1st Timer


  • Hello from Australia. I'm being trained by my first Basenji, a girl named Teshi. She's 6 months young and at this stage has no real issues, except for nail clipping. Her 2 playmates have issues with her, when she goes into her B 500 mode they run for the hills !!! She's been a joy and makes me laugh constantly with her antics.
    attachment_t_15871_0_teshiheadshotfixed.jpg


  • Hi and welcome to the forum, love the sentence - I'm being trained by my first Basenji, so true. Don't blame your other dogs for getting out of the way when she does the B500, safer that way. She looks like she could be mischievous and be able to get away with it( a little thinker) my boy knows my body language when I go to do certain things to him and decides it's time to play, so have to try to out think him if I can. Enjoy your pup they grow soooo fast.

    Jolanda and Kaiser


  • She looks like a real charmer. What's the nail clipping issue? Welcome to the forum.


  • Nail clipping is something she absolutely HATES. It's the leg holding that I think she dislikes more than the actual clipping. I've only managed to do her nails once in 4 months.


  • So it's something you need to work on. A lot of Basenjis aren't fans of having their feet held, not so much the legs, in my experience. What does she do when you take hold of her leg? (this is something best addressed when they are young, but you need to deal with what you have now). Has she ever had a bad experience with clipping? e.g. clipping too short and drawing blood? You could try making the appearance of the clippers a sign that she will get a food reward. Work up to holding the leg/foot = food reward. One reward for each foot, tapering to one for all feet. Hold foot longer as she tolerates it better, etc. I would make it a daily routine to handle feet and legs, rewarding for good behaviour. If it becomes something she looks forward to, you can then move on to the actual clipping, but go slow and reward often. (never reward when she is being bad!!)


  • Welcome, and what a fun B she is.
    As to nail clipping: we find that enough walking on road surfaces keeps their nail perfect.

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