Posts made by Elporkchoppo

Thanks guys. You've been great. I forgot to mention that I also have my mother-in-law, and 11 year old niece staying with us for 2 weeks. The niece is afraid of dogs. Before this, we were at the hospital for a week, and my friend took care of Leroy. His whole world is flipped. I feel bad for my little dude. Last night was already a big improvement though. I'm confident we'll all get along fine.

Thanks JayCee. I'll have to reintroduce crating to him in a positive way. It's been his jail when I catch him getting into stuff. He's so cool. Always does his time like a man. When he knows he's in trouble, he hangs his head, and goes straight in without me even putting him in there.

Thanks Andrea. I totally agree, and that's how I want things to go. I'll talk to my wife about keeping things routine for him, and try to curb the anxiety. I'll look back, and this whole thing is going to be funny. It didn't help that my mom came to visit, and she helped take the drama to a whole new level. I feel like the only calm and sane person in my house tight now.

Hi all, we just brought our baby girl home a few days ago, and I've got some hurdles to get over in keeping this new family harmonious. My basenji Leroy has been sleeping at my feet for 7 years, and he's really weirded out by the change. I had a good action plan, but it all went south when my wife, being an understandably anxious and protective new mother, freaked out when Leroy bit at the baby's blanket while she was in it. I was holding her and nothing happened, but it's a good indicator that I need to work with Leroy to make sure he understands baby isn't to be messed with. I know he'll get there. It's just a lot to deal with right now. He also growled at my wife when she was forcing him by collar to go outside. All the activity and excitement that day affected his attention and obedience, and we were both a little rough with him at times when he wouldn't listen. With baby crying, Leroy jumping up to investigate, not listening to "off" when commanded… it was all very chaotic the first day, and now my wife is distrustful of Leroy. It got bad that night. He was forced to stay outside, scratching at the door and whimpering all night in frustration. We were already not getting any sleep, and with the dog and the baby crying all night, it was like a frickin' Calgon commercial. Anyway, my next move is to neuter Leroy. I feel it has to be done anyway because of his other behaviour issues. When it was just me and him, everything was fine. I could control his general bad-assery, and we were a pretty cool team. I had also planned to eventually breed him. Now, I feel like I really do need to have him neutered for everyone's sake. A lot of his behaviour is so ingrained at this point, neutering may not be the fix-all, but it will help. The other is to keep mama calm again when the baby and the dog are in the same room. I can cuddle the dog while she feeds the baby, etc. It will also be nice when we move the baby from the bassonet in our room to the crib in the nursery so Leroy can be in there with us again at night. I think that's what bothers him the most right now. Anyone else got tips they've used that have helped?