I guess we did primative puzzle challenges with Jodi. We would play hide-and-seek, make him figure out which hand had the biscuit, or hide a biscuit in a pile of blankets. Or we would tell him get the ________", birdie, hammyster, kittycat, ect and he would run through the house to each room where the animal lived or stare outside at the fence for the cat or squirrel.
Agression towards my 3 year old
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I think the term you might be looking for is NILIF or 'nothing in life is free'
This is a very useful technique with smart little dogs like Basenjis.
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One thing that you might try, is calling him off the couch when he is sleeping for a treat. Once he gets that when you call his name in that situation, try having your son do it. Buster will start to associate your son with good stuff coming, rather than associating him with disturbing his peace.
The only problem with not letting him on the couch as a solution, is that you aren't really addressing the problem of him guarding his space. There may be a time when he sneaks up on the couch, and your son walks by again…if you haven't changed the guarding behavior, he will most likely do it again because he will value the resource (couch) even more because he hardly ever gets to lie on it.
I agree that boundaries, consistancy, and not pittying him will help all of you have a better relationship. There are lots of GREAT books out there that you could use if you just can't find a behaviorist to help. Try browsing www.dogwise.com for a start
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I contacted a trainer with experience with aggression in Pittsburgh she agreed to come to my home and help me out with buster. I have started not letting him on the couch at all until he learns to respect boundaries. I have also started to teach buster to follow me. I know it sounds kind of silly but with weezie the little she devil would go to the bathroom on my carpets as soon as I would leave the room, so I started making her follow me from room to room until she curbed the problem at hand. Buster didn't quite know what to make of me asserting myself to him. At first I think that it scared him. He is very receptive to training though. I started to make him sit before he gets any thing he is starting to catch on, then I went one step further and I took one of his toys that he loves and I carried it in my back pocket and would leave it in random places when he would find it I would take it and do the whole routine all over again. I am not sure if it is doing anything but I sat and I watched his interaction with weezie and when she would get a toy he would take it I tried to mimic that interaction by taking his toy. I know to much time on my hands.
I just want to make sure that before we give him up we have tried every thing possible to make this work. If it is just that he doesn't like my son…well at least I know I have expended all available resources. It is just going to be a long road from here for awhile. But I agreed with the coordinator to give him two weeks to show any signs of improvement and go from there. So I will just have to take it day by day and see, -
I just want to mention that I have had many conversations with my coordinator whom told me how to handle the situation that I am in. I just want to make one thing quite clear and that is that I have never gone through this whole thing with out the help of a brat volunteer. My coordinator has contacted me on several different occasions to help me through this tough time that we are having. I would also like to mention that buster's foster has been in contact with me on several different occasions to see how things are going. Word had gotten back to me that some of you have reported back to brat and copied and pasted (to inform brat) what I have written. Now here is the thing, so it is clear why I have posted what I did. I value what other "basenji" people have to offer. I want to expend all options before I decide to rehome buster. And if somebody would tell me to stand on my head and count backwards to make him work, I would do it. And I should inform you all that it isn't in my vocabulary to rehome him. I can admit that busters issues are more or less environment. I let him get away with his actions and this is what he turned out to be. I started to institute the nilf program and I have seen nothing but positive results. The thing that I want to make quite clear is the fact that I have never gone through this alone. Granted I should have recognised the problem before it got to this point, However I respected the fact that some people would know how to handle the situation more than I would know how to handle it. That is why I asked for help. You must think that I am a total jerk to not ask for help, these are my children that I am talking about. So i ask myself are these people that forewarded this to brat looking for drama or are they looking to help me. I would wager on the err of looking for drama otherwise they would have offered advise. For those that did….thank you. For those that were only looking for trouble screw off. I can tell you that brat is more involoved than any other rescue that I have ever met. I admitted that I was wrong what more will it take. If I could say something it would be get to know me before you passed a line of poo, it would be a great difference in you all to get to know me first. I don't give up and I wont with buster so do me a favour and let all the BRAT people know (since you are so good at it already) Things are taken care of. Sorry that I asked the advise of those that knew more than me. I don't think that I will post here again because of the issues that I am having with the other people here. Sorry I asked for help.....That mistake will never happen again. I only hope that anybody else that has adopted a brat dog will contact somebody including me privately We will be more than willing to help.
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I would like to say that I really admire the lengths you are willing to go with Buster and I think it says a lot about you and your devotion to your dogs. I have children too, older than yours, but I got some really negative feedback when I chose to work with my dog and teach my children how to work with my dog rather than re-home him when we were having problems with aggression (and we had the same couch thing - I still have chairs on my couches). We've come a long way and we were just talking today about what a great dog Willie is - not perfect, but so, so much better and I'm not even considering having be anywhere but with us. Any snarkiness we see now is pretty minor and totally manageable, and I bet you'll find the same thing with Buster. I don't know what happened with reports back to BRAT, but I have found that these forums have been very supportive. I hope you don't feel like you have to check out - hopefully you can ignore the negative and stay on for the positive. I wish you nothing but good luck and I think with your attitude and determination, you'll be able to work things out with Buster.
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I think everyone would agree that working with any problem dog is much better than rehoming the dog.
I admire folks who are committed to doing this work.
I do think it does pay off. -
Thank you both for your kind words. The thing that gets me about the whole thing is that when I posted this brat had already been informed. For somebody to think that I wouldn't contact them with an issue as serious as this should have their head examined. In the last few days buster has made great strides, and I will be the first to admit I when I do something wrong. With buster that is the case. I lost control over him and now I am working to get it back and keep it. I have to say that brat has been with me every step of the way, with out the conversation with my coordinator I would have more than likely gone no where with him ending in his being rehomed. I think that if he wasn't so receptive to the training we would have also considered new placement. If it is one thing I can say, I am only trying to do what is best for my dogs and my children, if this doesn't work (I am giving it two weeks or one more serious bite) then I think that he would do better in another home. I guess when I made my initial post I should have made it clear that brat had already been contacted. However lesson learned. Take care and thanks for everything.
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I noticed today that Buster is up for adoption on the BRAT site.
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Some things are just not meant to work.
Maybe he will find his forever home next time. -
It's scary with a toddler in the house. Even though Willie has gotten soooo much better, when I recently had little children in the house for a short visit, I kept him on a leash. You just can't watch them 100 percent of the time.
Here's hoping the best for Buster.
