>>Nakai will begin obedience classes on Monday, but can anyone help me until then, please? He is a 10 month old Basenji/Pit Bull mix, recently neutered.
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>>My husband and I agree we must be doing something wrong, because Nakai wasn't acting like this when we first brought him home. Whenever we let him run loose, whether in the back yard or in the house, eventually he will grab a pantsleg or a shirtsleeve and play a particularly rough brand of tug-of-war. Then we can't seem to get him to stop. And the longer he plays, the rougher he gets. He's ruined many an article of clothing, and leaves bruises.
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>>What kind of discipline would anyone recommend for this kind of behavior? Based on Nakai's body language, he clearly believes this is play. Basically what we have been doing is quickly re-attaching his leash and shortening his free space, then carefully removing the clothing from his mouth while we make him sit down. We've tried "redirecting" him, but he only wants to play with the Kong toy, or his ball for so long. Then he just wants to tug your clothes, no matter what you put in front of him.
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>>Thanx everyone!
>>Patricia
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Training is going to be the key, and it's not that easy with either terriers or Basenjis--they just were not genetically selected to try to please humans. So the pay needs to be good! It helps to vary the rewards so that he is never sure what he will get, but has a high expectation of something good. The focused attention exercise explained in the articles "Attention, Please!" and "Eye Contact" at the link below my signature will help you get control of him.
You may find it necessary to have a head halter and leash on him in the high-excitement situations so that you can quickly shift him into the focused attention exercise and remove other options without having to go get the leash, etc. Class is a good place to practice the focused attention exercise, whether they teach it there or not. It's pretty sophisticated, and a lot of beginner instructors don't teach it. It's not that difficult, though.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47
