Sounds like she is letting you know where she is - Lela really (I mean REALLY) howls when she does not know where we are.
When we leave our B's alone, we always tell them we are leaving and when we will be back. They understand. We don't use crates.
Crate story
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About 2 months ago I went shopping and Khalani had chewed my remote control the day before so I wasn't going to leave him uncrated this particular day. I hadn't had to crate him for any longer than an hour before and I had to leave him for 3 hours this day.
When I returned I was shocked when I went to let him out of his crate and he had bent all the bars, pulled the door in and bent one corner up at 90 degrees. I mean I had trouble straightening them. How in hell did he do it, did he use his paws or his jaws or a combination of both?
Until that day I never knew how powerful Basenjis were. -
Have heard quite a few stories about this happening, dread the day Kaiser decides to do it. And he didn't hurt himself? Would make a very interesting video. Scary because once they know how to do something there's no stopping them from doing it again. For this reason we always make sure Kaiser is exercised before he has crate time in the hope he is too tired to be destructive, I know he has the destructive gene I have seen glimpses of it.
Jolanda and Kaiser
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Make sure you check his teeth! One of my boys damaged a canine tooth in this way–he's very sensitive and got upset because I moved the crates to the basement. I felt like a monster when I took him to the vet because he was having trouble eating and he had a badly broken tooth. Now, when I have no choice but to crate him in an unfamiliar spot I use a large plastic crate: the mesh of the metal door is too small for him to get his teeth around.
Yolanda, I've got quite a bit of experience owning & fostering B's--there's no "destructive gene", they're just an extremely social & pack oriented dog that sucks at being alone even more than the average canine. The destructive behaviour stems from a combination of separation anxiety, boredom and a need for companionship. If I was going to do it all again, I would've rescued a second B much earlier in the game.
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In addition to all of the above posts, there are definitely basenjis who will not be crated. I have one. Went through all the correct procedures trying to crate Shaye as a new puppy. We got her a wire crate, the right size, put a soft piece of our clothing in it, put it next to our bed at first so we could touch her through the bars - she screamed all the time she was in there, did her business wih her butt against the side so it would go outside, peed all over the place and sat in it, even though we were very slow and careful with it. The eventual result was she broke nearly all her baby teeth biting the crate, never calmed down in it, would not go in to eat, get treats or anything else. Her personality has never changed; she still backs off if she even sees crates other dogs are sleeping in. She is now nearly five, and she does not act like that when she needs to be kenneled at a daycare place, she seems to know it's different there, although if possible she will try to climb her way out at first. When she cannot, she will calm down and rest for the hour they put her in there during the day. Be patient, but if it just never works, so be it. Once Shaye got a little older and we got her a companion, she has been totally trustworthy while we are gone.
