Basenji behavior

Question
We have a two almost three year old purebred female Basenji.  We have had her since she was weened.  She is spayed and has been rasied around my three children (8 6 and 4 years old).  They are great with her and she has been great with them.  We have been told since she was a puppy that she is very outgoing for a Basenji and very friendly.  She is an indoor dog and is crate trained.  Recently we had to leave her with my in-laws for a month (we have never left her for longer then a week- usually at a kennel) due to my daughter's need for medical treatment in a different state.  They have a Belgian Malnuwa (really bad spelling sorry).  He and Flash (our dog)  get along despite the size difference and she seemed to do fine.  Recently though she has started to display some mild unprovoked aggressive behavior towards my 4 year old when he goes to pet her.  He is being very gentle with her (and I do mean very gentle-my kids love her to death and we expect the best behavior from them around animals) and she growled and beared her teeth at his hand.  I don't know how to get rid of this behavior because this has never been an issue. I did crate her with a stern No when it happened and then after made my four year old call her out and sit at his command and then had him pet her and praise her for sitting for him. We love her to death but I cannot keep an animal that threatens my children- it just scares me to much.  Help please!  

Answer
I can't say whether or not this behavior change was due to her playing with your in-laws' Malinois or not, but, Anna, I DO believe it needs to be dealt with immediately. I would recommend that you crate her whenever you leave the house, and also at night. Only allow her to have freedom when you are at home (this will not last forever; it's only temporary in order to make her appreciate her freedom more). Additionally, I would recommend that you begin the "Nothing in Life is Free (NILIF)" program with her. Basically, NILIF just means that the dog has to 'earn' everything by obeying a command or series of commands.

Here are a few examples:

Before you put her food down for her to eat, she should follow a command like sit or down.

Before she gets petted or any other kind of attention, she should follow a command.

Before she gets played with (and during playtime), she should follow a command.

Before you take her outside, she should follow a command.

As much as possible, your children should issue those commands, but you should be right there to reinforce the command if the dog decides not to obey. You may need to let her drag a leash so you can use it to issue a correction if need be.

Any type of aggression should be dealt with immediately by both you and the child involved telling the dog "NO" and being physically corrected by YOU with the leash. You must also ask yourself why is the dog doing this? Is it because of a toy or food? If so, then I would recommend that toys and treats not be left down all the time; instead, she should only be allowed to play with toys when YOU want her to, and she should only have chew toys when she's in her crate. If she becomes possessive over toys or treats or whatever, she should be immediately reprimanded and the toy or treat taken away from her.


You may find it helpful to call around and speak with some local trainers about this problem, and see if any of them do in-home training and can come to your house and help you out. Especially since one of your children could be bitten.

Good luck and let me know if there's anything else I can help you with.

Kristen