@krunzer:
But they are being bred to lure course as well as conformation. Like someone said it may only be at the end of the day a plastic bag on a string but it also shows off the agility and form of the dog. If they can't perform during a lure course then I would think that they would perform poorly in a conformation ring as well. It would mean that they do not have the stamina in the field as well as the agility of the breed to make the quick turns and follow prey. Sure some may be better hunters than others but do we want as a breed to selectively breed for this which in the end may result in a purebred basenji that does not have the 'type' of a conformation basenji. How far do we want to go to 'create a line' of hunting B's and differentiate from type and what will this hunting line be like for temperment? I would think that we would be breeding for a certain type of mindset in these basenji's. Very independant, smart and possibly revert back to agressiveness, which from what I have heard has come a long way in this breed.
I'm pretty new in the Basenji world, but I don't think lure-coursing has much to do with keeping the hunting traits in the Basenji's. For as far as I know, Basenji's where mostly used for hunting cane rats and things like that. Quarry that isn't really fast and pretty easy to catch for a smaller dog with good sight, smell and agility. With those, it was more important to be able to move quickly through dence vegetation, then to chase game in the open fields. And when chasing larger, faster moving game, it was most likely in fields with grass so high, that a basenji would soon loose sight contact, so they had to rely on scent to track and follow the game.
What concerns driving game into nets, I haven't read or heard anything about that yet, other then it being mentioned in some breed discriptions. I can imagine that from time to time, while chasing an antilope, they would make it run towards the hunters, but I don't think they would be trained to do that. Guess it would be just a lucky coincidence if it happened.
So lure coursing is a fun game for them, but has nothing to do with the way they are used for hunting in Africa. So I wouldn't dare to say that a dog who is good at lure coursing, would show that they still have good hunting skills.
From what I hear from people who are in Africa, the native basenji's over there are much more friendly, social and less independant then the modern basenji we have over here. If a dog is agressive over there, they will chase it away or kill it. They won't risk having an agressive dog around when there children are playing next to those. So the dogs need to be friendly, or they will soon loose all the benefits of being permitted to stay close to people.
