in protein at 70% min. Suggested feeding is 2 to 4 per day for dogs 15-45lbs.
Ok now Roo is laying on my feet hoping for one of these treats so I better go give it to him. At least he is not pawing my leg or doing the Basenji Pogo without a stick. Roo and Bonzo line up and sit right next to one another everytime I get these treats out and almost cannot contain themselves.
Jason
