Similar story for me also, when I had Tucker. I girl who lives in my community has a Shiba Inu. We were at the dog park once and her dog attacked mine. I grabbed her dog and practically threw it across the park and scooped my dog up off the ground. She got mad at me and told me that it was MY dog that started the fight. I ignored her but give her regular sneers when I'm walking my dog and her dog is on her balcony and goes into a rage every time we pass by - knowing she realizes that her dog is an asshat and gets enraged by any passing dog… Here I am, walking with my B calmly and here she is, trying to pull her idiot dog away from her balcony fencing before he breaks through it trying to get at my dog...

Just as an example of the situation Tucker was living in… The unstable woman that lives with us (and has for over 2 years now) got drunk (again) last night - REALLY drunk. Was stuffing kibble through the screen door of our other dogs crate last night. After I caught her, I told her to stop it and that she knows she's not supposed to do that. I left the room and watched from afar as she struggled to get back on her feet and paused to pee on our kitchen floor while she was squatting to get up. She failed to stand, so she then CRAWLED to her room and spent (no joke) 45 minutes trying to climb off the floor and into her bed. My wife moved the baby camera out of the baby's room and into this woman's room to keep an eye on her. I watched her crawl halfway onto the bed and then slide back to the floor at least 4 times before I got bored and stopped watching. The entire time she was shouting "God! I haven't done anything to deserve to go to HELL!" She never made it into bed and my wife came home an hour or so after that and finally managed to get her into bed.

All I can say is that I'm very excited we'll be moving out of this situation in about 6 months. I just hope the baby doesn't absorb any of this crap behavior. Fortunately, we're on one side of the kitchen and she's on the other so she really never crosses the kitchen into our part of the house...

It's difficult to explain the entire situation, so I won't bother to do so here. There are just too many variables to put it together into an intelligible story.

Tucker has been in his new home for nearly a month now. He was adjusted from day one. He is very happy and is getting along with his new poppa, the housekeeper and all three other Basenji's. It's almost like he's a new dog. I'm very sad that I had to part with him but I am very happy that he is happy. I can only conclude that the lifestyle that my wife and I led along with the ever changing variables and instability made him the dog he was when he was with us. Tucker was not a dog to wag his tail…he did sometimes, but very seldom and it was a half effort at bestr - but I always thought it was because it was broken off by some _ _ _ _ _ _ _ in his past. He licked my hands, but never my face. He does both of those things in his new NC mountain home.

His new daddy has 20 years of Basenji experience and is very loving and attentive to his dogs as he also now is with Tucker. He works from home so he has plenty of time to spend with the dogs and plenty of time for walks every 3 or 4 hours in the mountains (he takes the dogs out a LOT!).

It's no wonder why Tucker is so happy in his new home.

Just wanted to fill you all in since the transfer was a raging success.

I have two things to add. Tucker was the same way. Hated crating unless in the car. Never bothered to crate train him. My solution was to throw caution to the wind and allow him free roam of the house and it worked for me. He never peed or pooped or scratched at anything again. Some dogs just need to be free within the confines of the same area their humans are. The more space he was allowed, the more at ease he was. We lived in a 950 SQFT condo and he still peed every now and again, but there was always a change - like being left with a house sitter for a weekend associated with it. Now we are in a substantially larger house and he's never engaged in 'spiteful peeing'.

I had other issues with Tucker and if you follow anything I've ever written, then you know what they are. I trained Tucker to wear an Italian Basket Muzzle. It took maybe a week to do and within a month, he had no more issues with the muzzle than he does with a collar - which is NIL - no issues at all. I go through about 2 muzzles every 3 months because he scratches his face like any dog would, but there is a muzzle there now. He eventually shaves a lot of the plastic off and they'll weaken and break. I just switch it out with a fresh one. At $15 bucks a muzzle for the protection it provides (re: biting), it's worth the cost.

I have been forced to crate him from time to time. He stripped two METAL bars off of a crate when left for a few hours while we were at a B&B that allowed pets as long as they were crated when you left the room. Broke the welds and stripped them right off the inside of the metal door.

The method I've always used with Tucker is that the more he fusses and tries to go back towards the house, the futher I walk him away. It only took a few times for him to grasp this concept. Now I take him to his spot, and if he doesn't go, I move on a 50 feet or so further from the house and he gives up and goes. Typically, he'll just go like normal. Every now and again he'll need a refresher…

I have some things in the works. I'll keep you posted.

Hawthorn is assumed to be a safe berry to eat. I have read the seeds are not so good, but in most cases, the fruit is consumed and the seeds are passed. Birds eat the fruit and spread the seeds… I have not been able to find any information validating that the seeds are toxic - most likely a legend as history shows that there have been many food and medicinal uses for Hawthorn over the ages.

@Patty:

Jason, I just sent you a PM…. and on a happy note, CONGRATULATIONS on your little baby! Boy or Girl?

It's a boy. We call him "Ren". His name is Russell Edward Newton.

The biting dog was passed along to me by BRAT.

I did talk to a lawyer and have one in the family. In their experience, anyone who gets bitten typically will sue their way all the way up the food chain…including the foster or new home, me and my family and the rescue organization that adopted out a known biter. The family that gave Tucker to the rescue I got him from actually gave him up because of exactly the same thing - he started biting them and other people just prior to having a baby.

Tucker has never been reported, which is a good thing. Me knowing he is a biter, well, that's another thing. A risk I have accepted for 5 years. I am sad that the risks have escalated now, with the addition of a family member, to a point where they are over my head.

I think I may have found a solution today. I found another dog lover like myself who may be willing to take him. His brother actually runs the sanctuary that I was intent to send Tucker to about a year ago when it became a reality that, in the end, I would have to part with him. He has 3 of his own and the three he has aren't his first B's. Like me, he is willing to do anything it takes to save a dogs life, and he's been a part of the saga for over a year and knows pretty much what I know about Tucker. The sanctuary is for end of the line dogs, mostly dogs that bite and have no other recourse aside from euthanasia. The people involved know what is going on - and I would fully disclose all of Tucker's quirks to anyone who was willing to help out. And the person I am speaking with will most likely take Tucker permanently to avert any subsequent re-homing, and his lifestyle is condusive to this option.

As for the shivering, I'm not sure how far back you are researching my threads, but that ended quite some time ago. Tucker is happy where he is, muzzled or not. And just so you have your facts correct, only one behaviorist recommended euthanizing him.

I am glad that everyone is not as negative as you seem to be.

While you may think he is living a cruel and fear filled life, you have to be in my shoes to accurately understand the situation.