Nipping…why?

[Nilo]

Hello all basenji owners!
I am new at the forum and really appreciate that there is a forum like this!
I have a couple of questions regarding my new puppy Nilo. He has been with us for five days only, we are first time bnasenji owners who recently purchased him from a breeder who has a big pack about 30 basenjis, so Nilo came home well socialized. We are now keeping on with the socializacion phase, and trying to be consistent with his daily training. He is doing pretty well on his crate, house and potty training but I have noticed that two days ago he started to nip us while we are playing or when we holding him up. How could we stop him from doing that? And another question is regarding getting up the couch, we would like to train him not to do it, but it seems that he loves to do it! I tell him "Off" and he looks at me but he does not get off the couch. Any ideas?

Thank you very much

[lvoss]

First off, anyone who has 30 basenjis is probably not able to provide adequate socialization for those basenjis. Socialization is a more than just running around with a bunch of other dogs. To be well socialized puppies need to be handled every day by humans, they need to be exposed to different environments (indoors, outdoors, tile, grass, carpet, different sounds, smells, etc), and they need to meet many different people.

Puppy nipping is normal and there is currently another thread about it that can be found here: http://www.basenjiforums.com/showthread.php?t=8397

As for teaching a dog not to get on furniture, this can be very difficult to do once they are already accustomed to getting on furniture. "Off" means nothing to the dog unless you have taken the time to train it. It is often easier to train something like "go to mat" because then the dog has a specific place it knows to go instead of being on the couch.

If you have not already done so, please look into signing up for a positive reinforcment based training class to help you build your relationship and communication tools with your new addition.

[nobarkus]

Welcome to the forum. Are you aware of the Fanconi disease? Did the breeder explain and show you the DNA test for the parents?

[Basenjimamma]

Welcome to the forum..
How old is your puppy? pictures, please?

[Nilo]

Yes, I read about Fanconi disease before I decided to acquire a Basenji and that was actually one of the first questions I asked the breeder. Nilo's parents are clear, so hopefully he is not going to be at risk.
Here there go two pics, he is only 13 weeks and we are trying to familiarize him with different people, children, sounds, other doggies. He loves going for a walk and then sit down on the sidewalk and watch everything that is around. He acts like a little man!

Well, I am going to try to redirect him to his own mat, but in this aspect it has not been easy, because he used to get up on the couch before he came home.

Thank you for the tips

[tanza]

Here are some links to information about Basenjis and health concerns that all owners should be aware of. And hopefully his breeder had done DNA testing before breeding for Fanconi

www.basenjihealth.org

And here is a link to the Basenji Parent Club, also valuable information

www.basenji.org

I also agree with Lisa, nipping comes natural to a puppy, any puppy… that is what they do with their littermates. How old was he when you brought him home? Many breeders, myself included, do not think that they should be placed before 10 to 12 wks. They learn much from their littermates and "soft bite". Remember you have now become his pack and he is just trying to relate to you as he would with his prior pack and what comes natural

[tanza]

Who is his breeder, if you want to share. You will find that many of us have related Basenjis on this list.

[Nilo]

Thank you for the links, Tanza.
Yes, the breeder is located in Florida. The name is MiBre's Basenjis. Anyone in the forum that minght be Nilo's relative?

[tanza]

@Nilo:

Thank you for the links, Tanza.
Yes, the breeder is located in Florida. The name is MiBre's Basenjis. Anyone in the forum that minght be Nilo's relative?

Who is his sire and dam?
I believe that all of MiBre's Basenjis come from Ahmahr Basenjis?

[Nilo]

Yes, Nilo's sire: Sinful's Swamp of a Legend and Dam: MiBre's Bump N The Night

[thunderbird8588]

Congratulations on your new Puppy, Nilo is lovely, what a shiny coat.Please keepus updated with how he's doing.

[sharronhurlbut]

I guess I am odd, but I love my 2 b's up on the couch with me.
They don't smell or leave a lot of hair, so they are allowed anywhere they want to go.
Honestly they are cleaner and neater than my great niece and nephew! laugh
Welcome. You will find lots of friends here.

[Nilo]

Thank you, I am so glad you liked Nilo! I will keep you informed about him

[thunderbird8588]

@sharronhurlbut:

I guess I am odd, but I love my 2 b's up on the couch with me.
They don't smell or leave a lot of hair, so they are allowed anywhere they want to go.
Honestly they are cleaner and neater than my great niece and nephew! laugh
Welcome. You will find lots of friends here.

No i don't think you are odd at all Sharon, we will be letting our Pup on the furniture, i enjoy having them cuddled up to us. The thing we will work on is training her to get off on request, this is where we came unstuck with Benji, he became quite aggresive if we tried to move him.

[tanza]

@Nilo:

Yes, Nilo's sire: Sinful's Swamp of a Legend and Dam: MiBre's Bump N The Night

Sire's registered name is Sinful's Swamp Legend (HP03749704)
While the dam has been tested for Fanconi, the sire has not. The Dam is Clear, however the Sire is sired by a Carrier, so he could be a carrier and so could your pup. Now that is only important if left in-tact for breeding. But still should have been tested before breeding so that information can be given to new owners.

And since we are trying to get all the information in the data base that is possible, it would be great if you tested your new pup.

Here is a link to the OFA data base on your puppy's sire.
http://www.offa.org/display.html?appnum=1146270#animal
His hips have not been done either and his sire is a Fair, really would have been good to have him tested before breeding.

It is good that the bitches hips were done, but it would have been nice to see the sire done before breeding. Here is the link to the Dam's OFA records
http://www.offa.org/display.html?appnum=1146270#animal

And about couches… ggg... we are lucky if ours let us share with them

[Nemo]

@thunderbird8588:

No i don't think you are odd at all Sharon, we will be letting our Pup on the furniture, i enjoy having them cuddled up to us. The thing we will work on is training her to get off on request, this is where we came unstuck with Benji, he became quite aggresive if we tried to move him.

I've taught mine a command "up" to get on the couch or bed, etc., which I think helps in turn with teaching them to get off.

[Nilo]

@Nemo:

I've taught mine a command "up" to get on the couch or bed, etc., which I think helps in turn with teaching them to get off.

Could you please let me know how do you exactly do it? Definitely I have to change my strategy, because mine it is NOT working at all…
Thanks

[Kipawa]

In my opinion, you should have the dog under some control (sitting, stay) before offering the 'treat' of getting on to the couch. Of course, having treats ready for the 'sit/stay' will be a good incentive to wait until they are allowed to get up onto the couch.

[lvoss]

I tell my puppy buyers before they ever get a puppy from me that I allow my dogs on the furniture which means that my puppies grow up learning it is okay to be on the furniture. I also tell them it is far harder to break a habit then it is for them to never have developed it. So if not getting on the furniture is a very important behavior for them then that is something we need to discuss.

If the puppy is already getting on the furniture on their own and has being doing so for some time, it is going to be difficult to change the behavior. You will need to manage the situation so the puppy does not have access to the furniture unless you are able to prevent it from getting on the furniture. You will want to work separately on behaviors that are incompatible with being on the furniture like, "Go to Mat" (scroll down on this page for instructions on teaching this behavior, http://dragonflyllama.com/%20DOGS/Levels/ByLevel/2Level.html). It will take lots of consistency, reinforcement, and practice to well establish the behavior you want.

[Nilo]

Thank you for the link.
No wonder he was so confident and proud of getting up onto the couch, he had done for his entire previous life! And honestly, I did not know what you mentioned.
One question: what if I teach him to go to his own little couch? Would he respect ours?