Basenji Talk

Oh, I love this! Every description I read makes me more proud to have my B in my life. I hadn't seen that one before. :) Also, that egg… makes me want to try this with Penny, but I'm assuming that one was hardboiled. I'm always looking for more ideas for her. She figured out the laser pointer was a hoax in under 5 minutes.

Cara was big at 16 weeks but I don't remember how big. If the ribs and backbone are slightly visible, weight is okay…too visible, too thin, cant' really see at all, getting up there. Builds are different, so the first and only evaluation is=== how does YOUR dog look. Cara is almost 5 and about 43 pounds, btw. She probably needs to lose a couple of pounds tops.

Mind don't mind theirs but I'm in GA, rare need them

Just wanted to give an update on my experience and hope that it helps others in the future. So I did get the puppy and have had her now for about 6-7 weeks. She is doing AWESOME! Shes completely healthy, and at 14-15 weeks, is incredibly obedient. For instance, I take her to the dog park, and she recalls every time I say "Nani come." There are also some agility obstacles in the park which I'm starting to train her on and she does really well with simple things like walking up, down, sitting, staying, gonig through the tunnels, etc… When I give her her food, I make her sit, stay, and give me a fist bump before she can eat, and I'll switch the order up every time. I then say "now you can have it" and then she eats. Its to the point now, where she is in the kitchen, and I'll go to my room, come back in 2-3min, and she is still sitting by the food and hasn't even touched it yet until I give the command. She is doing fantastic! Fantastic with other dogs, fantastic with kids, adults, everything. She doesn't have a tendency anymore either now to chew on things she's not supposed to and when she does get the urge, she looks for her toys. Not sure if this is just because the breed itself is very intelligent, or the breeder, or a mix of both but I couldn't have asked for a better puppy, especially the way she is now at the age of 14-15 weeks. My allergies also do very well around her whcih is HUGE! Not sure if I just got lucky or what, but she is great a puppy for how obedient she is already, her compassion, and her behavior. Just simply amazing :-)

Ladybasenji, where are you in Quebec? Montreal? We have a place in Gatineau (Aylmer sector) and one of my dogs might even be related to yours. You're experiences with your girl remind me so much of my first basenji, about 20 years ago–it gets easier, I swear! Let me know if you'd like help with Lady--they're nothing like labs and will never be "obedient" but there are tricks for training them : D

It might be a little far for you but ,I'm in NJ near Great Adventure. I can watch your B's. Breeder for going on 39 years. Send an e-mail and I will speak with you. Kathryn

How about your breeder?… If not.. then a sitter that stays at your house

Happy Thanksgiving weekend :)

Very cool, nice job! That bird wouldn't stand a chance in my house lol…. What does your B do when you are outside and you come across a bird?

Tommy I have a similar brush and that is probably the best one I have found to remove hair and he enjoys the massage it gives, at least his hair is heavy enough to stay on the ground not like the Cornish rex we have, his hair is like dust it get's everywhere, don't need extra fibre in our food during shedding time, I'm sure we must ingest an amount YUCK!!, should of got a Sphinx cat and a Mexican hairless dog. Jolanda and Kaiser

Wow! Somehow, I never got emails letting me know I had responses to this thread and just assumed there weren't any. But now that I'm back in the loop, I did want to thank everyone for their feedback and provide some thoughts of my own. That makes me laugh about the rescue person who wouldn't let young families or lawyers adopt her dogs. :-D I can understand her rationale from both perspectives. It's a compelling argument on her part about lawyers, but not all lawyers are the same, of course. I know a lot of extremely busy lawyers in large firms who struggle to hit their billable hour requirement each month. They're machines instead of people, and I wouldn't even let them dogsit my babies for fear of neglect. That's not my situation, fortunately. The young family part will be, but I've been thinking really carefully on how I'll balance this when the time comes. My dogs are my first children, and I would hire as many trainers as needed and try as many alternatives as I could before I would give them up. Unfortunately, I don't think a lot of people have that mindset about their dogs. :( I would absolutely be open to the idea of having the breeder choose a puppy for us based on their experience and prediction as to personality. All basenjis are gorgeous to me, and as long as the markings aren't completely off-base and I can get a tightly-curled tail (I've seen that the Avongaras can be lacking in this area, and I need a cinnamon bun in my life), personality is the most important thing. I wouldn't nitpick it to death. I'll have to decide on a breeder at some point, and I'd love one who's relatively local so I could visit. The man I got Penny from had great pet Basenjis that he bred… I'd like to go with a more reputable breeder this time around. At the very least, he tested for Fanconi. I can be grateful for that, as all is well so far and I more than likely dodged a bullet when I ended up with such a fantastic dog. My plan would be to decide and get on a waiting list far enough in advance that if there were a couple litters that just didn't produce what my family and I were looking for, we wouldn't be waiting forever. In short, what I'm banking on is that the right pup with the right personality will fit in pretty flawlessly. I know what sets my basenji off in other dogs, and I'm hopeful that I could find one that would suit her and suit our home. Daisy certainly worked out well for her, and I'd love to have that same success again. I've done three puppies in my lifetime, and all of them have grown up to be well-adjusted adults. I know what it takes, and I know it's hard work. I would never go the route of having an infant and a puppy at the same time (isn't THAT actually the definition of insanity?? ;) ), but I am still trying to shoot somewhere in the next 3-4 year range so my two aren't past ten and too old to handle a puppy.

Hello I am the basenji owner you saw on Wolfe rd. in Sunnyvale!!! I saw this post recently and am glad you spotted us. My boy is around 12 years old now. My boyfriend and I live in SoCal but we go up to your area several times a year to visit family. I hope you still have a basenji(s?) it would be really nice to get them together. We have been part of the Hollywood basenji group down here for a long time. Hope to hear from you soon. Veronica