Skip to content

In need of a little assistance

Basenji Training
  • they're quite intelligent dogs though. I love him and he is my baby If he wans attention he ignores everyone else and comes straight for me.

    As far as the kids go theyre 8 and 11, he will just walk up to them and nip ankles, hands or certain sweatpants that the youngest wears. He also chews on everything but i've read they get bored easily even though he has a billion toys around the house.

    If he wants my attention he stares at me and puts his paw on me.

    He listens to my fiancee and one of my little brothers when we say'get out of the kitchen' but when i say it he just stares at me like,"Yeah, ok mom,n whatever"

    P.S as we speak he is hiding under the blanket from the previous storms and snoring away next to me.

  • When he does that I would separate him from the kids by body blocking him away and tell him no or give a no reward marker (that is what we do here…it is sort of an errrrr noise) to tell him this is not acceptable and reward if he breaks off the behavior and moves away. This may take a time, my guy tends to be very persistent. I rarely use my hands to move him away in situations like that because it may turn things into a game and also dogs tend to use their bodies to make others move.

    Same if you want him out of the kitchen and he ignores the verbal command use your body to make him move out :)

    Yeah...my dogs are snoozing away here too...I think we need to head off to bed :D

    I am serious though. If you worry about not getting the info just from reading training books try some videos. Here is a link to Kikopup on youtube she has some very nice training videos up :)

  • Thank you, you're a life saver. Can I drive to you and you just train both Diesel and I? Haha. Bed is calling my name and i'm not even 21 yet. (I will be in July)

    Also, please excuse my poor typing skills. I've somehow managed to break most of my nails off so the tips are sensitive and its quite interesting to type

  • :D That is a long way to drive for training sessions ;) But a meet up of some of us WI might be fun.

    No worries…I have had some epic spelling/typing mistakes.

    Saw your pictures of Diesel...he is a pretty little brindle boy!

  • Yeah, he's a pretty boy. I just love his white markings.
    Say… when Wattson gets tired does his tail go limp? I'm not sure if its just my boy or a breed trait.

  • Yeah, they uncurl their tail when they are tired, relaxed, or not feeling well…so yes it is a breed trait :)

  • I'm a little worried about having a child and him being so hyper and possibly hurting the child. Granted I may not be popping out a kid for a year or two but meh. Do you have kids?

  • No…we have no wee ones here. But I believe there are a few members on the forum that can help out with basenji and child advice :)

  • Thank you again I will get right on that…after I get a few hours of sleep in. I appreciate all the help. Feel free to give me a message anytime

  • Here's a great way to start playing with clicker training:
    http://www.clickertraining.com/node/167

    You can even get the kids into doing this. It's fun; treat it as a game.

  • How old is he?

    Jennifer

  • You've got plenty of time to get him trained before having children. If you look for posts by Buana, especially the earlier ones - she has some great advice and lots of pictures showing how Basenjis and children can be raised. We have followed through from the pre-birth of her son to the present day (she now has 3 Basenjis).

    There are plenty of us here who've had experience of Basenjis and babies together with every success.

    Any way don't worry about that, if I were you I'd concentrate on the clicker training as a prelim to anything else and as agilebasenji suggests get the children to participate but only under strict supervision. It would seem that he's had bad experiences with the hand.

  • He just turned a year in May. I'm going to find a nice clicker this upcoming weekend and start on that. =) I will def. search for those posts.

  • Oakley has been a difficult pup, mainly my own fault because I over spoiled and under disciplined. I will say, clicker training has been a hit from day one, it really is successful with difficult and independent minded ones….and a side note- I bought a clicker but ended up usin it maybe ten times....I just use a "clut" sound, ony because it was difficult to ALWAYS have a clicker around when he did something good. For example, if I was in the kitchen cooking and I told him "down" when he jumped up at the stove..I'd be able to just make the clicker sound and he knew that was why I wanted from him. It's been the best thing for him and I...

  • I find using a clicker is often misunderstood or misinterpreted. You only need the device when you are training or trying to capture behaviour. Once the behaviour you want is put on cue, you don't require the clicker (unless you are training something new). Of course, you can dispense with a clicker and train perfectly well using a marker word instead. It is just that the clicker is a consistent sound with no inflection to cause confusion. But once the dog understands the command and the action associated with it, all you need do is invoke it and when he (hopefully) complies, reward with praise, treat, or whatever. No click is required, as he knows what you asked him to do and what you are rewarding. But do progress to intermittent rewarding, which is more effective (once the behaviour is set) than rewarding every time! (those casinos know what they are doing…....intermittent rewards are addictive!)

  • Agh, Diesel has now taken on biting(hard) at all times. I can be sitting down doing nothing and he just runs up and clamps down. He's even doing it to our guests now. Heeeelp.

  • @Enigmatic:

    Agh, Diesel has now taken on biting(hard) at all times. I can be sitting down doing nothing and he just runs up and clamps down. He's even doing it to our guests now. Heeeelp.

    I would think at this point you need a behaviorist, nothing here is going to help… only someone that can see in person what is going on....

  • Ok, we do not know how others feel about this but we came across this during some of our research. One post suggested that if you have a dog that is biting to use a mint flavored breath spray, and spray it in their mouth and tell them no.

    It would be interesting to see what the opinions are in this forum of using a Mint flavored breath spray as way to teach a dog not to bite.

  • How do you respond when he does this? And how often is it happening? Any particular circumstance? You might want to leave a short leash on him so that you can immediately take control of him, hopefully when you "see it coming", not after the fact. I concur that you need outside help with this….

  • I could be wrong but it doesn't sound malicious but it does sound like he has no bite inhibition or that he knows when it is appropriate or not to play bite, I agree that if you can't come uP with some super disciplined rules about how to teach him and corrections to use while teaching him then a behaviorist will work to implement these techniques. Since its escalating it's important you correct 100% of the time he exhibits this behavior and be 100% consistent in the household an with guests on training

Suggested Topics

  • Nala needs help housebreaking.

    Basenji Training
    9
    0 Votes
    9 Posts
    3k Views
    RivermoonR
    While it's sometimes easier to hope that the older dogs will teach the little one, that doesn't always happen. While I had it work with Apache, it didn't with Zuni. When I was house training Zuni I would leash her up and take her out into the yard and just wait until she went, then praise and treat. There were many times she wouldn't move, so we just stood there until she moved and went or went where she was. It can be a real pain, especially in the middle of the night…but that doesn't last forever. Any accidents in the house were just cleaned up and not acknowledged. When we lived in the city, the dogs did prefer to go while on walks, but would, if they REALLY needed to go, go out into the yard.
  • Just a little vent…

    Basenji Training
    27
    0 Votes
    27 Posts
    8k Views
    thunderbird8588T
    Great to hear things have improved with Paco's toileting. We find that Malaika goes more when on the extending lead. Think she likes a bit of privacy.
  • Naughty Basenji need advice

    Basenji Training
    16
    0 Votes
    16 Posts
    6k Views
    C
    @jinxed_1980: Beau has decided to take things out of the garbage in protest of being gated in the kitchen. The wierd thing is it is only in protest, he doesnt eat anything he just takes it out of the garbage usually the diapers and strategically places articles around the kitchen. Dogs don't do things "in protest". He is probably bored and just finding a way to entertain himself. That or he has learned that this behavior gets a reaction from you. Dogs are natural scavengers so he is only doing what dogs do. I'm surprised he doesn't eat it. Mine are inveterate trash hounds. Just get a good covered can so he cannot do this. Another thing he does is when he gets seperated from me he poops… He could have just went outside and did his business but if i leave for the gas station he will find the energy to realease another present for me on the kitchen floor. You might need to do a little remedial alone training. Sounds like it might be nervous deification. That or he learned not to poop in front of you, and is waiting for you to leave. I hate crating him and i dont think he likes it either, and i feel like a bad mommy. He screams and crys if i crate him up and i can hear him half way down the block when i come home from the gas station, so yeah thats a no go. This tells you he is not adequately crate trained, as others have said. Start from ground 0. Make the crate a super neat place where great things happen. Start by delivering rewards whenever he approaches it. Work up to him going inside, then inside with the door swung closed, then clipped, then inside door locked and he stays there a few seconds, etc. Also he wont be a good boy on the leash. I dont know how many dogs i have leash trained ( i have worked at kennels and doggy day cares and a vet) i know i know how to leash train a dog… Beau aint havin it. He even gives me the dirty eye when i correct him or suddenly change directions to get him to pay attention. The methods you're using are older, less effective ways of loose lead training. I suggest you get a Sense-ation harness or a Wonder Walker and sign up for classes with a good, positive reinforcement based trainer who can walk you through a good, fun way of teaching your boy to walk politely on lead. Good luck
  • Tips on house training needed

    Basenji Training
    17
    0 Votes
    17 Posts
    4k Views
    wizardW
    Gbroxon - no big deal. No one knew Luny (aka Tommy) would exhibit SA and especially not in such a severe form. And I understood what you were thinking - about people dumping dogs. One of my stupid neighbors has gone that route (they've had 6 different dogs in 3 years - I won't talk to them anymore). And I don't know how many times I've come across people who say "oh what a pretty dog, I'd like one like that" when they see me walking my dog. I almost always discourage them from getting a basenji (with that attitude no dog would be good for them). So I'm with you there.
  • I need help having two problems

    Basenji Training
    18
    0 Votes
    18 Posts
    6k Views
    C
    IMHO, please be careful with the alpha roll over, I used to do that when I first started dog training many years ago, I eventually had an aggression problem with the dog, got bit pretty good. I guessed it was my fault and never rolled one since. I never used pacifiers with my son, so no dog troubles there, but his blanky got stolen often. gg It sure cannot hurt to put the litterbox there and see what happens, its easy, fairly clean, and better than cleaning the rug often. You could also try using a scatter rug over the other rug, see if that helps any! I have one spot where one of the dogs, having gotten too excited, peed, they still go there if excited. I love my dogs, oh well its only in the hall. ggg Good luck, hope you find a solution! Carole
  • Another little brag

    Basenji Training
    4
    0 Votes
    4 Posts
    3k Views
    JazzysMomJ
    Way to go, Max!! See, all that energy is there for a reason! I love Max; he's beautiful and funny. LOL, one day I joked to Darren, "Don't you think Max and Jazzy would make beautiful puppies?". I think the look I got resembled this, ":eek: " Poor guy. I love doing stuff like that to him.