Bart had his Graduation from Beginner Training Class today at PetsMart! He did so well and gosh he picked up on stuff so quick I barely had to practice with him. Here are some pictures :)

Bart showing off his down

Siiiiitttttt

Unsuccessful grad hat pic lol

Successful Grad Hat Pic! :)

Thinking of moving on to intermediate. Its about keeping focus around distractions which is what bart is bad at lol

I can relate to you. My boyfriend found a basenji mix for me and we named him Bart. I think he is basenji and rat terrier both with very high prey drives. Me and my mother raise and show rabbits. Our cages are all wire and the highest cage floor is almost two feet tall. One is even at 18".
Well when we first brought bart to my parents house He went nuts for the rabbits. I made the mistake of letting him jump up on the sides of the cages. He started trying bite the rabbits feet after I told him to get down. For the next two weeks he would never go outside alone. I learned to use a water bottle (this was a life saver because basenjis usually hate water) and he quickly learned the commands off and leave it. I have since enrolled him in obedience classes and he has done so well. After months of being around the rabbits as they binky and run around the cages he has learned to ignore them. Now he goes after our cats but we are learning slowly.

I will say it took time and patience and not every dog is the same but its not impossible which you have already stated. I would never leave them unattended together even 10 years from now. You can subdue an instinct but you can never erase it.

no problem :) Ill be there till 6 hopefully. Depends on how the dogs do lol

I will be going to the dog park off of highway 6 today with my new pup bart and a couple of friends.
Bart is not full Basenji but sure acts like it and has never been able to play with another B. If anyone is free I was going to go around 4-4:30p.m.

Im sure Bart would love to meet a fellow B. Hope to meet yall out there :)

im sorry i misunderstood you. I don't think my mom would go for an underground fence. And the construction would probably freak out the rabbits. I will look around to get ideas for a fence. And keep everyone posted.

Yesterday I came home from class to find him laying on the window sill behind the loveseat! He loves people watching lol. Lately he has been extra mischievous I wish he would get over this kennel cough so I can properly exercise him at the dog park. For now walks will have to do. (Im not much of a runner) He also has a fondness for crawling on the floor he has been doing it more and more. It is just adorable

That would look gorgeous :) Nayru looks so pretty i bet her doughnut tail went nuts when she saw it :)

Well I do have a shock collar i can borrow if i really need to. Ill try the bitter apple on the bottom of the wire but im not sure how well that will hold since the rabbits will just pee over it. And ill try the spray bottle.

Also for Erics short fence I was thinking wouldnt the Fence Rollers be PERFECT :)

Of course. Here is the pvc hutch me and my dad built. Bart can easily jump on the sides and scare the bunnies

A kind of closer picture showing how the cages hang on the pvc

And these are the hutches on the side of the house. A little higher but he learned to get away by getting as close to the house and nipping from underneath. I had to literally pull him through the poop to get him out from under there. The house is on the left (you can barely see the brown brick through the cage) And our 6ft new wooden fence is on the right

A fence could easily be added on the side of the house if we moved the end cage on the seesaws.

oh yes i would be devastated also considering some of these rabbits prices vary from 50 to 100 dollars. That is why i must seriously think about what will i do if he can't at least stop nipping.
I knew there was something to do with a Basenji Paw. Does any one have a picture so I can see what yall are explaining

Update :) Bart visited the Duck Park in town and had much fun but wished if he could only get a little closer too bad mom was worried about him having to explain to Dante how he got his butt kicked by a goose lol.

One of my favorites from his first days that i forgot to put up

He kept trying to jump on a ledge with ducks. they couldnt see him though

turtleee

I had to get a picture of the wrinkles so yall could see lol

such adorable wrinkles! And beautiful eyes.

Congratulations! Heres to more fun loving and dig happy years!

Beautiful dogs and park! I wish ours was pretty like that

such pretty pictures! Your reds are adorable. Poor Kwame! Dont be so scared puppy youll do fine :)

lol the boyfriend does need to come over once and awhile. My parents find it kind of off putting. But as far as being ready for a Basenji I felt i was. Just not one this young. He is still a puppy being only one year. Brat also felt I was ready after they came to my house to do the home check. They knew I had rabbits and I was very honest with everything. I thought that I could talk Erics mom into letting the dog in the house. The crate will just have to get its use, i guess it's a good thing i bought it lol. I was really expecting an older dog and being that the BRAT dogs have already been personality evaluated I was really going into this little man blindly. He is such a darling boy sometimes though and a great homework distraction LOL.
I guess I didn't factor in that I do spend a lot of my free time at my boyfriends. And luckily vet bills aren't a factor just yet plus the 40% employee discount is nice.

I was thinking of trying a spray bottle with the rabbits and see if it helps. I'll just take it day by day. No calls about claiming him and no emails from my ad posted on craigslist.

Well here's what happened. I drove to Houston to spend some time with Eric and show Bart to my family. He met the two cats and sadly neither of them went to touch noses with him. I was disappointed in Roxi(the cat that usually stays with me in huntsville) though I'm sure Bart didnt help with his excited state. But only time will tell if she will get used to him. I hope so. Anyways He was being extra bad outside with the rabbits trying to nip their feet. I have to be outside any time he is to make sure he doesnt do harm to them. I wanted to see if Erics mom would at least be accommodating because he is so small and well behaved in the house for the most part lol. So i pulled out his crate and set it up in the dining room with his food and water and a toy. We left to go eat and when we came back I let him out to meet Lady. They love each other lady was so excited to have a friend she almost had a heart attack running around with him so much. Its so funny watching him play. Then his mom came home and i didnt even get a chance to ask about moving a crate inside. I asked her if she wanted to see him she said he was cute but as soon as she saw the crate she said oh no there will be no dogs in the house. Greatt didn't even get to explain.
I'm not sure how to handle this situation because the only other thing i can do with bart at Erics house at least for now is put him in his crate in the garage and that's just not fair to him. Either that or I cant spend anymore time with my boyfriend unless he comes to our house which he rarely does. . .
Hopefully I can talk his mom into something :(
Debra. Yes I guess i did not show enough commitment that night maybe I should find him a better and more suited home.

Beautiful puppies you have :)
and such pretty poses

I didnt like him staying outside at all but i cant trust my parents to properly watch him especially since he isnt officially my dog. I was so surprised that he didnt run off seeing as how we found him as a stray i would almost be sure that he might dart and i would never see his cute face again. but he didnt he stayed in the front of the house howling until i came and called his name. His doughnut tail was wagging on top of that fence though when he saw me. I will definitely have to figure something out if he stays. It would suck if i couldnt ever sleep at his house because a dog couldnt come inside. His mom is old school mexican though and thinks thats where dogs belong.

UPDATE: Bart de-stuffed his first toy. Good thing it was only 4bucks :) I made sure he didnt eat any of the stuffing the last thing i need is a blocked dog. Are Bs usually good about not eating what they de-stuff?

We started calling him Bart since he's been with me for almost 5 days now I couldnt keep calling him puppy lol. My boyfriend named him Bart because thats the street we found him on. Bart Ln. Its catching on.

Also he made his first escape! I stayed at my boyfriends house last night and his mom is adamant on No dogs in the house. Luckily Bart had Lady (his 3yr old Lab mix) to keep him company! I checked on him at least four or five times before deciding he would be okay with her loose in the backyard. I was so worried because the back yard has a small 4ft tall fence between the garage and house and i knew that wouldnt stop him. This morning I woke up to go to the bathroom and I hear howling. I was about to go back asleep until I told myself I should check on him and give him his medicine. Sure good thing I did because I couldnt find him or lady in the backyard!! I call for them and turn around to see bart standing on the top part of the fence! That little booger escaped when Erics dad took lady for a walk. I was so surprised he didnt bolt off though i was sure he would. maybe he does like me lol :)

Welcome to the forum! I hope you learn alot here! I know I sure did :) I joined also with no B companion and a Basenji mix happened to come into my life recently. He isn't officially mine yet (we have some things to work out) and i'm still posting up signs for his owners who were unfortunate to loose him. But we'll see how it plays out. Never feel left out because you dont have a Basenji one will find you someway somehow :) Just act like a sponge for now and learn about the habits and health concerns. You can also read BRATs information its a great referance