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Growling basenji - aggression towards male roommate

Behavioral Issues
  • L

    I've had my basenji for about a year now, he recently just turned 3 years old and ever since his "birthday" he's different.
    I recently went to the vet for his health check up and he's completely healthy.

    But his behavior is on a downhill spiral.

    I need advice, please. This is the background story …

    I moved in with my male roommate (I'm female) in December, which has been about 5 months .. Sherlock (my basenji) has only recently started growling as my roommate when he enters the living room, or kitchen .. any room the dog is in, really.
    Until last night, my roommate would just carry on with his business and ignore this behavior.

    But last night, my roommate came home, simply walked past my dog and Sherlock snipped at him! This has never happened before and I need to know how to fix it ...

    When we aren't home, Sherlock isn't crated - he has free range of the apartment (except for my roommate's room - blocked off by baby gate)
    meaning, he sleeps on the couch and hangs out there all day ...

    for today i blocked him into my room and will not allow him back on my bed or couch unless invited but how can i correct this behavior properly?
    My roommate never feeds or walks the dog as he is mine .. should he get more involved in the dog's life/activities or??

    I know you cannot treat aggression with aggression so when Sherlock growls, we take him off the couch by looping a leash around his neck ... he doesn't like it but we have to show who's alpha ..

    Any suggestions will help, please and thank you.

    0

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    That this arose at home but not on the street sounds like property protectiveness, and should dissipate once your dog figures out he lives there too, but you need to work on it if you want to avoid issues with other visitors. Can you remove yourself from the equation and allow the roommate to just "be" there, ignoring the dog until things settle down? Then, treats and food can reward more settled behaviour. IMO it would be a mistake to try to force the relationship in any way. A calm, matter of fact attitude should facilitate things. Definitely no approaching the dog or pushing attention on him. Let the dog set the pace. When he stops feeling threatened he will likely approach on his own. Any aggressive approach should be ignored if possible as long as it doesn't turn into an outright attack. (maybe leave a trailing leash on the dog as a way to take control if things really deteriorate, but I doubt that they will).
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    @Patty: In my opinion you shouldn't be showing him like this - even though this aggression seems to be against certain individuals there could be a time when he takes against the judge. Yes, getting kicked out of the ring because your dog growls and won't stand still for the judge is very very embarrasing!! This did not happen to me with a B but the Shiba Inu we had. I was 16, it was her first show and she growled at the judge and would not stand still on the table…...I got excused from the ring.....in my hometown.....and its a small little show, 175 dogs. After that show we got her spayed, as I did not want to carry on that temperment in puppies. She was a very good dog but I am glad we spayed her because she had an attitude! She was my first show dog and we did not do proper research on the breeder first. Sorry, this is getting off topic.
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    @sharronhurlbut: Crating a dog when your at work and then when you sleep is way too much. I am not saying this is the case…but imo, if your home, have the dog with you. I agree… mostly. a dog should be with it's family but, young pups who do not yet know the rules of the house, should be crated IMO, mostly for their own safety. You can't very well supervise a pup when you're sleeping. however, I do think there is a middle ground to it... I crated my dog at night until he was about 7mths old, and 100% reliable in the house (no accidents). I always kept the crate right next to the bed though. with the exception of night hours, our dog was never crated for longer than 4 hrs at a time. our goal was always to achieve no need for the crate.. which we reached when he was around 2 yrs old. I think a crate is a wonderful TOOL, but it's just that, a tool, not a way of life. We still have one of our crates set up, and occasionally our dog will choose to use it, but the door is never shut.