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Whole Dog Journal

Basenji Training

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tanza
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This is a great magazine for dog owners, they always have great tips… here is one from this latest issue.....

Destructive Chewing: Simple Ways to Prevent and Cure Destructive Chewing
Puppies are notorious for their ability to chew on anything and everything. If you're at all dog-savvy you know when you get a new puppy that despite your best efforts to manage and supervise, you're likely to lose at least one valuable personal possession to the razor-sharp implements known fondly as puppy teeth.

Puppies chew to explore their world as well as to relieve the pain and irritation of teething. What many dog owners don't seem to realize is that while puppies sooner or later get beyond the stage where they feel compelled to put their teeth on everything they see, mature dogs also need to chew to exercise their jaws, massage their gums, clean their teeth, and to relieve stress and boredom. It comes as an unpleasant surprise to many owners that chewing doesn't end at the age of six months when all of the dog's adult teeth are grown in.

Puppies develop substrate preferences for elimination in the early months of their lives, and they similarly develop chew-object preferences. Hence the inadvisability of giving your old shoes or socks as chew toys.

If you give your baby dog the run of the house and he learns to chew on Oriental carpets, sofa cushions, and coffee table legs, you will likely end up with a dog who chooses to exercise his jaws and teeth on inappropriate objects for years to come. You'll find yourself crating him frequently even as an adult dog, or worse, exiling him to a lonely life in the backyard, where he can chew only on lawn furniture, loose fence boards, and the edges of your deck and hot tub.

Instead, focus your dog's fangs on approved chew toys at an early age and manage him well to prevent access to your stuff. In this way, he'll earn house privileges much sooner in life. By the end of his first year, you'll probably be able to leave him alone safely while you go out to dinner or shopping - or even while you're away at work.

For more details and advice on ways to prevent and cure destructive chewing habits, purchase Whole Dog Journal's ebook, Simple Ways to Prevent and Cure Destructive Chewing.
Pat Fragassi

Tanza Basenjis

www.tanzabasenjis.net
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How to housetraiin dog with separation anxiety?

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• • • basenjifan

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It may also help to exercise/play hard before you go so he is tired.

On the treat thing, find something your dog salivates for, maybe tiny bits of beef or chicken that you can stuff in the kong or freeze into ice cubes, or put in a treat dispenser. Give them in the crate only. (put the ice cubes in a food bowl to decrease mess, obviously)

If none of this works, then you can do a plan b, which is put in a really large crate or pen with some sort of indoor potty system. Or, try a medication and continue training until no more peeing, then ween off.
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Dog Training and the Myth of Alpha-Male Dominance

Basenji Training
• • • nobarkus

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See, it is possible to offer a well-written article debunking the dominance theory. I really like Dr. Yin's blog.

My point about the weaknesses of the original article (which I'm very glad was shared with us) is in its journalistic framing and rhetoric, not its content. I suspect that basenji owners have long been savvy to the advantages of positive training, but like Dr. Yin mentions, a couple decades ago, most trainers probably didn't. And thus, dominance techniques are still very much in circulation. I distinctly remember being told when I was a kid (this would be 1990) that the best way to handle our Golden Retriever jumping on us was to grab his front legs and knee him in the chest (not enough to hurt him, but enough to make him uncomfortable). And holding him down until he submitted, and holding his muzzle, and all this stuff that in retrospect was clearly not the best way to handle a hyperactive puppy that just wanted attention. But of all the videos we rented, books we checked out from our small town library, obedience classes my family went to, and the vet, nobody ever told us differently.

It takes a long time to untrain the general populace on these kinds of widespread beliefs, long-ingrained through authority figures like vets and hired professionals and now TV celebrities. I just don't think pitting two celebrities against each other is the best way to do it, since that just offends their fandoms. It's disappointing to see such a backlash against what is ultimately supposed to be a good message put forth in the Time article. Instead, focusing on the techniques themselves, not the trainers, as those other articles Lisa linked, gets the point across much better.
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Old dog peeing in house

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• • • Barklessdog

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He has a wheat/ beef/salmon/duck allergy and his tummy gets upset & bubbly. He can only eat his food no treats. So goes where he is starving to not wanting to eat. He has had this most of his life. He has been doing well on the Blue Buffalo Lamb & rice, but manages to leave the life bits. I can feed him a handful of food and out come the life bits, that our other dog Hoover vacuums up.
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Hungry Dog

Basenji Training
• • • HaloLover

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@Basenjimamma:

Otis' favorite household machinery is by far the dishwasher…joy to the world, when it is open and the dishes are still dirty...yumm-o!!

Dishwasher a favorite for every B I've ever had. One time I had a guest here and he had taken a shower earlier using a towel he brought. Ringo pulled his damp towel off the rack, hauled it in the living room and right in front of the guy proceeded to roll around on it until it was a twisted mess. I was embarrassed to say the least. He didn't care. 😃
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Dog Park Etiquette

Basenji Training
• • • dash

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I am not sure how old you basenji is, but i found basic training very helpful at the park. Caesar could understand what i expected from him when out.

crazy running is normal

humping or biting is very poor conduct at any dog park no matter what size…it is an action often immitated and is to show dominance

there is nothing wrong with a basenji that prounces around stiff when other dogs are sniffing them....that is there way of saying, " you may sniff, but not dominate me! I am basenji".

the hair standing on the neck and back or posturing is another way the basenji asserts him or herself at the park....

typically hair standing means nervous or scared= i watch that more closely than posturing or puffing up....

i am weary of the large dog areas when there are more than one pits in the mix. they naturally translate the basenji running as game and will try to tag team as well as play more orally than i like.

if your basenji is humping a lot and is fixed, the small dogs may not be providing enough exercise or stimuli....

I try to have my basenjis in dog pens with vislas, bird dogs and running physical dogs.

chasing retrievers is a great way to burn that basenji energy

when casear was young and had difficult times at the dog park that seemed only addressed by a time out, we would leave and tight leash walk together.

as soon as he would pull i would stop walking until he sat. then we would walk again.

i also used hide and seek at the dog park as another technique for the park. Both my boys know to keep me in sight at all times. this keeps them from going off and getting into too much trouble. i would hide behind a tree until they realized i was gone and they found me. also, leaving the park with the dog in the pen is another way to let them understand that they should keep you in their sites. i did that a few times when i had a friend there with me and they stayed in the dog area.

there is nothing more annoying IMO than an owner with treats in the dog park. or an owner with a dog on a leash in a dog park. or a person holding their dog in the air in a dog park. or a small unsupervised screaming and running child.

the best rule is to communicate well with your animal. realize that time at the fenced dog park is free time for them to learn how to socialize.

i have learned that basenjis do guard. if i am standing in the dog park, they run, sniff and play. if i sit in the dog park they will post near me and not go to far away.

have fun, try new techniques, and watch other dog owners and how they participate with their dogs. you may pick up some good tips and see bad behaviors that you may want to avoid.

as socialization continues at the park, your basenji will adapt and learn how to communicate with the least amount of conflict, so they can sniff as many butts as possible....
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Dock Dog

Basenji Training
• • • birdbars

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Dock Dogs was here in Chesapeake,VA today for Bark in the Park, it was very cool.

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Whole Dog Journal

Suggested Topics

How to housetraiin dog with separation anxiety?

Dog Training and the Myth of Alpha-Male Dominance

Old dog peeing in house

Hungry Dog

Dog Park Etiquette

Dock Dog