@donc Thanks again for the suggestions and if you do find someone, please let me know. I agree that starting now may be a little early. I'm searching now because I don't know how long it will take to find someone and then I don't know the schedule of the trainer, so I'm just trying to get organized so that I can be ready when she is.

I'll try the Esbilac and be more patient.

"I think the only thing better than shoes for these guys when they are young are shoe laces. Walk into a room with a bunch of Basenji puppies with shoes with laces and you'll walk out with shredded laces. They are like mammalian piranha. LOL Laces survive ten seconds top."

This is troof! I try to keep my shoes away from her, but when I walk into the room she's in and I have shoes - her eyes light up and wild horses couldn't drag her away!

This forum has been a little unkind to me - that's ok. I'm a nube to Bs and I guess everyone here is an expert, but I will give thanks to whoever posted the trick about rubbing Vapor Rub on your feet to stop the biting. The girls tried that last night and MAGIC! She took one whiff and in disgust snorted loudly and hasn't touched their feet since. 1 Challenge solved!

@tanza not her. Tried carrots and she couldn't be bothered with them. I think the shirt worked because I worn an old shirt yesterday and gave it to her without washing it.

@senjisilly Lynn, you're the best!

I don't know if I'm typing in another language or if I've just upset the collective forum. We NEVER punish her in her play pen ever. She have never been put in time out in her play pen. That pen is being used for: 1) the place where her crate is at night so that we can leave the crate open as that seems to make her more comfortable; 2) a place where we play and enjoy each other together in addition to our playtime outside the pen; 3) a place we are using to help build up her ability to be away from us slowly. We're currently doing 5 minute intervals.

All that we do is play with her around the house. In every room downstairs. Heck she even goes into the bathroom with the girls when they go. Obviously we work, so there are times she's not being played with, but for those times she's mostly in her bed (a separate bed in the same room as us, not the crate.) I take her on 3, 20 minute walks every day, (I have to limit those to just side walks because she hasn't gotten her third set of vaccines yet). When I said we play in the play pen, it was because we play so much with her outside of the pen, that I worried she would see the pen as a boring ho hum place where she ends the night and therefore would start to resist going into the pen.

We may not be a perfect B household, this is our first one, but we care very much for her and we're trying are absolute best to build a warm, loving, and trusting home for her. That will happen over time and we'll be patient. More patient than this forum.

@jengosmonkey thanks for the response! Because she's so small we haven't ventured into people food too much. We read that frozen peanut butter was the golden crate training treat. Yeah, just spent the next day cleaning peanut butter off the sides of the crate. She just let it melt, then sat/laid on it and then spread it everywhere.

I think one of the other variables is that my wife and step daughter watch her too. I think they are unsure of how to deal with her and give up. Then she runs the roost until I come down from work. Which means that we have to relearn things nightly together. So in part, I hope the trainer can help train us in how to be a united front and give her the best growing experience possible.

But my secret weapon is that I'm more persistent than the waves. I'll keep at it. We'll get there.

@elbrant I also wanted to say thanks on the advice on the frozen shirt. That's working really well as her new favorite chew thing.

@eeeefarm I initially hesitated to post here, because like a lot of things on the internet, responses can seem judgmental.

I disagree with you. 9 weeks is early in the pups life, but by 16, you've really got to have things figured out. So I think I'm right on time to start thinking about bolstering my tactics if I'm not getting the desired outcomes.

You're right, a trainer isn't going to solve all my problems. But if there happened to be a good trainer in San Diego, I don't see how it could hurt. Do you?

Perhaps one useful thing that I would get out of it would be that a third party would help us come together on a united front and help all of us see the value of staying on the same page. Sometimes, people will listen more to an "expert" than they do to people they know, even if the advise is the same. Kind of like, when my wife says I've been eating to much cholesterol causing foods and I blow her off. Then my Dr. says if I don't stop, I'm going to die. I listen a little more.

I'm am in fact trying to find those things that work and to be fair to myself, I've found somethings that do. I also know that I don't know everything and that reading and listing to professionals can help. So I've order several books, read several that are available online, and I'm making the best effort I can to pick things up and create a warm, safe, and happy environment for my pup.

And, if I can find a trainer, that can help guide me, I'll use them. If not, I'll figure it out without them.

@zande In fact as mentioned to @eeeefarm one of the biggest hopes I have for a trainer is that a professional will help train US as a family how to be more unified and consistent with her.

@donc, You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. You also Rock! This will give me time to visit both and get a feel for how they do things.

Thanks!

Our Basenji get rashes on her belly. We've tried to figure out the cause. We have taken her to the vet and even a dermatologist. We have gotten a lot of "could be this could be that," but despite many visits and a lot of money spent... We still don't know the cause.

We tried a limited diet recommended by the dermatologist... Nope. We've done allergy tests and nothing is conclusive. So our poor dog just has to live with these break outs.

The dermatologist told us to use Microspore leave on cream when she breaks out to help heal. We've been doing that and for the most part it has been working. But today I applied "one more treatment" to end a 4 day battle with a rash on an area that was mostly heeled and it broke out into hives immediately.

So I guess that treamnent is out moving forward.

Hoping someone else has overcome a similar experience and has advice to keep our dog from suffering.

@donc, You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. You also Rock! This will give me time to visit both and get a feel for how they do things.

Thanks!

@senjisilly Lynn, you're the best!

@tanza not her. Tried carrots and she couldn't be bothered with them. I think the shirt worked because I worn an old shirt yesterday and gave it to her without washing it.

@elbrant I also wanted to say thanks on the advice on the frozen shirt. That's working really well as her new favorite chew thing.

@hizbaby Thanks for the advice!

@elbrant yes. But only in relation to crate training. Meaning training her to be in her crate at night. That's it. Other than that it's as I said above.

"My pup, 10 weeks, does this and I am certain it is vengeful. It started with crate training. When we'd put her in the crate she'd throw a fit. If we left her be, she would eventually get super hysterical and then just poop in the crate."

@elbrant thanks. I've gone back on my messages to try to understand why people think we have her in a pen. I can't find it, but maybe I'm just not seeing my words through other people's eyes. We don't keep her in her pen. In fact, we're doing exactly what you suggested. Our living room and kitchen are connected and they have one doorway to the family room and upstairs. We've put a puppy gate at that doorway and give her free roam of the two rooms. On one end of the living room, my step daughter does remote learning for school due to Covid. My wife works from the breakfast nook in the kitchen. The puppy, is out and free to roam that entire area. There is the occasional "get down" command when she jumps on a coffee table or end table, but otherwise, she's left to her own devices. She has a bed, NOT IN HER CRATE, with a blanket and toys. She spends a lot of time sleeping there. When she's not sleeping, she's usually at someone's feet with something she's chewing on or speeding around the couch like a banshee. Her pen and the crate are in the living room and the door is left open to both. On occasion she'll go in there. We don't stop her but we don't encourage it either.

Thanks for the tip on leaving the house. It's a little more difficult with everyone working from home due to Covid, but I think it's a good idea. Thanks!

@elbrant said in (Vengeful?) Pottying On The Couch!:

Basenji's want to be with their people, but both of your training techniques are to force her to be away from you.
- I believe there has to be a balance. We're going to have her for nearly two decades, there will be times that she will need to be alone. I'm trying to build a foundation so that she can cope with those times. I took this technique from several puppy training books. I know that Bs are different. By Friday I should finally have, Mrs. Kenworhty's book and hopefully there will be new insights I can use there. But for us the answer can't be, "just let her be with you 100% of the time."

@ntasd said in (Vengeful?) Pottying On The Couch!:

, I put the pen outside and I set her in there for 5 mins then bring her back in.

This might work if everyone leaves the house, gets in the car, drives away for 5-10 minutes and then comes home. But to put your dog outside and refuse to let them back in until the timer rings... I cannot see that teaching your dog how to deal with separation.

@ntasd said in (Vengeful?) Pottying On The Couch!:

I sleep on the couch while she sleeps in her crate

For the same reason, you should move the crate into your bedroom. Dogs protect their families as instinctively as they breath. If you get up and leave when you "think" the dog is asleep, what's the pup supposed to think when they wake up in the middle of the night and see you are gone?
- I have been testing this out. He crate is in the living room. Once she's asleep, I go the family room and work. She's gotten up a couple times and makes a little noise, then goes back to sleep. So far, I haven't noticed a major reaction to her waking up without me there. Like I said, "I'm trying." If I notice that it is unproductive, I'll go to plan B.

IMHO, these training methods will only result in an insecure and anxious pup. Please reconsider your training techniques.
- Happy to reconsider. Any suggestions for how to help her with separation issues?

@tanza as mentioned before, during the day she is not in the play pen. She is always in the same room as one of us (free, unencumbered, off leash, totally free) and allowed to do as she pleases. The only time she is in her pen alone during the day is when we're doing separation exercises. That is, I put the pen outside and I set her in there for 5 mins then bring her back in. I do that two or three times a day. So total of 15 mins in her pen by herself during the day for those.

At night, I sleep on the couch while she sleeps in her crate. It is my hope that we can train her to sleep downstairs. I may fail miserably at it, but I want to try. Right now, she's sleeping without issue until 4 AM, where she wakes up and wakes me up. I take her out she goes potty and then I put her back in the pen. She will usually then make a fuss for about 10 mins and go back into her crate to sleep. She's up again at 6:30 and then it's out to potty and a 20 min walk before breakfast. My goal is to be able to slip upstairs once she's asleep and then come down to let her out when she needs it. I know this will take a lot of time - I've been sleeping on the couch since we got her. However, I know that nothing in life is easy and good things are earned. So like anything else, I'll either earn it or decide the juice isn't worth the squeeze.