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Basenji Help!!

Behavioral Issues
  • H

    Hi. A bit of history to start with. I have gotten some great advice on this forum before and just need some more. I have had a 8 years old female since she was eight. About 2 months ago i decided to introduced 8 years old male. He is from the breeder where i used leave mine when we went away. They got along really well and thats why i didnt think there would be a problem.

    From day one she didnt want her in the house. Now, 2 months later…there is no problem going for walks, no problem just hanging out at home, no problem when left alone.

    PROBLEM 1:They are fed them in their crates and my girl who used to take an hour to eat her food, finishes it in 30 seconds goes crazy wanting to get out her crate and eat his. She literally goes crazy biting the crate. He just minds his own business and finishes his food at his pace. When i let them out once they finish their food, she immediatly attacks his crate and goes in to find food. My female has always been food driven. What do i do to stop this?

    PROBLEM 2: Same behavior when i let them out of their crates in the morning. I have tried both ways, letting her out first and letting him first. If she is out first she will attack his crate biting and pulling on the crate and if i let him out first she will attack him. In both situations she gets crazy and all worked up.

    I really need her to calm down and get along with him. I got him fixed about 2 weeks ago. He is easy go lucky but when she pushes him, he knows how to defend himself. He is a lot stronger than her. Please advise...

    Thanks in advance.

    Joti & Karen

    Surrey, BC

    Canada

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  • S

    Oh, it does sound awful. I don't have anything helpful to add, but I am sure someone on this list can help.

    Sharron Hurlbut

    BRAT, basenji rescue

    Evergreen basenji club

    Seattle Purebred Dog Rescue

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  • H

    I really hope so….a friend of mine suggested hiring "BARK BUSTERS" I am not sure what their reputation is like. I am in Surrey, BC, Canada and if anyone knows of any trainers with basenji experience?

    Joti & Karen

    Surrey, BC

    Canada

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  • NexaN

    You might want to get her one of the bowls at the website below to slow down her eating. This would at least give him time to finish. I know it doesn't really solve the problem but it might help.

    http://www.brake-fast.net/

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  • nomrbddgsN

    Really crating both of them while eating is the best. You may want to put a blanket over her crate so she can't see what is going on and only let them out when they are completely finished. It may also help to leave them in for a couple of minutes until they settle down after eating before you even take the bowls out.

    Arlene, the Basenji Brats with the Boxenji![](images/smilies/biggrin.png "Big Grin")

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  • agilebasenjiA

    if you'd like her to slow down her eating, put her food in a food dispensing toy (think buster cube). it sould engage her brain and slow her eating. and covering her crate is a good idea too.

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  • H

    Ok…i will try the above BUT what is the reason behind attacking his crate....food or no food?

    Joti & Karen

    Surrey, BC

    Canada

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  • nomrbddgsN

    Personally, I really wouldn't like to give an opinion without seeing what works up to this. It could be as simple as jealousy, domination, odour, anything.

    Ohhh, sorry, just thought of something else too. When my younger bitch used to come out of the crate, she would bolt and run around like an idiot growling at everyone. I started opening her crate and not letting her run out. I would get in front of the crate, (she would always have a collar on) and grab her before she could run and spend a little time quieting her down while she was kind of standing inside and outside of the crate. It did take a while, probably a month or two, but now she just walks out and is a lot calmer coming out. I find with her attitude, she needs some slow petting and time to calm down when she gets a little excited about something. Her prey drive kicks in and goes into overdrive. If I calm her down a bit, she's a lot easier to handle. Just a thought. This is kind of like what I mean in you have to find out what the behaviour stems from before you decide on what correction to take.

    Arlene, the Basenji Brats with the Boxenji![](images/smilies/biggrin.png "Big Grin")

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  • V

    Move the crates to different rooms. The female won't be able to see what's going on. Give the male his food first, then feed the female a little later. Don't let them out of the crates at the same time.

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  • H

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    Do let us know what you found out from the vets.
  • R

    New to the basenji world, need HELP!

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    @DebraDownSouth: Andrea, great post. I have taught many dogs bite inhibition at a much older age, though… only thing you wrote I don't heartily agree with. Yes, I understand that it is possible but I'd like to know more about it. Generally it's accepted that teaching remedial ABI is difficult to do at best, at least amongst the trainers I know, talk to and read. Dunbar says he's done it but I tried to pin him down at a seminar and he was evasive. I was hoping to get specifics, training program and how to test it or pointed at one. He said to buy his DVDs. I did. Best I could find was teaching a better ritualized bite and jaw prudence and done my best to scour books and websites as well (and speaking with colleagues, natch). What I found didn't really satisfy me. I mean, when I think of teaching ABI, I am thinking of teaching it so that it holds up even under duress since that's when it's most important. For instance a colleague was recently contacted about a Level 5 biter. If it's possible to teach reliable ABI in adult dogs THAT dog should be a candidate for sure. I'd love to assist someone teaching it to a dog like that, or in training a dog that has poor ABI with other dogs. How could you train and test that safely or humanely? What is the liability there? Pretty serious, I would think. I do remember my first basenji experience though. I have trained and worked with dogs my entire adult life. So imagine my surprise when squeaking caused her to bite MORE, lol. Change of tactics. Life offers us so many opportunities to learn new things. :) Ah yes, I've had one of those. I changed to a calm "too bad" and then removing myself. Worked MUCH better. Depends on the dog. EDIT: I just looked at the site you linked and what she is talking about is what I refer to as 'jaw prudence'. When I use ABI, I'm referring to how hard the dog bites when it bites, not if it puts its mouth on you. For instance, your Rottie I would say had great ABI but iffy jaw prudence. OTOH, there are dogs with great jaw prudence but the one time they use their mouths they do it will full jaw force. I'd much prefer the former.
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    I agree with Catherine, socialization is a must, but it depends on the personality of the individual dog. When we had 4, they all slept on the bed together and ran together and rarely did we have any problems. We added a puppy and things were still going ok, just really crowded. However, one day our youngest girl decided she was all grown up and didn't want to be bossed around anymore by our 'wanna-be' alpha. Neither of them was a true alpha. We managed to defuse the situation, but a month later it happened again. The girls could never be together again. In fact, the tri developed a predjudice against all red girls after that! Both girls were terrific with people and with Basenji males and even with males and females of other breeds. I had 2 intact males, brothers, who stayed together with absolutely no problem for almost 4 years until one went to another home. They even got along during season. Terry