@luvsmy2bs:
Hello all!
We got our third furbaby over the weekend (he is BEAUTIFUL!!!) Now we have him home and we think things are going fine but,,,,,,,,,,,,,,he is marking all over the house– and now our house broken dog Dane is starting to do the same,,,,,,,,is that normal? Also, they seem to be (the males) trying to mount each other,,,,,,,is that normal also? There have been a few squabbles over food -- we learned fast that with three they MUST be fed in their crates whereas with the first two they could eat outside there crate with no problems. I have taken off today to take the pack on a long walk and try to get them oriented. Anyone have any suggestions to make this transition as easy as possible?
The situation you describe is something we've seen in our house over and over again with our Buddy "forgetting" housebreaking when a new foster comes in. Most of our fosters were housebroken, so it wasn't a major problem, but a few were real "markers." Best way is to stand and watch like a hawk each of the offenders and catch them in the act, then carry them outside to let them finish relieving or to get the understanding of the "right" place to do so. In most cases, doing that 1x or 2x did the trick. The enzyme stuff does work, but you have to be very diligent about it and get every spot, not to mention the cost of the stuff too.
The mounting behavior is, in my opinion, very normal male (and sometimes female) interaction between our resident Bs, fosters and visiting basenjis we dogsit. Unless it creates undue tension to a mounted B, we let it be.
Regarding the eating patterns, if you talk to any responsible breeder, I believe that most of them will tell you that they feed all their B's in their own crates. Just not worth the trouble of feeding them in the same room or even in the same floor without appropriate separations of some kind. We quickly learned this during our fostering experiences. B's, to me, are about the most jealous of dog breeds when it comes to food.
As an aside, Tippy, our newly adopted puppy, is proving to be a difficult housebreaking challenge. Other than that, he's a perfectly balanced basenji in terms of temperament, mischeviousness, cuteness, and loveability. We are being patient with him because we are aware of his history of being stuck in a pet store for 4 months. Hard to untrack a pattern of relieving himself in his eating and sleeping spaces during that time. There are good days and bad days for him. The current rain (oh, how badly we need it) here in Maryland seems to really have set him back a few steps. Oh well, what do they say? Love conquers all!
