Hi, I'm new! This is redundant from my post in the newbies thread, but we have a 9-year-old basenji, Tana. We inherited him from our friends who were having twins (they already had an older daughter) and couldn't keep him.
Over the last three years we've had him, he's peed in the house on a pretty regular basis. Not daily or anything, but probably every couple of months. Sometimes in reaction to stuff going on around him. He gets quite anxious; we figured out his triggers (guests being in the house, mostly) and in the last year, we've put him on prozac after trying various behavioral methods and environmental changes. We think it's helped quite a bit, but there's still times when he pees in the house. I don't think it's a territorial thing. We've had him checked for diabetes, and fanconi's disease (not sure how common this is among other dog breeds, but it's a very common kidney disease in basenji's) and he's always come up negative.
He is crated at night and when we're not home, and sometimes when we are home, if we're just too busy. Anyone who knows basenjis, knows they're perpetual 2-year olds- you cannot leave them unsupervised.
Anyway, we monitor his water intake and try our best to time going out with that. But sometimes we get distracted and all of a sudden, he's standing in front of you peeing on the rug. Without any notice- he doesn't whine, he doesn't squirm or even look at you, just stands up and pees.
Oh, I should mention, we're in a second-story condo, so we have to take him out on walks- no doggie door he can come and go freely with, or even a backyard.
He used to consistently get our attention when he had to go out- he'd whine, or put a paw on your leg, something, but now, I'd say about 60% of the time, we get the timing right and take him out before he even "says" something; 25% of the time he tells us when he has to go, and the other 15% of the time, he just pees wherever he's standing.
Is there a way to get him to consistently tell us when he has to go? I know there are occasional accidents, but just not telling us seems like more than that.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Over the last three years we've had him, he's peed in the house on a pretty regular basis. Not daily or anything, but probably every couple of months. Sometimes in reaction to stuff going on around him. He gets quite anxious; we figured out his triggers (guests being in the house, mostly) and in the last year, we've put him on prozac after trying various behavioral methods and environmental changes. We think it's helped quite a bit, but there's still times when he pees in the house. I don't think it's a territorial thing. We've had him checked for diabetes, and fanconi's disease (not sure how common this is among other dog breeds, but it's a very common kidney disease in basenji's) and he's always come up negative.
He is crated at night and when we're not home, and sometimes when we are home, if we're just too busy. Anyone who knows basenjis, knows they're perpetual 2-year olds- you cannot leave them unsupervised.
Anyway, we monitor his water intake and try our best to time going out with that. But sometimes we get distracted and all of a sudden, he's standing in front of you peeing on the rug. Without any notice- he doesn't whine, he doesn't squirm or even look at you, just stands up and pees.
Oh, I should mention, we're in a second-story condo, so we have to take him out on walks- no doggie door he can come and go freely with, or even a backyard.
He used to consistently get our attention when he had to go out- he'd whine, or put a paw on your leg, something, but now, I'd say about 60% of the time, we get the timing right and take him out before he even "says" something; 25% of the time he tells us when he has to go, and the other 15% of the time, he just pees wherever he's standing.
Is there a way to get him to consistently tell us when he has to go? I know there are occasional accidents, but just not telling us seems like more than that.
Thanks in advance for your help!
