Steralisation of Male Basenji

[Dawn]

Would steralisation of male Basenjis change their behaviour in any way. Such as in aggressiveness.

Several weeks ago our male Basenji bit me as I tried to put him out of our home, I spoke to him sternly and that was that. Today our daughter tried to hold him by his collar to stop him from chasing a car and after struggling he bit her through her ugg boot puncturing her skin, leaving a nasty bruise and then bit her on her arm. Fortunately our daughter is 30 yrs of age so not a child.

He is also quite aggressive if we take him to doggy parks where they can be let of their leads. He doesn't understand that some dogs just don't want to play or run. Some dogs can handle him but when others emit yelps we then feel embarrassed and take them home.

Before coming to us the first two years of our Basenjis lives were spent in a breeding kennel. Only our male has been used for breeding.

We have had our two Basenjis, Cougar (male) and Teketa (female), since mid June and through a lot of patience (and I feel a lot more will be needed) we feel we are coping reasonably well. Teketa has been steralised and since is much better mooded. The problem is that we own Teketa but Cougar was given on condition that we keep him entire so the breeder can use him again so, of course, we would have to discuss this option with the breeder. If she agrees, then we would have no problem purchasing him but if she doesn't then we feel we may have to return him. This we would really prefer not to do. Besides us loving him dearly, he is so close to his sister, Teketa, and we are afraid she might suffer emotionally.

Any comments / advice would be greatly appreciated

Dawn

[CollStar]

Hi Dawn, my names Colleen and i'm from Melbourne!
I'm really interested to hear peoples thoughts on this as my 6 almost 7 month old male basenji who isnt desex as yet is displaying quite a lot of seemingly random aggression toward my other dog who he lives with. Food is the main trigger, but more and more i think it's his testosterone really kicking in, i think hes trying to test out my other dog too see how much he can get away with and how much he can boss him around.
Its making life a bit edgy for myself and my dog who cops the outbursts!

I'm a vet nurse and it is well know that desexing a male will definitely drop hormone levels significantly and therefore any hormonal aggression along with it. It usually calms them and dog/territorial related aggression can be helped by neutering.
I think that if you really want to keep Cougar the best way to go is to desex him. If it becomes unbearable, then its not going to harm anyone by getting him desexed. And to be honest i think the breeder should think twice about breeding from a basenji who has bitten people… but basenjis will be basenjis. No doubt desexing will help, but no doubt the aggression wont be 'cured'... i think then you need to do your bit by training him in conjunction.

Best of luck, sounds like we both need it!
Colleen

[CollStar]

Hi Dawn, my names Colleen and i'm from Melbourne!
I'm really interested to hear peoples thoughts on this as my 6 almost 7 month old male basenji who isnt desex as yet is displaying quite a lot of seemingly random aggression toward my other dog who he lives with. Food is the main trigger, but more and more i think it's his testosterone really kicking in, i think hes trying to test out my other dog too see how much he can get away with and how much he can boss him around.
Its making life a bit edgy for myself and my dog who cops the outbursts!

I'm a vet nurse and it is well know that desexing a male will definitely drop hormone levels significantly and therefore any hormonal aggression along with it. It usually calms them and dog/territorial related aggression can be helped by neutering.
I think that if you really want to keep Cougar the best way to go is to desex him. If it becomes unbearable, then its not going to harm anyone by getting him desexed. And to be honest i think the breeder should think twice about breeding from a basenji who has bitten people… but basenjis will be basenjis. No doubt desexing will help, but no doubt the aggression wont be 'cured'... i think then you need to do your bit by training him in conjunction.

Best of luck, sounds like we both need it!