Posts made by c-bus

We have had our Basenji Kenya for about 2 months now. She is 4 months old and we are wondering when is the right time to get her spayed? Our vet told us as soon as possible when we were there last, when she received her last shots but I have also heard we should wait until after her first heat. Any info would be great.

I am wanting to put Kenya in training classes but my vet and the class instructor told me to wait until she has all her shots. She will get her third set Monday and then I have to wait another three weeks before she gets her last ones. At that point she will be 15-16 weeks.

Thanks for all of the great ideas. I will go to the limited time for feeding and may start to mix in a little wet good as well. I have begun some train with her but was told I have to wait for all of her shots to take her to obedience classes. She has her third set this monday and then the last ones in three weeks. I have almost got her to sit, she does it if she knows I have a treat but struggles if I just come out of the blue and tell her to sit. We're working on it.

Now that is compassion. I have only had my B for three weeks but what a character.

Two quick questions.

1. I know that I should be feeding my puppy 3-4 times a day but during the week I am at work for the most of the day. She is confined to a Kennel area with a bed, water, toys, and a sod box to use the restroom. She is doing very well there but since I am gone during the day I am not able to feed her in the middle of the day. Her current feeding schedule is 2/3 (just increased from a 1/2 cup) a cup of dry food (Inova) in the morning before I leave for work and 2/3 a cup in the evening when I get home. The problem is that she doesn't always eat it all. She will eat about half and then if I leave it out for a while she will come back to it and eat a little more. Sometimes it helps if I feed her, then take her for her walk and then she comes back to eat some more. How long should I give her to eat it all? I have been told it is not good to let them graze all day but I also want to make sure she is getting enough.

2. What are your thoughts on wet vs. dry food? Should I mix some wet and dry? I've been told that the wet is not as good because of the water content but I have read in this forum that lots of people use it.

Oh, by the way Kenya is 12 1/2 weeks old.

Just wondering if anyone uses a dog door or since I am sure some of you do rather if you could point me in the right direction. My Basenji is just 12 weeks old; I want to get a door she will be able to use for the next few years so how big of a door should I get? The one for medium dogs has an opening that is 11 1/2 by 7". It says it is for a medium dog but the opening seems small. Will this be big enough for her in the long run?

Kenya, our 10 week old B is getting a bit too nippy when playing. What is the best way to stop this habit. I tell her no and that doesn't seem to quite do it. I try to stop playing with her at all when she does it but I know it is just because she is young and excited. Does anybody have a strategy to teach her that my hands, ankles, ears, etc are not chew toys? Thanks.

Thanks for the help. You have given us a few ideas to try. We were a little worried because most of the time we have been walking five minutes before she stopped and she would just stare at us so we didn't know if that was unusual or not. I am glad to here that she will grow more accustomed to walking. I often forget how young she is. Thanks

Kenya is a 10 week old B. We have had her about a week now and we have noticed something strange or what seems strange to us. Kenya spends the day while we are at work in a fairly confined space so we set aside two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon simply to exercise and play with her. She is a bundle of energy when it comes to play but when we take her out for a walk she rarely wants to walk. She will roam around a little and then just sit down. Now that she knows where the door to go inside is she will go do her business and then head immediately for the door. I don't know what to do. I try and walk her but as I said before she just will sit down every twenty yards or so. I don't want to pull on her leash so I end up picking her up and taking her to another place. Sometimes that works and she will roam around that area but other times she just sits there stubbornly or will come jump up on me and wants to be picked up. Any ideas?

Thanks for the info. Now if I could just get her to relax at night. We tried a ticking clock, a radio with voices, having her crate next to our bed, tonight we try keeping her crate in the dining room and allowing her to leave her crate for the sod box.

Well it was another night of Kenya crying. I actually think she and in return we got less sleep last night than the first night. She was just whining, crying, and screaming but even when she did settle down as soon as we moved or rolled over in bed she was right back at it. On the positive side she was much better about not having accidents in her crate.

The other area of real success came when we left her alone for the first time. We have two crates, one a travel crate that is just her size and another that a neighbor gave us that is huge because he used it for his rodesian ridgeback. So what we did was place Kenya's crate in the larger crate along with her sod box and her water bowl. We gave her a treat to chew on and walked out the door. She was crying and howling when we left but when we returned about 2 hours later all was quiet. In fact when we open the door she still didn't whine and only looked at us and came to the door of the crate. On top of that she either used the sod box to eliminate or didn't have to because her crate was clean.

That little bit of success has done wonders for our confidence that things will eventually settle down. We plan on trying the same crating method tonight so hopefully we all can get some sleep (This crate is in the dining room rather than our bedroom/ just down the hall). We are also happy because this is the method we plan to use when we have to go to work since we won't be able to be here every two or three hours to let her out of her crate.

Thanks for the advise/ reassurance. My wife and I feel like the worlds worst parents. We know she has been through alot and we feel like we are making it worse for her.

Would this be better?

We have a hand me down crate for a large dog, 42" X 28 X 30, and we could fit both her crate and the sod box in the crate. It would provide less space for her than the X Pen but maybe make her more prone to use the sod box.

What to do? So we wanted to do a test run of sort on the setup we would be using when it comes time for us to go to work and she will have to be by herself for multiple hours, 4-5+. Our idea was to put an exercise pen in the kitchen and then put her crate and the sod box that we've been using to train her along with her food and water. Our thinking was she would have her crate, room to play, and grass on which to eliminate. So we tested it with us at home. During the forty five minutes of the test, she cried the entire time and eliminated everywhere except the sod box and I mean everywhere.

We put her in her crate while we cleaned it up and she cried for the ten minutes she was there. Since then she only wants to ball up in our laps and sleep. You can tell she is afraid we are going to leave her.

It seems it was a mistake to try the pen idea so soon but at the same time we are not going to be able to be with her all the time. We both took some days off work from Friday to Tuesday but then what?

Any ideas? As of now, the only thing that is working is to let her roam around with us all day and to let her sleep on our laps; we are afraid to even leave her ten minutes to shower or go to the store as she will cry the entire time and we don't want to traumatize her.

We know she is only nine weeks old but is this normal and how have you gotten past it?

Definitely will do, ASAP. Thanks!

I have tried checking the offa.com site but which number do I punch in? I tried both but no results were found. On her AKC registration forms I have two sets of numbers for the sire (Rambo Boy Sheu) HP13205601 (03-08) and AKC DNA #V467465 and only one for the Dam (Roxy III) HP24455802 (03-08).

The breeder mentioned specifically that the sire was tested 3 years ago and came back fine and that they do monthly glucose tests as well.

Thanks again for all the info.

Yeah, we had the crate in the bedroom with us near the bed; is that the right thing to do?

Speaking with the breeder, she was not in a crate situation. They were kept outdoors and brought in for socialization and bathing. So this explains a lot of her behavior.

She's doing so much better already. She took a 1 1/2 hour nap in here crate with hardly a whimper.

Well everything went well in the beginning. She came home played, ate, and then instantly became quite the cuddler. That all changed when it was time for bed. After reading Pat's words of wisdom I understand why but Kenya whimpered, whined, cried and then screamed blood curdling cries. She would cry for 40 minutes, sleep for an hour or so and then we would take her out to eliminate. Then the cycle would start over again. One time we took her out, she wouldn't go and then no less than 2 minutes after we put her in her crate she went #2. Let's just say it was pretty rough. But on the bright side after taking her for a short walk, feeding her, playing, and successfully having her use the sod box we created for our balcony (We live in 3rd floor condo), I coaxed her into her crate with a treat. She cried for about 5 minutes but is now sound asleep. I say that is some progress. We took her out 4-5 times last night. How often is normal for a new pup? We gave her her last meal about 8pm and stopped giving her water about 9pm; we turned in for the night about 10 or so.

On another note, she doesn't seem to like walks very much. I know she is not used to the collar and leash but when we go outside she just sits there. I read in a book not to pull her, so I try to coax her to walk. So the walk end up going in 20 foot spurts between her sitting and me coaxing her. Also she is always cold, in that she shakes alot. I live in San Diego, so while it is a little cold 45-55 degrees in the early morning, I know it is far worse elsewhere. I always swore I would never dress my dog up but if she needs a sweater I will get her one.

She's here. After what seems to be a rough, long ride she calmed down, had a bath, ate, played for a while and now is all tuckered out and is cuddling with my wife. Man, I was shocked by how small she is. The pictures I saw from the breeder made her seem so much larger.

Another quick question, how often do you feed your puppy B? I had read three times a day and I believe that is what the purina puppy chow bag says (Yeah I know, I will wean her off that stuff as soon as possible) but I think the breeder was only feeding her once a day. For now I will go with the book and the bag and see how she does.

Thanks again for all the help, we are ecstatic to have our new pup with us.

I picked up a book called Basenji by Mary Lou Kenworthy. The book seems good. I don't want to misconstrue what she said; she seemed to be saying that when you get home from picking up the pup not to go directly to playing with it but to put it in its crate, let it settle in, and after a while take it out to eliminate then you can play with it. She seemed to be big on setting the tone that just because your home doesn't mean the pup will be out of the crate all the time. I sure we will be playing it by feel. I, like you, felt like that would be the opposite and we would want to bond with it, that is why I asked. Thanks.

Also, can we begin to socialize her with other dogs or is there a period where they are susceptible to illnesses. She will be nine weeks old and has had the first round of shots. We would like to take her out for exercise at the dog park or something like that. She is scheduled for a well dog exam on Monday. If not, how long should we wait?

I'm heeding everyone's advice about getting a top for my exercise pen. What type of top do you recommend? I saw online several options, a rigid metal top and a netting type. I like the security of the rigid metal top but if the netting type will work then I would prefer to be able to change the shape of the pen. Have any of you had experience with these?

Oh, and the update, her plane was delayed so she won't be here until around 4 pacific standard time. We can't wait.

Also, I was reading a book on Basenjis and it recommended not playing with the new pup too much early on and allowing it to get used to the idea of its crate and down time. What are your thoughts?