Adopted a 2nd Basenji, a little worried
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Another couple of accidents—both times in his bed—today and refused to walk in the morning, but seemed to be much better this evening. I will be switching his food to cooked meat with broccoli, pumpkin, egg etc from tomorrow to see whether it agrees with him.
Regarding kibble, Bobby had been fed Acana for a long time but we've realised that it was causing allergies, (both the poultry and fish versions), and there are so many "good" things in the good kibble that it's hard to track down what caused the reactions. He was fine using a bag of the crappy kibble as a pup, so we got a bag of that in case Frank had similar issues. Very frustrating!
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Little update, in the space of a week he was up to 7.6kg! So all is going well. The number of accidents have reduced massively but only after being banned from ALL dog mats/beds 😅. He peed on 6 of them, even brand new and freshly washed ones. Most annoyingly, he's already much better than Bobby at walking nicely.
Him and Bobby are getting along relatively well now too, there are one or two very loud daily arguments if Frank disturbs Bobby, but it's getting much less frequent. They'll occasionally share a spot to sleep but I have to keep watch, because they seem to have a strict no touching rule between them. Sometimes Bobby wants to play and Frank seems like he doesn't know what to do/comes to me to avoid the chase, but today he was the one chasing Bobby all over the house. Success!
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@castoinde
Wow! What a transformation - doesn’t look like the same dog. He looks so much more relaxed, healthy, and confident. As @zande stated “He will repay you 100 fold over the coming years and every effort expended now will have been very well worth it. - Once he gets his confidence back and knows he can trust you you will see daily improvements.” So happy to hear that Frank is doing well!❤️🐾 -
WOW! That was quick. Weight looks much improved. How is his hind end working? A simple exercise that helps with hind end issues is simply to have him back up. Backing up a ramp would be best but a floor would work. This exercise gets them to pay attention to where their hind legs are and builds strength in the legs by getting them moving under load. Given his interest in food this should not be too hard to do. LOL (There are many videos on YouTube about how to train this. I've used frontal pressure but other methods would no doubt be equally effective).
FYI I have heard about one Basenji who had this issue after being crated excessively but I've never seen it. (I saw the dog later but by then he was moving normally). Not saying this was the case but that would be my guess.
Congrats that he's made such progress in such a short time.
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@zande said in Adopted a 2nd Basenji, a little worried:
Running up and down stairs helps too.
Good point. Getting them to back up the stairs is even better. I've had Basenjis who did this naturally. As they started up the stairs, with a treat at the top of the stairs, I'd grab them and put them at the bottom. After a few times of this they would decide that backing up was the Rx. Wasn't even thinking of training the back up, just playing with them. So funny.
Using pressure and treats in the hand to get them to back up between a wall and furniture also works.
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My scales say around 8kg now! But I had him weighed at the vet last week and he was 7.2, so my scales must be a bit off. He's definitely more steady on his feet and our walks are along canals—meaning lots of bridges and steps :) He still reaches out for Bobby's food through the crate wires after he's finished, so I'll have to get him a slow-feeder bowl. Also the peeing indoors thing has completely stopped. His crate and beds are off limits apart from feeding time and he uses a bell to go out. Success!
Him and Bobby are learning to get along well too, which is nice. There is still frequent snout-grabbing and high pitched growls from Bobby (sounds more like a cat, really), but they're getting closer and closer day by day: shared sniffing and happily rough house eachother during play—Bobby often on the receiving end. All good signs I hope.
Also, weirdly for a seemingly neglected dog he ADORES strangers. He'll go over, begging for attention and licking. Totally puzzled, because now I have 2 polar opposite basenjis:
- One won't approach strangers, one loves them
- One isn't food motivated, one is ABSOLUTELY food motivated
- One has to do the poop-prowl, one goes immediately
- One never yodels/howls, one definitely does
- One hates being near faces, one needs to be in your face
- One has an incredible dog-fixation ability, one really couldn't care less
- One PULLS after lots (and I mean lots) of work, one will walk attentively and perfectly after barely any work
That being said, they both steal, climb, hate water and go crazy if they see a rat/squirrel/bird. So there's that.
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@castoinde said in Adopted a 2nd Basenji, a little worried:
All good signs I hope.
It seems you are doing really well ! I never worry when my two boys snarl at each other, its when they are obviously annoyed but silent that I start to worry -
And your list of their differences just emphasises how very different Basenjis can be - Never a dull moment, figuring them out !
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@zande I was so so nervous at first when they started to play, because they were totally silent, no growling at all. They still are mostly silent apart from their scampering/slamming/sliding/knocking-things-over sounds lol. Not worried at all now and rewarding them for sharing spaces seems to have helped significantly more than the whole "let them figure it out for themselves" idea.
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Little update :)
He's up to 8.5kg and is definitely comfortable walking now, a little too much for my liking 😂 pulling towards all of the smells if I don't have treats and showing a little bit of frustration when he can't pull to meet another dog. He's a boisterous boy.
Thanks all for your advice. In hindsight I can't believe he was so skinny compared to now, but he's definitely going to be on the small side. We met a female who was 13kg! and dwarfed him.
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@castoinde What a great looking dog! I love his coat in the sun. Stunning!
