I think that Basenji people have to have a special sense of humor to choose this breed in the first pace, and Basenjis have the same sense of humor, doing things that crack us up and then cuddling up and demanding attention and love. Of course we love our Basenjis and want to gush about them...it comes with Basenji territory!!!!
Just need to vent
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He gets upset as soon as he realizes he's in the crate w/the door shut. I can be gone one hour and he'll have urinated everywhere and torn up whatever is in the crate w/him.
Last night I knew I'd be gone for several hours so I tried occupying him – I let in his crate with him a KONG stuffed with a little canned dog good and some raw carrots {a favorite}, two empty paper towel tubes, a small rawhide chew, and a bunch of loose paper towels. I also left a radio playing. The other two dogs were next to him, Jazzy in her crate and Gypsy on her big pillow.
When I got home the rawhide was gone,the KONG was empty, the paper towels tubes disintegrated, and the bedding full of holes and urine -- all as I'd expected. LOL
I let the dogs out for about an hour, brought them in, put him to bed in his crate as always at night and he curled right up and went to sleep like a good boy.
Maybe it is because we are a homeschooling family, so we are here ALL the time -- the dogs are only alone during the day one - three times a week -- and he just has it in his head that closed crates are for night time only. During the day we are expected to be home to serve his needs!
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I wonder would it help if you put a cover over his crate to make it look like it's dark out. I know they probably are too smart for that but it might not hurt to try.
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I don't know… I could try that...but we are talking about a dog that has a nightlight next to his crate at night.... seriously, w/out he cries and cries. I think he needs to be able to see that Gypsy and Jazzy are nearby.
I will try the blanket idea tomorrow; we are going on another hike and I don't think the dogs can go on this one.
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good luck.
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So I was out at my first lure coursing trial this weekend and came home to feel very sad/upset, like an outcast.
Does anyone have the answer to this question…..why do Bs not like whippets. The club I belong to is majority whippets (of course!), the first or second day I attended a practice with them Heix kind of snarled at one of the whippets. I gave him heck and they said "don't worry, Basenjis don't like whippets!"
This weekend at lure coursing every time someone walked by me and Helix with a whippet they were like, "no, leave it, that's a Basenji", "no you can't play, that's a Basenji", "oh I didn't know there was a Basenji laying there, otherwise I would not have let the puppy go over there,"..........every time, "NO THAT'S A BASENJI" (I'm glad people know their dog breeds!). No one wanted to sit with me and talk b/c Helix was with me. I felt like I had the black plaque or something. One moment in the afternoon one of the ladies standing in front of me talking w/ a couple other ladies, blurted out, "Basenjis are nasty creatures, they have the personality of a terrier!" :mad: Cow, did she not realize I was right there. She's a freak anyways. Everytime Helix looks, sneezes, walks, runs…etc up to her whippets, she literally hurls herself onto her whippets to protect them from the mean nasty Helix- screeches, "no, get away". No wonder there are no other Bs in the club except for mine and another ladies….everyone else in the city was shunned and did not come back! One whippet owner put it a little nicer, she said, "Basenjis have this bubble around them and nothing is allowed to penitrate the bubble, the bubble protects dog and owner! It was a cute way of putting it! But still...I just think someone had a bad experience between their whippet and a B and has now blown it all out of proportion. If you allow the behavior to happen, the issue will never resolve itself. A correction has to made for the bad behaviour! :rolleyes:
I also practice the same corrections as one of the other ladies on here mentioned...
If Helix approaches another dog and I see the hair on his back stand up, I immediately make him sit and wait- that is always my first indicator that he is not approaching friendly. This weekend he did good practicing that for the most part. He approached a whippet and an ibizhan hound, seen his hair stand up, made him sit, he gave them a little "hello" yodel and stayed sitting waiting patiently, hoping that they would come over to him to say hello but after 2min of him waiting, the owners would not let the dogs approach. The other thing I do too is to tell him to "leave it" and it could be anything.....dog, food, garbage, and pull the leash in towards me and he ignores it.I just had to get that out b/c it really ticked me off. I understand they do not get along, but could they just simply say, "no, leave it". Rather than constantly reinforcing the obvious!
A little side note....if they were worried about their dogs getting hurt or eaten, I could have let our 12 year old B- Metinga- loose on them....she's the alpha and the scrapper in our family!!!!:D
Rhonda Sitter (mom of Helix and Metinga)
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That is too bad, here in No. Calif… Basenjis typically get alone with all hounds, of course 99% of them were raised from being a young pup at lure trials.. and all the other breed owners like our Basenjis as to their dogs... We rarely have a problem with someone pointing fingers at Basenjis... And I am sure in your case that these other owners have had a bad experience.. BUT that can happen with any breed....
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Yeah, I have to agree with Tanza….that is not the norm in the area where we course. Of course, the basenjis around here, for the most part, have gone a long way towards improving the reputation of the breed. Occasionally you will get a comment about 'you naughty little 'senji' Or something like that. And I am sure that some of the people we course with have the attitude you mentioned, but they keep it to themselves...and quietly keep their dogs away from ours.
I think since there are a couple breeders in our area that do A LOT of coursing with great temperament dogs, the folks in the coursing clubs have learned a lot about Basenjis...like, they sound like they are going to kill your dog when they really just want to say 'hi'
My dogs have no problems with whippets, in particular....actually none of the coursing hounds...I think mainly because none of them are in your face dogs.
I think those people just have had bad experiences and think all Basenjis are like that. Keep plugging away if you can manage it. Have your boy display exemplarly manners, and try to change their opinion
Good luck!
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Exactly right Quercus….. keep going and show them that Basenjis can be well behaved... it only takes one person to spread rumors or have seen a bad behaved Basenji to ruin it for everyone. But on the other hand, takes only one GOOD Basenji to change their minds.... The breeders here in NO. Ca have always run their dogs... and have bred for sound temperaments. Not to say that they don't have "scraps", but that usually happens with in-tact B's if they run this time of year (being B Breeding season). In fact, most of the people with in-tact don't even run theirs this time of year.
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It's really sad that people can be so ignorant & generalize characteristics over an entire breed…:mad: That being said...can you imagine how owners of pits, rotties, or dobermans feel. I'm sure they get ostracized all the time for having their dogs. However, there is no need for people to be down right rude! If they want to stereotype that's their business but show a little RESPECT & above all some MANNERS! YUCK!
I would have purposely said something obnoxious (Oh please lady...I only feed my dog "quality" ingredients lol
) but that's just ME I can be pretty sarcastic when people offend me on purpose. And nasty remarks against my precious pooches...oooh god help those people!! -
It's really sad that people can be so ignorant & generalize characteristics over an entire breed…:mad: That being said...can you imagine how owners of pits, rotties, or dobermans feel. I'm sure they get ostracized all the time for having their dogs. However, there is no need for people to be down right rude! If they want to stereotype that's their business but show a little RESPECT & above all some MANNERS! YUCK!
I would have purposely said something obnoxious (Oh please lady...I only feed my dog "quality" ingredients lol
) but that's just ME I can be pretty sarcastic when people offend me on purpose. And nasty remarks against my precious pooches...oooh god help those people!!Ha, ha…love the comment. I have heard comments like the one the OP was faced with...just not that many in one day
I do feel that more and more dog people are realizing that Basenjis aren't nasty...they are different. But it does baffle me when people need to say such rude things outloud.
Maybe we don't have that kind of folks around where we course because Dr.Tracy would kick their tushies!
