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Service Dogs

Basenji Talk
  • I'm proud of my B
    We walked into a kid with bone cancer & He made everyone smile.
    That is the magic of a Basenji.
    Cheers,
    Any advice does your Basenji like to eat paper…

  • toilet paper, news paper, important papers…...what paper doesn't a basenji enjoy!

    I am happy that you have him doing service work! B' make everyone smile.

  • Indeed, I have never met a paper that my B did not like. Some more than others, of course, Tissues and paper towels being the most desirable playthings.
    I think it is great that you have your dog going in as a therapy/service dog. I think that might be something I would be interested in doing once I retire from my current employment and have some more time. It can't be wrong that animals, for many folks, are therapeutic. My fella makes me happy every day when I come home. :)

  • Are Basenji a good breed to be a service dog ( guide dog, scent dog for allergy and Diabetes)?

  • We adopted Bunmi from BRAT in 2006. She is a petite black/white female basenji. We always knew she had a special fondness for children, however her behavior yesterday went way above and beyond what I would expect from any basenji. My husband and I are caring for little Michael, my hubby's adult son who has special needs. Yesterday he was making his usual noises while in his room playing video games. I heard him fall and immediately ran to check on him. Bunmi reached him first and was warning our other 2 basenjis to get away. Bunmi stayed with Michael as I called 911 and paced around us as I held him so he could breath. We spent several hours in the ER as Michael came out of the seizure and returned to normal. Now that we are home, Bunmi will not let him out of her sight unless Hubby is with him. She curls up no more than 2 foot away from him, no matter where he goes.

    Is there anyone who has successfully trained their basenji for seizure detection? I would appreciate any advice I can get. We are working on several ideas (i.e. web cam feeding to the tv in the living room) to help us keep a close eye on Michael. Having Bunmi on the detection/protection team would be such a blessing. She has already proved her willingness and has yet again given us reason to be thankful for BRAT and the wonderful work they do.

  • Great story, basenji are amazing with the people they call family. My hope is to give that feeling to every sick person that could benefit having a basenji around. They not the best dog to pick for a service dog , my basenji seems to enjoy it.
    Let me know how things go.
    Thanks

  • Do basenji like paper, only when awake. Oh wait.. in their sleep they are probably dreaming about it. :)

  • Wonderful!
    Our Lela loves to tear apart any plastic bag…

  • @Tp3:

    Great story, basenji are amazing with the people they call family. My hope is to give that feeling to every sick person that could benefit having a basenji around. They not the best dog to pick for a service dog , my basenji seems to enjoy it.
    Let me know how things go.
    Thanks

    I agree, I have trained service dogs. My son bought what he thought was a shepherd mix to me for a crate training problem. Surprise, guess who is now here learning about how to train a basenji. The neighbors thought I was crazy to use horse whispering techniques and some rather creative approaches on her that worked with feral cats, lol.
    My son continued using conventional training methods. [lmao].
    I don't know if I could get this particular dog passed a Good Citizen test. I do know I am already training her in service work.
    For example. I have three different ways I instruct her to sit: hand signal, verbal, collar jerk. This works for me because if she "pretends" to not understand one command, she gets the next one. She learned that if she ignores all three, its a 15 minute sitting time out, horror of horrors for a BJ.

    I repeat, this dog does NOT meet my standard for a service dog, but training is an art, and I am an artist. (remember artists suffer for their art, lol)

  • Amazing stories in here

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    In your position, where you really have to take her out a lot, I understand. And I hope her comfort continues. My point was it is situational need, not dog need to be that social. :) I have a slim chance of that having worked with my current 2, but with my incredibly dog aggressive first one, I'd have been out in a basket muzzle and warning everyone to keep their dogs away.
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    Oh God, I remember the first time I read this, way back in 1999, when this was a listserv. I printed it off, so I could show it to people. I have it saved and still laugh uncontrollably when I read it! Thank god there are no elk in Iowa. It's hard enough to wrestle a piece of pizza away from my two, let alone a carcass.
  • Need a gift for a dog lover; customized dog art ideas??

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    I have had a couple stained glass made, but there is normally a 3-4 month lead time as the artists are already booked up for Xmas this yr. Most of the artists on etsy will be booked this late in the yr, I had two quilts and a needle felt made a couple yrs ago and I placed my order in June in order to guarantee Xmas delivery. If you have a nice photo, there is a company called treasure knits that does wonderful woven afghans out of a photo with about a one week turn around. I have had both afghans and pillows made from photos as xmas gifts from them and they do great work.
  • Travelling with a dog?

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    D
    If you ship him underneath in cargo, don't forget there are temperature restrictions. Where would you transfer planes at? This summer has been hot in many cities! Please check the requirements for the airline you will be traveling on. There is usually a limit to the number of dogs allowed on board and in cargo. You will need to make a reservation for him at the time you make your own. There may be additional requirements since you are coming from Canada, you will need to check with the USDA, the CDC and the State of Massachusetts. You can find the requirements on the USDA website and it has links to each state. http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_welfare/pet_travel/pet_travel.shtml You need to make sure the carrier will fit under the seat so if the carrier you are considering is much larger than the large size Sherpa brand bag I doubt it will fit under the seat. I used to travel with Arnie onboard about 10 years ago before 9/11. I trained him to get in and out of the Sherpa bag and to stay in for short periods of time. He almost always laid down in it. He never made noise even when we were in first class and they served food! Most people did not even know I had a dog. I also made sure I was comfortable carrying him in the bag. I figured if the airline employees thought I was struggling with him then he was too heavy and he would not be let on the plane. He was an older pup but weighed about 18-20 lbs. Jennifer
  • What do you think about these dogs?

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    Sounds like a good plan.
  • New dog???

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    QuercusQ
    The only thing I would be concerned about with a Dachshund would be the possiblity of it having some back damage with the rough play of a basenji…or even trying to do the same acrobatics that Bs do. I have known some folks who had a lot of problems with disk and spine problems with Doxies...but I don't know if that is typical. Something to think about though...