I have a six-year-old full bred basenji her name is makana looking for a new home I am in Southern California
Basenji girl in NJ shelter
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I know that most kennel dogs or "caged" over crated dogs circle… as that is the only thing they can do where they were kept... It is also a learned habit... like if you have a horses that paws, cribs, or circles the stall... usually from being bored... and very, very hard to cure... or so I have been told
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The shelter did not supply much information. It sounded like a family moving out of a home to an apartment where they could not keep dogs. They tried to keep them somewhere else and when that did not work out they came to the shelter. But the story changed a couple time. Who knows exactly what the environment was? I don't know if three weeks in the shelter could have caused her to lose her house training and cause such ingrained circling.
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As Pat says, it's partly boredom. It sounds like she had been crated for an extended length of time in a small crate. I usually saw this previously in stressed, bored dogs that had no life outside of a small environment. It is hard to cure. Try gently touching the inside of her body where she is circling and distract her by walking. It takes a long time. This, as you said, does not occur within the three weeks at the shelter, it takes much longer to ingrain it. She also could have had head trauma, which I have also seen lead to the circling. Kudos to you for trying to help her.
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Hey DoubleB - we'd love to see some pics of little Penny Rose and your own two B's if you get a chance!
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Hey DoubleB are you still here with us? How is little Penny Rose doing?
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I would like to know as well.
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After two weeks with me, I brought her to another more experienced foster home in Maryland. She was doing pretty well here, fine with people, and very slowly making progress with housetraining. But with me being out at work all day, there were limitations to what I could do. She is doing well at the new foster home after a week; she is socializing with other Basenjis and cats. The foster "mom" is at home most of the time and nothing much phases her. She is confident that things will work out for Penny soon. It was so very sad to leave her that day. At least I got her out of that shelter. No basenji should be in that situation for three weeks, and who knows what she lived through before that.
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Thanks for the update, doubleB. You provided the second chance this B needed. If not for you, she may not be here at all.
Thank you.
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You are welcome. I felt like a foster failure giving her up after two weeks; but she has a better situation with an expert like Barbara. I definitely need some practice with introducing adult Basenjis. Those noises they make sound like the Exorcist!
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Oh I'm glad to hear she is doing well. Don't feel bad, you DID get her out of that shelter and into BRAT's system….
