Basenjis and Behavior Issues

From the AKC Meet The Breeds*: "Because  [the basenji] often worked out of sight of hunters, he can tend to be independent and aloof and prefers to meet strangers on his own terms." What exactly does that mean? We call them snarky or particular; preferring their comfy spot, possibly next to their favorite person and protesting when having to move. Perhaps they duck away, growl or snap at a well meaning pat or when an inappropriate item is being taken away from them.  Is this behavior OK?  Yes and no.  There are different reasons for the behavior, but the dog is making a statement that it is uncomfortable or unhappy.  People need to recognize and respect that and not push the dog, which could escalate the negative behavior.  (In the moment, offer a treat as a trade to get the dog to do what you want.  NEVER use force to get the dog to "submit.")

The first thing to do is eliminate a health issue as the cause of the behavior.  Just like people, when a dog is not feeling good, it can act out.  Hypothyroidism, misalignment/spinal issues, arthritis, diet/allergies, even a UTI can cause enough discomfort that would result in negative behavior.  Once health issues have been ruled out, you will need help defining the aggression and seeking out the appropriate professional to address the behavior. 

If you have a newly adopted dog or foster dog, contact the coordinator as soon as there are any concerns.  With the help of your coordinator and using the Links And Resources page on the BRAT website (http://www.basenjirescue.org/links.htm), you can find a certified trainer (http://www.ccpdt.org) or behaviorist (http://iaabc.org).  The ASPCA's Virtual Behaviorist (http://www.aspca.org/Pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist) provides wonderful insight to behavior issues and also provides links to finding help local to you, as well as what to look for in a behaviorist/trainer and the questions to ask of the professionals in your search. 

If all else fails and you are overwhelmed or confused as to what to do, contact me.  I will be happy to help you sort out the issue and guide you.

Roberta Kosek

Vice President, BRAT
rlkosek2@aol.com
603-553-4822 

 

*AKC Meet the Breed http://www.akc.org/breeds/basenji/index.cfm

Behavior Question: Help Needed!!

Basenji Community, we need your help!!  As many of us know, basenjis are strong pack animals and often have issues with separation anxiety.  Recently I've been communicating with a family who just got a new basenji puppy, and is having tough time coping with what I think is the pup's extreme separation anxiety.  This family has had 5 basenjis in the past so they know the breed quite well, but they've never seen behavior like this before.  So, we need your help!!  Here's what's going on:

The puppy is now about 16 weeks old, purchased from a responsible breeder.  His new family is trying to crate-train him (as they've done with their 5 previous basenjis), and he loves going in the crate, eating in it, etc. when his humans are around.  However, as soon as the humans leave, the pup gets frantic in his crate and screams incessantly for hours on end, and often the panic continues even for 20-30 minutes after the family returns home.  The family has tried everything that the vet, breeder, and friends have suggested -- putting him in the crate with a blanket on top, giving lots of toys and chewies to make it a positive experience when they leave, etc., but nothing seems to work yet.  Recently they started leaving him out of his crate when gone for just a few hours at a time, and at first he behaved well but now he's begun having potty "accidents" as soon as his owners leave, regardless of whether he just went or not.  My feeling is that the "accidents" are just another symptom of the pup being anxious about his owners leaving, but what would be most helpful is to hear what you think, and any possible solutions. 

The bottom line is that all of these behaviors together are frustrating this little pup's owners to the point where they're just not sure what to do anymore, and they really need some help!!  Any input you could provide (please respond back by commenting at the bottom of this blog post) would be wonderful. 

I Don't Think So

After five months along in my journey in life with Shaka and Audrey, I continue to learn new things and be surprised every day. Though she has a personality that is unique to her alone, I find that she increasingly reminds me of my first female basenji, Bow, and not always in the best way.

During much of September, there was intense street construction going on our block. Jack hammers, steamrollers, dump trucks and just about every imaginable noisy, annoying machine. Needless to say, neither Shaka nor Audrey wanted to be anywhere near that racket, and it started our walks off chaos. The construction is now long over, and initially going anywhere near where the construction had been going on resulted in Audrey first grinding her paws into the pavement, backing up on the leash and giving me the most intense "I.Don't.Think.So." look. And when she is in that state, there is little chance of negotiation. Trying to pull her along makes it hard to believe that this is an 18-pound basenji and not a bank safe on a chain.

Initially this happened just when we went anywhere near where the construction had gone on. But over the past three or four weeks, it has happened at various spots along our route where there is no noise, no distractions or anything obviously setting her off. I've tried a variety of techniques to correct this -- making a U-turn which sometimes works but not usually, happy talk coaxing or dropping treats. But usually it just takes just going a different direction.

All of this is exactly what I went through with Bow about five months into our time together. And with Bow, it was also hard to know what caused it, and one day it just suddenly stopped.

Do others with basenji girls have similar experiences or tips on how to get beyond it. It's now hard to tell if it's stubbornness or fear or a combination.

Reconditioning for Timidity

       A little over four months ago we added a little girl to our family. Tessa is about three years old and has lived almost entirely in the kennel where she was born. The kennel complex consists of outdoor runs and an indoor area where all the dogs are crated and fed each night. Tessa shared her run with a litter sister and brother (except during their season) but each had their own private sleep crate. Her sister and brother were occasionaly removed for up to six months at a time to live with families or on the road for dog shows. Tessa however was rarely away from this familiar environment.        We picked Tessa up after the Basenji National Dog Show in Colorado and brought her home for her first taste of 100% family life. She joined Beau, our 18-year-old cat, Reno our 11-year-old Basenji boy, my husband and myself in our home complete with smallish wrought iron fenced yard. The first few weeks we had to really work to get her to accept any contact with us at all. Her second night she forced her way through the wrought iron fence and made a run for it. Thanks to my husband's ability to think like a terrified Basenji, an incredible amount of luck, and the grace of the God who watches over all dogs, we recovered her. For the next several months she was never allowed outside without leash, even in her own backyard. Gradually, as she became more comfortable with us, even a little attached, she was allowed supervised unleashed time in the yard.

       In relatively short order, Tessa found "safe zones" around the house: the far end of the couch, the end of my bed, under the dining table surrounded by chairs, and any available open dog crate. Until just recently she would not eat or drink outside her crate. It took over three months before she would easily accept treats from our hand, and occasionally she still is unable to overcome her, not really fear, but more than just mere timidity, and demand her treats like a normal self-confident Basenji would. She has grown to be relatively confident while walking in our neighborhood on leash. She has developed a mixed bag of a very few confident behaviors mixed in with a liberal amount of timid ones and a few that seem based in stark terror, but amongst all of them she still manages to exhibit some of the most valued temperament characteristics. She never bites, she has never even growled at us. She hates baths, but will do nothing more than try to escape, the same with toenail trims. She will allow us to touch her anywhere, pick her up and carry her around, hold and cuddle her, pet and love her. She allows all ages of kids around with no apparent distress, although she will go to her "safe zones" with them as quickly as she does adults. She would love to chase squirrels anywhere, anytime, but although she is interested in chasing cats outdoors, she doesn't really try to harass our cat in the house.
       Tessa will jump and run at the slightest provocation, a loud noise, sudden movements, etc. She heads for the nearest available "safe zone", often running from one safe zone to another, or, if it is available, the back corner of her crate. We typically work on desensitizing her to anything she reacts strongly to. Success has been limited and often follows the "three steps forward, two steps back" scenario.
       What we most desire is to find a way to help her develop what we have come to treasure in all of our other Basenjis, a sense of self confidence. We've worked on that constantly over the past few months, but I would love some additional suggestions from you all about how to eliminate stresses, encourage confidence and train away timidity without losing her innate sweetness. We fully understand that it will be a long term project and may be years before we see her reach what we believe is her potential.

Going Green

When I discovered Bow on the BRAT site two years ago and read that she liked broccoli, brussel sprouts and other veggies, my first reaction was that surely couldn't be true. But once she became a part of the household I learned that it was definitely true, and it always shocks non-basenji owners when I tell them that she'll eat up snap peas with so much enthusiasm you'd think it was bacon.

I'm curious if this is something other basenjis typically do or if there is any risk of her eating them. Like anything, I give it to her in moderation, but since I've seen nothing out there suggesting it's risky I'm interested to hear others' perspective.

Pet Sounds

After receiving the usual "Oh, what kind of dog is that?" question on my walks with Bow, I tend to give the "African sighthound" response and not the "barkless dog" answer. For one thing I've always thought it diminishes the wonders of basenjis to simply introduce them as just "barkless dogs." Furthermore, in Bow's case, it's not true. Yes, she's 100% basenji, and she barks.

Now before you start thinking that she is channeling her inner pug or beagle, I will qualify that in our two years together she has barked five or six times and it's been one quick and not repeated bark. She looks as startled as I do when it happens, and it's usually when something has startled or upset her. Although I've not read about it extensively, I've seen a number of mentions of basenjis' ability to do a "mock bark" and that they are great mimics. It makes me wonder if I should expose her to more basenjis in order to learn how to properly baroo.

During the entire time I have had her, she has made a wide range of sounds -- howls, whimpers, growls, yelps and other odd sounds. But never what I would call a true "baroo". I've played YouTube videos of barooing basenjis. She cocks her head in interest at first, and then lets out a sigh and goes back to her favorite sunning spot.

A question I have for others is what is defined as a basenji "scream"? I've seen "Dog screams" as a checked or non-checked criteria on intake forms of new BRAT profiles. Bow can be quite a bit of a drama queen, and she will let out what I'd call a scream if she bumps into something or has the slightest ache or pain. If she gets a thorn in her paw, she usually gets heads turning from every direction since she lets out such a loud, shrill sound. I've yet to see any YouTube videos of basenji screams -- no doubt because it's not nearly as charming as a baroo. But I'd appreciate other perspectives on what is defined as the true basenji scream.

The Eternal IQ Question

A few weeks back a friend sent me this message:

“I would say that Bow is one of the smartest dogs I know, but according to this article, she’s not likely to end up at canine Harvard anytime soon.”

Maybe I’m opening up the wrong can of worms just mentioning the topic since it made the rounds on BRAT-CHAT this summer, but my initial response was “I’d like to see the companion survey where basenjis got a chance to rank the intelligence of humans.”

My response back to my friend was, “Well, if you want a dog that is always compliant, that follows commands without questioning, that is always looking for your approval, that will play the role of the faithful servant, then a basenji is not very bright. However, if you like a dog that is independent, that you constantly have to outsmart, that can figure out how to climb over two baby gates without any effort, can open doors and cabinets and is always testing your intelligence, then a basenji might be for you.”

My friend says that one of the reasons that he likes Bow is that her approval is not easily won, she isn’t a face licking love muffin but when she approves of you, she is a steadfast friend.

Asking someone if they think they have a smart dog is as futile a question as asking someone if they think their grandchild is cute. But I have to agree with those who feel that “scientific studies” which rank basenjis low on the intelligence scale look at them through a skewed lens. And how intelligent does a dog need to be? Considering that Bow has managed to get someone to lavish the best canine food, medical care, back and tummy massages and protection, would she be doing any better were she to learn Greek and calculus?

I’ve also heard such mixed opinions from other basenji owners of whether or not they are trainable? After months of working on it, Bow responds to quite a number of commands she ignored when she arrived a year ago. “Leave it.” “Off.” “Down.” “Give me five.” and a few others get the appropriate, immediate response now. I don’t know that I have “taught” her these commands – I suspect she knew them all along. But we have managed to negotiate them successfully as a team. The fact that I can now say “Leave it” and get an immediate response without a treat even when she’s spotted a smelly chicken bone on the sidewalk feels like someone’s IQ has gone up a point or two.

Though it may not qualify as an indicator of intelligence, I keep getting mixed opinions about whether or not basenjis or dogs in general have any specific memories about events, people, places and activities. Bow does seem to remember that more than a year ago she saw a cat run through the side yard at 25^th and Hampshire since every time we pass it she glances over and will pull a bit on the leash just in case that cat is there again. She also clearly remembers humans that remember their commands, such as a friend who has yet to understand the “Let her approach you first” command, and he’s the only human visitor she’s ever been snippy with.

Finally, I have a debate with a couple of friends about whether Bow can recognize representations of animals in pictures, TV or other likenesses. Most say they are oblivious to such likenesses, but the first time we walked by the house with the figurine on the right, Bow bolted backward, looked up at me and then circled around with great trepidation and her Mohawk at full mast. When was came back around the block she was calm but before heading on down the block, she had to paw at the plaster pooch for just a second to let it know she was the boss.

Construction and Destruction

We are getting some work done on our bathroom and the house is a construction zone. The boys, Apollo and Asta (BRAT Rescue), are out of their minds with nervousness and high high high anxiety. Since the bathroom is next to the bedroom, we have been keeping the boys in the kitchen so that they are as far away from the noise of the construction as possible. We have put up a baby gate so that they stay in the kitchen.

There is not much to destroy in the kitchen, but they have been doing their best to model bad Basenji behavior. The first day of construction, they jumped over the baby gate and we had to get our Super to put them back in the kitchen and put sheetrock over the doorway to keep them inside.

The second day of construction, they pulled out a bag of recycling and shredded it so it lay in strips all across the kitchen floor (see reenactment photos). Finally, on the third day we thought we had removed all that could be destroyed.

We came home to a mess. They had gotten into the cabinet where we kept some household supplies. They had shredded the light bulb box to nearly unidentifiable bits; the light bulbs were on the table, so we assume the Super came over to remove the dangerous items from the floor. We also found a half-eaten roll of blue masking tape and a bicycle tire repair kit under the counter, the glue tube open and sticky.

Help about how to keep the destruction down in the construction zone is welcomed.

Meet & Greet

How is it that you can manage to get two Basenjis to meet each other (or another breed for that matter) with out growls, snarks and the "mohawk"? Heaven forbid that they be on leash. Then you're trying to keep ahead of the tangle and out of the way of that sudden head-to-tail switch-a-roo they all seem to have perfected.


We've tried unleashed in the yard, leashed on the street, in neutral territory and just about any other way we could think up. Still, how do we make sure that they're safe until they get past the sniff & growls? We've had various degrees of success with different methods with different dogs. It wasn't until I read some of the work of Turid Rugaas about "Calming Signals" that I discovered things about my Basenji that I never knew. I suddenly realized that my furkids were telling me things all the time. I was deaf, dumb and blind.


So now, I try to be as aware of my behavior as I am of what my Basenjis are telling me when a new dog comes into the picture. It is as important for me to utilize calming signals as it is for me to be aware of the signs of stress in my kids and try to implement actions that can break that stress. If we're out walking on leash, I never approach another dog directly or quickly. Slow and curved sideways type approach, stops are okay, but not directly facing the other dog. Stopping to sit at an angle can be good too. Of course it helps it the other dog walkers know how to follow the same approach! It helps even more if the other dogs are actually on a leash!!


My most recent difficulty came with a basenji foster boy who was taken to a single dog home when six or seven weeks old and who was never exposed to other dogs. He didn't respond to most of the signals I had grown so used to seeing in my other, better dog-socialized, Basenjis. We had to go very slowly, with many, many stops to backtrack.


Learning to listen/see what my Basenjis have been trying to tell me has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. For more information check out www.canis.no/rugaas or do a google search for "Calming Signals for Dogs".

The Basenji and the Door Bumper

Since I work from home with a generally predictable schedule, I try to keep to a regular routine of three walks a day with Bow. There are beginning of and end of the day walks of at least 30 minutes and usually before and after the respective “doggy rush hours” since I am a fairly early riser. We also usually try to slip in a quick 15-20 minute walk after lunch.

This usually does the trick for a content basenji and not too much excitement when we are ready for our regular walks.

There are occasions when it’s quite clear that she wants to go out now or that she thinks I’ve waited too long for her assigned walking time. Her signal is clear and predictable – she paws the spring door bumper. It’s usually one quick hit, but sometimes if she’s emphatic enough, she will hit everyone in the house, sometimes making several rounds with a louder “BONG!!!” with each loop of the house.

A couple of people say this simply couldn’t happen or that no dog is that smart, to which I give the usual “But you’ve not been around a basenji.”

Most people (some of whom have seen it) agree that is what she is telling me, but I’d appreciate others weighing in on the appropriate response.

· Is it best to respond and take her for a walk, or is that caving in and reinforcing manipulative behavior?

· Is it best to ignore it until there is relative calm and then go?

· If ignoring it results in the behavior escalating, then what?

· Has anyone else experienced this behavior?

Although we have a small garden/yard with grass and concrete, she has never “done her routine” out there. Whenever the back door is open, she is out there in a flash, sniffing around, peeking through the fence to see if the neighbor dogs are out, and back in the house in 90 seconds or less.

To date, this has never happened more than two to three times a month, but I’d be interested in other perspectives or suggestions or if this is a brooding issue that needs to be addressed.

When a Suburban Basenji Comes to the Big City

Just over a year ago, I was sitting in my living room with my feline companion of 19 years, chuckling as I saw a van drive up to the house across the street. Every day at the same time, it would pull up and a young woman would get out. Seconds later, she would return with a dog on leash, and I would marvel at the list of services on the side of the van. While I would never hesitate to lavish the care needed on my cat, the scale of what was available for dogs seemed so excessive and alien to my universe.

A few months later, my cat would cross the Rainbow Bridge, and the decision of what to do next hovered over me for weeks. My cat Bunter and his brother Whimsey (who passed on two years earlier) had been a part of my life for nearly two decades, and the thought of “replacing” them with another cat just seemed wrong. It wasn’t like finding a duplicate hot water heater when the old one wears out. I knew it was time to open a new chapter.

Basenjis had held my fascination for more than a decade, and I’d seriously considered adding one to my household many times but knew it just wasn’t the right thing to do with two cats, especially in their twilight years. So after a month of having a bit of space, I took a plunge and filled out the online forms with BRAT, realizing that it might be many months before a fostering opportunity came up. Less than two weeks later, my first foster arrived, a sadly disturbed basenji boy with significant aggression problems (a topic I’ve written about earlier), but he also blessed me with two months of learning the various challenges and many more rewards that convinced me that having a basenji in my life was a must.

There was another month of transition as I anxiously waited for the next foster to arrive. After a first time trial by fire, I wanted to make sure that I was thoroughly mindful of getting the perfect match, but expecting to expect the unexpected with a rescue basenji.

On a rainy Saturday evening just before Thanksgiving 2008, I drove to the San Francisco Airport’s cargo delivery to pick up Bow, arriving from Michigan. My hope was that she would live up to all the reports and descriptions on her profile. Much to my delight, indoors she was everything I’d been told she would be – affectionate, not a counter surfer, not a trash can grazer, not destructive when left alone. Indoors a true basenji princess.

While I had been warned that she tended to pull on walks, there had not been any way to gauge how a basenji who’d spent her first six years in suburban Chicago would react to an inner city neighborhood of San Francisco. The Mission District has a wealth of noisy buses, ice cream vendor push carts with jangling bells, lots of taquerias with tempting chicken bones scattered on the pavement, souped up muscles cars speeding around corners with pitch volume rap music rattling the windows, and a wealth of dogs of every size and temperament. Adding to that is one of the busiest skate board parks just two blocks away, and on some afternoons it’s not unusual to see a dozen skateboarders whizzing by, some times half of them with off leash dogs chasing behind them.

For any dog, this is sensory overload, but for a basenji used to quiet, oak-lined suburban streets it is a huge shock. My first foster experience gave me a boot camp grounding in walking skills, but I clearly knew that I needed more help. Beginning with my first foster I had scoured the city for its wide range of trainers and behaviorists. From dominance and aversion techniques on one end to new age spiritual-attunement-with-your-dog gurus can be found in San Francisco. The biggest challenge for Bow was encountering other dogs, especially those off leash. The percentage of people in San Francisco oblivious to leash laws or deluded into thinking they have perfect recall of their dog is alarming. During the first couple of months there was at least one time a week when another dog came barreling across the street and pushed my leash control skills to the max.

It was clear that Bow and I needed the right kind of support to feel I was keeping her safe and not provoking the wrong kind of behavior from her. Ironically, the search for a trainer led me to the group I had seen dropping by daily a year ago. It has been a perfect fit for both Bow and me. Not only is there a lot of praise for progress for Bow, but also for me. On days when I feel frustrated that we are not enough progress with loose leash walking, it is heartening to have a trainer who can point out that even the smallest positive is a step in the right direction.

Six months into our training, I have come to recognize and embrace that progress comes very slowly and sometimes an important break through comes out of nowhere. I am already celebrating this as the summer we mastered “leave it” and have been able to use just a voice command without a treat to lure Bow away from even the most tempting chicken bone on the sidewalk.

Taking the Plunge!

For some, taking the plunge means getting married. For me, having already taken that plunge (it wasn't that bad, honest!), the bigger plunge was making the decision to leave my basenjis uncrated when alone in the house. Cringe! Having already seen what havoc an uncrated basenji can wreak on my living room (the picture to your left was taken a year ago when Biko managed to break out of his crate), I was rightfully nervous.

Previously, we had tried all manner of leaving the dogs gated together in various one- or two-room setups, one dog gated and the other crated, both dogs uncrated but split with an X-pen, etc, with no positive results. When crated, the dogs do just sleep all day, but sometimes Biko gets nervous and still pees a little in his crate, which I have been able to modify from nervous pooping every day to now just an occasional nervous piddle. Some of you BRAT-chatters may recall a year ago when I had asked for advice about this, and I tried absolutely all of your suggestions until I was able to find a solution to mitigate the problem. However, even though it's now only an occasional piddle, I still don't like the situation, and I feel the dogs would be so much less stressed if they could just be in the rooms where they're comfortable. So, for about 2 years now I've been on a quest to figure out a better way of leaving them alone in the house while I'm out at work during the day.

The changeover started rather gradually for us, with a mix of careful experimentation and some bold leaps of faith. First, my husband started to notice that when he's home studying sometimes during the day, the dogs tend to stay in the exact same spot and just sleep through the entire morning. Same thing after they are walked - they go to sleep and don't wake up for at least an hour. So, a few nights after I ran a few miles with the dogs, we decided to leave them for a half hour while we ran to the store. Amazingly, nothing bad happened! They were literally in the exact same positions as when we left, and nothing was eaten. Phew!

After a few more test rounds of leaving them uncrated after walks for an hour or so, we decided to cautiously re-try leaving them gated in one room for the entire morning. Bad idea: first Reef, then Biko, had a grand old time gutting and re-gutting their favorite papasan "basket chair." Bummer! My husband suggested that perhaps they get more stressed by the gates, and maybe we should just leave them alone, ungated and uncrated. He could leave them alone in the house during the morning, when they sleep anyway, and I could crate them after I walk them at lunch. An uncrated basenji!?! Talk about a leap of faith!

That first day, I was a complete mess at work. I imagined that my entire living room would be gone when I returned home. At lunch, I took a deep breath, opened the front door, and..... the room was just as we had left it! Amazing!

Since that first day, we have been pretty successful in leaving the dogs together uncrated in the house. We still close the doors to the bedrooms upstairs, put up the couch pillows, remove any handy shredding material (books, the remote, anything), and don't leave rawhides around for them to fight over, and for the most part they've been pretty good. I feel so much better now that I can be at work knowing that my doggies are sleeping happily in their favorite sun window, ready to come to the door with tails wagging when I come home to walk them. And, best of all, Biko has started barooing with joy when I come home! I guess taking the plunge wasn't that bad after all :)