Best posts made by Marsha

Our very first Basenji was removed from her litter at way too early of an age, and she was exactly what you describe, a big biter. We were in despair. It was the early 1990s and there wasn't a lot of information out there about Basenjis, so we contacted Susan Coe, the only author we knew who had written a book about basenjis: "The Basenji: Out of Africa to You." She recommended that we squeal and bite the puppy back. That sort of worked for my husband, however, I was the one staying home with the puppy and trying to train her and I couldn't bite her back. Here is what worked for me, when she got aggressive I would put her on her side in a time-out. After all I was bigger than her and I could hold her there and keep my hands clear of her mouth. I would hover over her and growl back "no bite!" much like her mother would have done. She would be furious at first. She would growl and try to bite me. But I would keep her there until she calmed down and once her heart stopped racing, I would give her praise and let her up. I would ignore her for a bit and then be her friend again when she was redirected to something good. She was very much an alpha dog and wanted to rule us, and I was so terrified that she might bite someone and we would have to put her down. I made sure I was very consistent in putting her in a time out and not allowing her up until she had fully calmed down. It worked, and even though she continued to challenge us for the alpha position throughout her whole life, she never bit anyone. She learned she could not use her mouth to get what she wanted. We later got her a male Basenji as a companion and he just automatically assumed he was her Alpha so she was very much put in her place. Life became easier with two. We miss those two, but now we have a beautiful female basenji who growls if you look at her wrong. She growls about everything! But she's all bark and no bite and we love her like crazy. Have patience and keep up the good work. You got this!

Yes! Thank you to all for responding to my post as well. The environmental issues are a good one for me to research. We live in south Texas on a peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico, so humidity and high levels of mold are the norm. We've been gutting our house room-by-room over the last 13 years to repair and update it, so there have been a lot of new materials, construction dust, etc. And then our town took the direct hit from Hurricane Harvey, our home was flooded, and we're still not back in it. We've decided to abandon our coastal life and move inland, so those environmental factors will be changing. If our gal's health has been impacted by the home and location, maybe the move will make a difference. I hope it's not too late if that's the case.

Another plug for adopting: Our first pet as a married couple was a Basenji puppy. The challenges were many, and through the years, I've reminded my husband that if I ever wanted to have children, just get me another puppy, and I would be cured of that desire. Nevertheless, we fell in love with the breed. Since that first puppy, we have adopted all of our dogs through BRAT including one non-Basenji. They are well-vetted, and we have loved them all dearly even though they are a handful.