Thank you both for your kind words. The thing that gets me about the whole thing is that when I posted this brat had already been informed. For somebody to think that I wouldn't contact them with an issue as serious as this should have their head examined. In the last few days buster has made great strides, and I will be the first to admit I when I do something wrong. With buster that is the case. I lost control over him and now I am working to get it back and keep it. I have to say that brat has been with me every step of the way, with out the conversation with my coordinator I would have more than likely gone no where with him ending in his being rehomed. I think that if he wasn't so receptive to the training we would have also considered new placement. If it is one thing I can say, I am only trying to do what is best for my dogs and my children, if this doesn't work (I am giving it two weeks or one more serious bite) then I think that he would do better in another home. I guess when I made my initial post I should have made it clear that brat had already been contacted. However lesson learned. Take care and thanks for everything.

I just want to mention that I have had many conversations with my coordinator whom told me how to handle the situation that I am in. I just want to make one thing quite clear and that is that I have never gone through this whole thing with out the help of a brat volunteer. My coordinator has contacted me on several different occasions to help me through this tough time that we are having. I would also like to mention that buster's foster has been in contact with me on several different occasions to see how things are going. Word had gotten back to me that some of you have reported back to brat and copied and pasted (to inform brat) what I have written. Now here is the thing, so it is clear why I have posted what I did. I value what other "basenji" people have to offer. I want to expend all options before I decide to rehome buster. And if somebody would tell me to stand on my head and count backwards to make him work, I would do it. And I should inform you all that it isn't in my vocabulary to rehome him. I can admit that busters issues are more or less environment. I let him get away with his actions and this is what he turned out to be. I started to institute the nilf program and I have seen nothing but positive results. The thing that I want to make quite clear is the fact that I have never gone through this alone. Granted I should have recognised the problem before it got to this point, However I respected the fact that some people would know how to handle the situation more than I would know how to handle it. That is why I asked for help. You must think that I am a total jerk to not ask for help, these are my children that I am talking about. So i ask myself are these people that forewarded this to brat looking for drama or are they looking to help me. I would wager on the err of looking for drama otherwise they would have offered advise. For those that did….thank you. For those that were only looking for trouble screw off. I can tell you that brat is more involoved than any other rescue that I have ever met. I admitted that I was wrong what more will it take. If I could say something it would be get to know me before you passed a line of poo, it would be a great difference in you all to get to know me first. I don't give up and I wont with buster so do me a favour and let all the BRAT people know (since you are so good at it already) Things are taken care of. Sorry that I asked the advise of those that knew more than me. I don't think that I will post here again because of the issues that I am having with the other people here. Sorry I asked for help.....That mistake will never happen again. I only hope that anybody else that has adopted a brat dog will contact somebody including me privately We will be more than willing to help.

I contacted a trainer with experience with aggression in Pittsburgh she agreed to come to my home and help me out with buster. I have started not letting him on the couch at all until he learns to respect boundaries. I have also started to teach buster to follow me. I know it sounds kind of silly but with weezie the little she devil would go to the bathroom on my carpets as soon as I would leave the room, so I started making her follow me from room to room until she curbed the problem at hand. Buster didn't quite know what to make of me asserting myself to him. At first I think that it scared him. He is very receptive to training though. I started to make him sit before he gets any thing he is starting to catch on, then I went one step further and I took one of his toys that he loves and I carried it in my back pocket and would leave it in random places when he would find it I would take it and do the whole routine all over again. I am not sure if it is doing anything but I sat and I watched his interaction with weezie and when she would get a toy he would take it I tried to mimic that interaction by taking his toy. I know to much time on my hands. I just want to make sure that before we give him up we have tried every thing possible to make this work. If it is just that he doesn't like my son…well at least I know I have expended all available resources. It is just going to be a long road from here for awhile. But I agreed with the coordinator to give him two weeks to show any signs of improvement and go from there. So I will just have to take it day by day and see,

I live in a small rural town about 45 min out side of pittsburgh. I always say that I live in the middle of nowhere and half way to some where. Pet smart and pet co are about 45 minutes from me. We do have a horses and hounds which is a local grooming and training facility that wouldn't take weezie when she was a puppy however if I plead my case they might be more inclined to take us. I will also send out some emails to the brat people in my area or close to my area. I know when I was looking for a puppy the closes breeder to me was out towards the middle of the state and I don't think that they would be much help. I will also call my vet on monday I wish I would have thought of that sooner. Maybe they could recommend somebody. I think that it would be loads of fun and buster is very eager to learn. I sometimes wonder if he is pure bred. He is a lot more vocal than weezie, he does this one bark thing that scares the daylights out of me when he does it. I have to laugh. But I know that with a little bit (I know ALOT) of work he has the potential of being a terrific dog. He is so much more responsive to training than weezie, anyway I will keep you posted on his progress, Thanks again, and if anybody has any ideas I am always open to them.

When weezie was a puppy I looked into finding an obedience class to get into and I really didn't have much luck finding one that would take us. That was several years ago and I thought that it would be a good route to take with buster. I am hoping to find one that would take us. I am afraid that I should have looked sooner, I think it could have spared a lot of trouble for me and some hurt feelings for my son. This really knocked me down a few rungs though. I thought I had the basenji thing figured out. The real question is how did weezie and buster train me so well? I should take some lessons from them. lol They know how to get what they want when they want it. Thank you for all of your help.

I did get my dog from brat, and I should say that they were a little concerned when they placed buster with me, however buster came from a home where he was with a child around the same age as my little one. I spoke with the person that handled the adoption today concerning the situation and she was very informative with buster and she shot it to me straight. She said that I needed to assert myself as the alpha and stop letting my little poochie rule the roost. And if I can't then he needs to be rehomed for everybody's sake.

When buster would growl it would be when my little boy would try to approach any couch or chair that he was sitting on. Needless to say I have stopped letting buster on the furniture, and I have stopped letting Riley feed him. I have been told and read to many horror stories about it and I didn't want to take any more chances.

I am going to give buster one more chance to get things straight. I think that I should say that I am going to give myself one more chance to get things straight. I started to think back on how I was treating him, I did the first thing that I was told not to do with him and that was to pitty him. I felt sorry for him because he is in a strange environment, second home, loss of his previous family etc, I thought of him in human terms and that was the first thing I have done wrong among many. I have always felt that it is never really an animals fault that they have bitten a child, but rather a lack of supervision of the adult. I take last night as a wake up call. From here on out, I must watch him like a hawk, last night happened in the blink of the eye and I never saw it coming and they were both under my supervision, I didn't know why he did it. I have to say that it really scared me, I almost gave him back. I think with some retraining on both his and my behalf (and some work with the three year old) would do us both some good. Again any suggestions would be great. I love the little guy, but if he attempts to bite again, I am afraid he is past my knowledge of how to help him. They best thing that I have been told today about the situation was that I am putting my dog in a situation where he has no structure and with the power he has, he can't handle it. That he needs me to step up and take charge. I am still on guard but at least I know what he is capable of doing. It doesn't make what he did right, however now I need to prevent it. Lets just keep our fingers crossed that he doesn't try it again.

Have you ever heard of the book how to child proof your dog? or something on those lines. I have googled it and I couldn't find it I thought that maybe I had the title wrong. I am not sure who the author is.

Well it has been about a month since buster came into my home. He is all around a good dog but as of late he is showing a lot of aggression towards my three year old. Last night buster was sitting on my couch along with weezie and myself, riley my three year old was walking past us and buster jumped out and bit him in the face. I am not sure where to go from here. I have made several calls to brat requesting advise on how to deal with this. Thankfully he only left a welt but it really scared me. what happens if he does it again and we are not so lucky? It wasn't the first time that he has acted out toward him either. It was always a growl and I would correct him for doing it, such as making him get off of the couch or telling him no etc. I have no idea on how to handle this situation. I have started letting riley give him his food, toys and treats. We really don't want to give him up but how do you know if he is a dog that isn't good with young kids??? And how do I correct the problem? If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I am not ready to give up on him and I know that no dog is "hopeless" and I feel as though giving him up would be letting him down.

Isn't that the truth. 1% evil lol

Yes he is keeping me very busy. There is never a dull moment between the dogs and the kids! The first picture was also one of my favorites.

I think he is making himself at home. He has really warmed up to us. I have learned that he loves to eat shoes, match box cars, his food and water bowls (he is on his third set) cell phones, thank goodness for insurance. Life is so much different with him. He is so much taller than my girl we weren't used to putting things up that high. But we learned very quickly where he can and can't reach. I think I forgot his zipper fetish. I have replaced a few of them on my kids coats. lol It seems that after all the preparation we went through he is still finding things left here and there. Then when I find the after math, he will look at me with these big eyes, knowing that he isn't going to get into trouble. They sure do keep me on my toes. My mother stopped for a visit yesterday afternoon he tried to chew her zipper on her coat before she even took it off. I am going to try bitter apple. I have tried chew bones to curb his chewing however he tries to take weezies and they fight over them so I tried putting them in their crates to chew awhile, that doesn't work because buster tries to get out of the crate more than he chews. Pretty soon we will be zipperless people here. lol I think we can work it out though. Anybody know a good place to buy button fly blue jeans. Ahahaha