Bored or depressed? It's a mystery!

[EllenW]

Cinnamon seems to become bored or depressed while my daughter is working. She has to close the door to her home office sometimes and when she comes out, Cinny bounds around and jumps and is really happy to see her, sits in her lap, cleans her hands. and is happy to sit with me too then, and play with me. So it's not that she prefers Kate; she just comes to life when we're all in the same room. I'm puzzled by that.
I've considered her past, since we got her at the SPCA and they picked her up in an outdoor mall. She had recently had puppies but they couldn't find the puppies and just brought her in. It's been over a year now, but that must have been traumatic to her, and we'll never know her whole story. They said she was very young to have puppies.
I wanted to ask if anyone has ideas or thoughts about this. Is it a Basenji behavior to want us to be in the same room, or is it just Cinny's own behavior for reasons unknown?

[eeeefarm]

Basenjis do prefer their pack to be together, but they also do not like to be denied entry to a room where one of their people is, even if they wouldn't be there if the door was open. That definitely is a Basenji thing! As soon as you close they door they want to know what you might be doing in there, even if before the door closed they didn't care.

[EllenW]

@eeeefarm Thank you very much! I have seen that happen; when the office door is open, she goes in, checks around and comes back out.
We got her right before the "stay-at-home" order was in place here in California, so we didn't have a chance to go to a trainer. I fully intend to do that as soon as we can. There's a lady here who people call the "dog whisperer" so I figure she must be good! I hope she can help me understand and respond accordingly. Cinny is such a darling, and being a Basenji - Corgi mix, it's an unusual mix of traits.

[DonC]

I think @eeeefarm has it right -- not that unusual. Several of our Basenjis did the rambunctious joyful greeting routine. It's great. Can happen when you come home after being out, even if you've just been gone for a couple of hours. Enjoy it while it lasts. At some point you may start getting the "Oh it's you" treatment! LOL

[JENGOSMonkey]

@ellenw We have a fairly large house and spread out during the day. My wife takes over the kitchen table and I move to the dining room. In the evening after we've fed the pups my wife moves to the couch in the family room and Sparkle usually joins her. When that happens Logan comes to me if I'm still in the dining room and will bug the living heck out of me. I get up and play with him, give him a snack, pet him and he settles down... till I sit back down at the table. Then he's back to buggin' the heck out of me. Scratching at me, jumping up on me, jumping up on the table, whining, etc. Once I move to the couch in the family room with my wife and Sparkle... he settles right down, looks very content and just completely relaxes. Dude just wants his pack to be together in one place, period. Very demanding about it too.

Logan is vocal all the time. Most vocal dog I've ever had. Sparkle never makes a sound... until either of us have returned from being away from her. She sees us and lets out this gravely baritone baroo while wagging her corkscrew tail like she's a golden retriever. It sounds like she's gargling with pebbles. It's the sweetest thing... to see that she missed us and wants us to know it.

Logan use to get moderate separation anxiety whenever I'd leave. Once we brought Sparkle home, that stopped. He's SO much happier with her here. She use to get moderate separation anxiety whenever my wife would leave, but that went away after she'd been with us for a few months.

Logan HATES closed doors and so did Jengo. Neither needed to be in the room, but they demanded access. Sparkle not so much. She just needs to have all the window shades open and access to chairs, stools, benches and couch backs, so she can see outside.

So while they're all a little different, they all seem to have one thing common... all of mine have always wanted to be with their human pack members. Some more than others, but they all want it.

[elbrant]

@ellenw said in Bored or depressed? It's a mystery!:

Cinnamon seems to become bored or depressed while my daughter is working. She has to close the door to her home office

Your current system is making Cinnamon feel like she isn't part of your family. In her mind, she's being separated from her pack (i.e.; punished). Simple solution. Leave the door open enough for your dog to come and go (even while your daughter is working). Put a bed and a toy or two in the office so that she has something to do and a special place to hang out. Then let her come and go as she pleases. She will learn to let your daughter work and be less intrusive.

[Zande]

@ellenw Cinnamon is a pack animal who wants and needs to be with her pack. I don't think she will disturb your daughter working, she just wants to be with her - closing doors and shutting her away from her humans is not good practice.

Put a bed with bones and toys in a corner and let her know she can come and go as she pleases. She'll settle very soon.

If she was too young to have a litter and then lost her pups, she needs her confidence building, not shaking ! Human companionship can do wonders for a Basenji !