My not so normal basenji!

[sonnyboy]

:p

When I leave for work in the morning Sonny is mad at me. He tells me in no uncertain terms he is not happy I am leaving him. We go through the same routine every morning before I walk out the door. He watches me go into the cabinet and take out his favorite treat so he comes over sits at my feet as if to eagerly wait for it and then when I offer it to him he turns his head away from me and walks away into the other room grumbling the whole way….I put the treat down on the floor and leave.....now here's the kicker....Sonny leaves that treat in the exact place I set it down till the minute I walk back in the door at the end of the day and before he says hello he runs over and eats that treat before I have my 2 feet in the door!!

what dog in their right mind would leave their favorite treat sitting in front of them all day and not touch it.....only a crazy basenji! :D:D:D:D

[Andrew]

That's hilarious. What willpower he has!

[nobarkus]

LOL, that Sonny Boy is a character alright! Buddy is excited when I leave cause he gets a pile of cut up pieces of chicken breast. A thirty minute walk before I leave helps too. That's a cool pic of Sonny in his NY beanie.

[thunderbird8588]

Sonny looks a cool dude in his hat
Our big Dog Max used to not eat if we were out of the house. He was the type of Dog who lived to eat but when we went out he wouldn't touch his food or treats.

[sonnyboy]

He refuses to eat his food if I'm not home or even if he thinks I'm leaving the house. I had to learn to out smart the little rascal in order to get him to eat breakfast in the morning. He knows our routine before I leave for work and he started refusing to eat knowing what was coming.. (me leaving)..Keep in mind he's perfectly fine while I'm gone. When its time to eat he stands in the door way between the kitchen and the living room and waits to see what I do after I put the food bowl down…If I go jump in the shower- he wont eat cause the shower means I'm getting ready to go....If I go sit on the couch he will now eat & then I can get in the shower!

When I tell people my basenji made me late for work they think I'm kidding......they have no idea!! lol

[Basenjimamma]

That is absolutely hilarious..it would so not happen here..
He has you trained good.

[Rivermoon]

HAHAHAHA…that's funny...I don't know ANY dog that would leave a treat sitting there all day!! Well, I guess I do now!

[Basenjimamma]

Just out of curiousity, do you tell him "leave it" before you let him take it? If so, he is trained amazingly well, in my opinion..either way it astounds me that he doesn't sneak that treat while you are gone..such a good Sonny boy.
Otis does the leave it well, but no way treats would get left for long on our floor..or counter for that matter.

[sonnyboy]

I wish I could say it was due to good training….but no I don't give him the "leave it" command first.....he's just a little abnormal! :p

[nobarkus]

@sonnyboy:

He refuses to eat his food if I'm not home or even if he thinks I'm leaving the house. I had to learn to out smart the little rascal in order to get him to eat breakfast in the morning. He knows our routine before I leave for work and he started refusing to eat knowing what was coming.. (me leaving)..Keep in mind he's perfectly fine while I'm gone. When its time to eat he stands in the door way between the kitchen and the living room and waits to see what I do after I put the food bowl down…If I go jump in the shower- he wont eat cause the shower means I'm getting ready to go....If I go sit on the couch he will now eat & then I can get in the shower!

When I tell people my basenji made me late for work they think I'm kidding......they have no idea!! lol

Do you leave him loose in the house when you're gone? Other than leaving the treat he doesn't seem to have any crazy separation anxiety behavior like screaming or destruction, correct?.

[sonnyboy]

Yes he is left loose in the house. No he doesn't have any crazy separation anxiety. He just sits on top of his chair and watches out the window. He was quite the destructive puppy but thankfully he grew out of that

[nobarkus]

@sonnyboy:

Yes he is left loose in the house. No he doesn't have any crazy separation anxiety. He just sits on top of his chair and watches out the window. He was quite the destructive puppy but thankfully he grew out of that

Sounds like you have a good deal here. I used to leave my last 2 alone in the house and they were pretty good. Now my new guy Buddy Boy is house trained and I have left him for an hour but all day, he's not quite there yet. He still has the destructive thing going but it's very slowly going away. He's a rescue so I don't know his exact age, maybe a little over a year. He still has the puppy behavior going.:D

[sonnyboy]

My brother got Sonny from the breeder at 8 months old and he lived with my brother till he was almost 2. He ate his couch & most of his shoes! Lucky for me when Sonny came to live with me last year he was just growing out of that stage and I was spared the destruction :p

[nobarkus]

@sonnyboy:

My brother got Sonny from the breeder at 8 months old and he lived with my brother till he was almost 2. He ate his couch & most of his shoes! Lucky for me when Sonny came to live with me last year he was just growing out of that stage and I was spared the destruction :p

Buddy is my 4th and most destructive of them all. My last three didn't do any real damage. Buddy is the most friendly though. He's a real sweetheart and people love him. He's still very mouthy/grabby sometimes rough play biting. He's calming down. When I first brought him home in May he was a handful and I thought "Dan, what did you get yourself into"?:D

[SyberSade]

Haley used to do this also! She REALLY didn't like me to leave her home alone and would not eat anything - even her favorite treat - while I was gone. Then as soon as I got home she'd run and get the treat from the very spot I left it and devour it. This all came to a screeeeetching halt when we got our BRAT dog, Prince. Now Haley (who used to be finicky) has to eat everything FAST and IMMEDIATELY so that Prince doesn't get it! She's always afraid he's going to get something she doesn't get, so at meal times she has to check his bowl out first…before eating from her own bowl. Of course, if he tried checking HER bowl out he'd get his face bitten off!!!! All of the individual personalities crack me up!