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.

Sanji

Sanji came to us from Virginia as a BRAT dog. He traveled by air and arrived pretty upset. Poor guy, he was so nervous that he had messed in his crate, and he was overall pretty traumatized by the whole air travel ordeal.

We got him home from the airport and he was very happy to be out of the transport cage. Our other BRAT girl Ursa was not impressed by his arrival, and when he did a play bow to her she snarked at him.

Eventually Ursa learned to tolerate Sanji, but he never was able to play with her the way that he wanted to. But, I could tell that even though she didn't like him, Sanji still needed Ursa and he was both very sensitive to her and very stressed by her. As time went on and Ursa got sick, Sanji mysteriously got sick too. His system suddenly would not tolerate most foods, and he started losing a significant amount of weight.

Photo: An uhappy Sanji boy at 16 lbs

Our vet tried many natural herbs and drugs but nothing seemed to help, and his stomach rejected most of his food while his intestinal tract quickly got rid of the rest. Sanji went from 25 lbs to 16 lbs in a short time. He was tested for everything, including Fanconi and thyroid problems, but all tests came back negative.

Then we got Gumbo and brought him home as a 12 week old pup. Sanji was delighted-- at last he had someone he could play with! Gumbo of course wanted to play all the time, and Sanji tolerated his little sharp teeth and energy. We still had Ursa, but she was by this time quite ill and we had her put down a couple of months after we got Gumbo.

Photo: Sanji with Gumbo as a puppy

Over the next several months, Sanji began to gain weight and was throwing up less and less. He didn't curl up in a tight ball anymore, nor did he look sad-eyed. We attributed his decline to his concern for Ursa, and his comeback to his delight in Gumbo.

We have a dog park not far from us and my husband Jim retired October 2008, so Jim began taking Sanji and Gumbo to the dog park. Before we got Gumbo, Sanji was never a fan of the park and ignored all the other dogs and people. Now he had Gumbo to keep and eye on and make sure his little boy didn't get hurt or in trouble. You could see Sanji always being watchful and stepping in if another dog got too rough with Gumbo. The more Jim took the dogs to the park, the more Sanji became interested in playing with the other dogs and getting pets from the people at the park. He is now quite happy to go to the park. Gumbo is now almost two and Sanji doesn't have to worry about him taking care of himself. Gumbo is one of the most outgoing Basenjis I have ever seen, loves almost all dogs and people, and is totally a happy sweet boy thanks to his genes and upbringing by his friend Sanji.

Photo: Sanji {front} and Gumbo at the dog park

Sometimes I think we as humans may unwittingly introduce dogs who live with us to other dogs that do not care to live with each other. In Sanji's case, his basenji sensitivity to other dogs made an unhappy dog quite ill, not from any particular physical illness, but just from stress alone. But, now that we've overcome this obstacle, today we have two very happy, healthy Basenji boys who love each other and the rest of the world too.

--Marj Baker