Dogs or bitches?? mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[erica ruth]

hi, i have bored everyone i know with this subject but…........ i dont want to make a mistake so am looking for advice from all you basenji owners and lovers.

i have a lovely natured 22mth old boy, he is "free range" in the home which is how i want and like it. my problem comes to light because i want a friend for him.Do i get a girlie or another boy.? have heard so much about boys scrapping as they age. i dont want to have to crate and separate any dogs 1, we havnt the space
2, not how i want to live.
do any of you have experience of bringing a boy into the home and , do they get on ok? can anyone put my mind at rest.........once and for all because we need to decide this season lol....time is runnin out..:)

[tanza]

Rule of thumb is always male/female. As they say, with two of the same sex, it works till it doesn't

[erica ruth]

:eek:@tanza:

Rule of thumb is always male/female. As they say, with two of the same sex, it works till it doesn't

thank you for the prompt reply tanza… i love the quote " it works till it doesnt" magic... i shall use that one myself..lol

wingco is my second dog,( first one passed on year ago.) and have never had a female... i do worry about mistakes but......think it will be worth it. i have to decide as the `mother is in season now.. just afraid of upsetting the apple cart realy as our boy is so very perfect and gives us no trouble at all. no chewing even lol.he is gentle and the thought of them living seperate lives does not appeal at all. as i said i want free running dogs, as although i do show, i want pets firstly..:)

[erica ruth]

@erica:

:eek:

thank you for the prompt reply tanza… i love the quote " it works till it doesnt" magic... i shall use that one myself..lol

wingco is my second dog,( first one passed on year ago.) and have never had a female... i do worry about mistakes but......think it will be worth it. i have to decide as the `mother is in season now.. just afraid of upsetting the apple cart realy as our boy is so very perfect and gives us no trouble at all. no chewing even lol.he is gentle and the thought of them living seperate lives does not appeal at all. as i said i want free running dogs, as although i do show, i want pets firstly..

[DebraDownSouth]

Truthiness time. You can get either sex and it go wrong down the road. So know that before you add a dog and decide if it does go bad, are you willing to live the rest of their lives running 2 packs? If not, don't get either. Or get a female dog of a breed with little dog to dog aggression. Maybe a golden retriever. Or a Rottweiler who, if stable, puts up with massive abuse by smaller dogs. Etc.

If you are willing to keep them apart forever if it happens, then up your chances of peace a LOT by getting a female.

That said, you need to know I never wanted another male dog so I got Cara, even though I have a female here, and was more willing to run 2 packs than have a male dog. Looking at my life, it seems every 10 yrs I forget I really don't like living with male dogs and I get one. Don't get me wrong, I love them. I just don't love marking and I really like bitch personality better. Just a preference.

[MacPack]

Male/female does not guarantee that they will get along. I have 2 males and a female and the boys are like brothers, so much depends on the dogs personalities, as much as the sex. That is assuming neutered. If intact, it is trickier, though Kim (Buana) just posted a series of photos of her 2 intact male basenjis, child and cat. Obviously with some work and the right personalities, all the stereotypes can be shattered.

[Buana]

Edit, my topic was there twice? I Erased one

[Buana]

Thank you Macpack, It really depends on the characters like you said and I think that the guiding of the family is very important too.

I would say, two boys can go very well together!

We have two adult Basenji males (same dad, different mom) and until now (the youngest one is 3 years old) we never had a fight.
Never, not with food, not with other dogs (sometimes when they are both on a short leash and they meet a agressive dog they are using the energy to growl to eachother)

I have to say, Buana is in a higher position as Chafuko seen in the old fashioned way, but we are using the (i don't know the English word) "new age" ideas. (kalming signs, Turid Rugaas etc etc)
It is not much a staircase where we all have our position and try to be the highest but we are a family, we guide eachother and we (the alpha's, the parents) are guiding our kids (the dogs, our son) to be living as a family, and they trust us so much on this task they only use their voice when they are not liking the move one other makes and the other knows enough.
They trust us to keep them safe, guide them, learn them etc.
We have rules and everybody has to live up to them, if they don't we use our body languages and our voice to explain what is wrong.
I find it hard to explain but I hope you understand.
Outside off the leash with other dogs, we just let them be themselfe, what they have learned from us and eachother.
We have met agressive and very dominate dogs and Chaffie is then trying to get them loose and be the happy playfull pup, Buana is different and goed to smell the dog out and is carefully looking who is the one that has the better cards, sometimes he will let them be the idiot (okay, well then you stay an idiot and I won't play with you) or he gives a growl to let them know, look buddy, I won't harm you but please keep your mouth shut.. they can be very vocal sometimes haha

Just guide them from day one, an adult dog is most of the time passive to a young dog.

When we were on the waitinglist for Chaffie (we didn't know back then if it would be a girl or a boy) everybody keeps telling us, you really can't put two boys with eachother…
I won't say a girl is a more secure decision but it is possible to have two boys without a fight

Have fun searching for a friend!!!!

[Voodoo]

The character of the dogs in question are more important then the sex in my opinion.
Not a big Cesar Millan fan, but in regards to picking dogs to house together, I think he is spot on when saying 'to look for 2 dogs with different energy levels'.
Don't get 2 dogs (either male or female) that are both bossy, easily irritated… Try to get a more 'laid back' dog as your second one if the one you allready have isn't the easiest. Problem is seeing what dog has what character. That can seem really different at the breeders house/pound then it actually is. If you are not entirly sure if they match ok, try to make a deal that you can take the dog home with you for a trail period. Then the dog still won't show his real character cause he will be still a bit unsure cause of all the changes, but you will get a good indication on how he will evolve later on.
It's allways a bit of a gamble, but use your brains and feelings and it will most likely turn out to be ok.

[Buana]

I think that is a well said Voodoo, and it will work I think.
(I don't like Cesar at all, because his vision of correction is totally opposite of our vision of using dog bodylanguages and kalming signs)

Our Buana is more lazy, but strict. He has to know what is going on and is a bit more adult like.
Chaffie is very playful, when he does someting naughty or better said, he wants to go do simething naughty he wiggles that tail and will be yodeling… he won't come to the point of doing the naughty thing because we all, including Buana are totally keep laughing and that is more fun than doing the bad thing haha

On those points they are totally different but on all the other points they are exactly the same!
They just know how to live as a family and they just do
If they would keep irritating eachother, as the family dad or mom, you would tell then no right, just the same as with kids.
So also that is trainable, when they know where they stand, they know how to live a great life.

[wizard]

I agree with Voodoo, the personalities are important but I go along with the opposite sex as well (I've seen plenty of bitches together and they have all been BITCHES). And hopefully your breeder will allow a trial period.
The other suggestion I might make is not to get one that is way younger than your current. An older dog does not always tolerate a very young pup after being king/queen of the house for many years. Though again the personality makes a difference too.

[erica ruth]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm thank you for your reply. the dog we have is 22months so will be just over 2 yrs when puppy arrives.he is the kindest dog you will ever meet, so gentle and loving. He has been in contact with puppies from the last litter and gets on realy well. my breeder does take care to match personalities. the only thing with trials is that you get stuck in the ahhhhhh factor and fall in love lol…

[Barklessdog]

Or a Rottweiler who, if stable, puts up with massive abuse by smaller dogs. Etc.

That would be a great answer for people thinking of getting a basenji!

We have been so abused & used.

[DebraDownSouth]

LOL poor Connor was chewed on like yak meat. He would play with a basenji hanging on either side of his neck and try to pretend he wasn't hauling 50 pounds. He actually would have scabs sometimes when they got too rough. The toy poodle we rescued was a jerk and would charge him and Connor would practically LAUGH as he ran pretending to be afraid. Man I miss the guy. I know i can't complain– 12 1/2 is ancient for a Rottie. At least he got to socialize Cara to big dogs her first couple of months here.

[Shaye's Mom]

I have a nearly 3 yr old PB Basenji female, and a 3 yr. 6 mo. old Basenji mix female. I think it works well because they are not both PB. There never has been a question of dominance, Shaye, the PB basenji, has always been the dominant dog, and Gemma, the mix, though bigger, always follows her lead. The one difference is that when they are play-fighting, occasionally it occurs to Shaye that Gemma has bigger teeth, and will jump on one of us to stop the play. Never has it escalated to the real thing. If both were purebred, perhaps the question of dominance would come up, because the B bitches always have to rule the roost, and with two, there could be a problem, just IMO.

[DebraDownSouth]

Shaye, I suspect it has much more to do with the individuals than if one is mixed or not.

[eeeefarm]

I've had two same sex (females) and two opposite sex, and it worked for me, although my nine year old girl thought the two year old boy we adopted after her sixteen year old female companion died was totally unnecessary and hated him on sight. She learned to tolerate him (read: stopped trying to kill him!) and over a few years he actually became dominant as she aged. From her point of view, however, he wasn't a "friend" and in hindsight I believe she would have preferred to be an only dog.

Be aware that your relationship is different in a multiple dog family. Especially if you introduce a puppy, as the pup will tend to look to the other dog for company and will typically not rely on you so much. I think the closest possible relationship with a dog is usually achieved when you have only one….

[thunderbird8588]

Hi Erica Ruth,
how exciting to be getting another Basenji, we have two and it's great to see the play between the two of them. Malaika loves other dogs so much that we felt it would be unfair for her to be an only dog
Reading through the threads on the forum and by talking to other people we came to the conclusion that the best chance of the dogs getting on was to get the opposite sex. Like you we couldn't consider keeping the dogs seperate and so our second Basenji was male. The pair of them get on well together although they do fight occasionaly.
Good luck with your new addition, i look foward to hearing all about it
I do have to say that our female is much easier to handle than the male, i think for a Basenji she is particularly good.

[Patty]

Erica, reading through the previous threads I'm back to wondering why you've decided that Wingco's companion must be a Basenji?

[paneane]

I have two males together (yep, both unaltered!), a flat coated retriever and a basenji. I was going back and forth with the same things, but I'm a male person. My flat is the oldest, but he is a very soft boy to work around. He has never gone into a fight, because when another dog is growling/getting into it, he backs off immediatly. So I hardly think it's going to be any problems with male/male here. Others might, every dog is different.