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.
Basenji pick in a Sled Dog magazine
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This is funny. A co-working brought in a magazine that is her daughters. It's called MUSH! Sled dogs of the Iditarod, by Scholastic. The entire magazine is about sled dogs and running the Iditarod. But on page 27 there are a picture of 2 red and white basenji's sniffing some snow with a blurb saying "Huskies and dogs like them are in a group of dogs called Spitz. The are know for being able to live in the cold and for being hearty, tough animals."
Wow I think someone uploaded the wrong pic. I will try and upload it later.
This made me laugh b/c here is a pic of dogs who are original from Africa in a magazine all about Alaska and sled dogs.
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For the FCI Kennel Club, the Basenji is in Group 5-Spitz and Primitive Types and the Basenji is considered a Primitive Type.
Here is the webpage:
http://www.fci.be/nomenclature.aspxJennifer
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Annie Davis, now retired from breeding, had a team of basenjis that she trained as sled dogs. She lives in Idaho.
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Wonderful picture!
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ooo… I was going to try to find that picture to share but you beat me to it! The little tri with her head down is from my one and only Basenji litter. That picture would be from around 1994.
-Joanne -
Many sight hounds have been interbred with "husky" type lines to create a faster sled dog. I think the most common has been the whippet, but probably not exclusive to that breed. I doubt many basenjis have been put into those lines….but wouldn't be all that surprised if that were to happen....I've been told that around here (AK) there was a poodle team in the 80s or so that did extremely well.
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That picture of the six basenjis pulling a sled with the person is amazing - compare that with a normal sled dog pack - the guys who actually run the sled dogs in Alaska usually have at least 12, and for the Iditerod I believe they are allowed to have 16 pulling, and those dogs are huskies, malamutes, etc., weighing in around 50-60 pounds themselves. Of course there's lots of stuff on the sleds and men weigh more, but still; six 20 to 24 pound basenjis pulling a sled and a person weighing at least 125 pounds in weather they are not built for?!. They are SO strong for their size, as everyone who has one that pulls on the leash can attest to. Great picture!
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Any well trained and conditioned pulling dog should be able to pull at least 10 times their own body weight, so for your average Basenji that would be over 200 pounds. Basenjis are built to pull, and Annie (the driver of that sled) competed in weight pulling events with her Basenjis. Her dogs would have to pull in the 40 pound class but Annie and her friend - who pulled with ****ers - were instrumental in the IWPA (International Weight Pull Association) decision to add a 20 pound class.
-Joanne -
Any well trained and conditioned pulling dog should be able to pull at least 10 times their own body weight, so for your average Basenji that would be over 200 pounds. Basenjis are built to pull, and Annie (the driver of that sled) competed in weight pulling events with her Basenjis. Her dogs would have to pull in the 40 pound class but Annie and her friend - who pulled with ****ers - were instrumental in the IWPA (International Weight Pull Association) decision to add a 20 pound class.
-JoanneVery interesting. Live and learn. I would love to see them in motion.
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@Shaye's:
They are SO strong for their size, as everyone who has one that pulls on the leash can attest to.
So true. Always catches people by surprise. They don't expect that much power from a 20-25lbs dog.
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I think the nature dont make the basenjis for pulling.. but well live and learn..
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I have been working as a dog trainer for some time, and my job was to prepare a team of alaskan huskies for Europes longest sleddograce.
I had Voodoo with me, and he did fine in the team (as a swing dog) the first months of training. But when the snow got deeper and the distance got longer, he couldn't cope any longer with the other dogs. He was running with them for about 30km, through snow about 20cm deep en at a pacce of 25km/hour, and that was no problem. But when 1 of those circumstances changed (more snow, longer runs or higher speed), he fell behind. So the last months of training, he was running loose around the sled, jumping on it when he was tired, and making sure the reindeer got of the trail (he loved that part).For recreational mushing, a team of basenji's can be great fun I'm sure, but for races in deep snow or very bad weather, they aren't the breed you want in front of your sled! Maybe they could finish races like the Iditarod, with nice smooth trails, in a decent time, in a year with realy good weather, but I guess they would have to give up on the first day on the tougher races like the Yukon Quest.
But in opposite of mid and long distance mushing, I would love to see a team of Basenji's in some sprint races. I think they could do very well there and be a suprise to many of the hound-type drivers.
And in a recent study of what is the DNA of the Alaskan Husky's (the dogs that you see most in all the big races), they found Basenji DNA. So the Basenji has been used to create the ultimate sleddog.
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Oh how cool! Love the pic posted above of the Basenji Team! Thats amazing…but yet not too surprising given that Basenji's are strong lil dogs!
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Wow another thing to boast about the Basenji, I already can't say enough to people when they ask what breed Kaiser is, people must think I'm a showoff.
Jolanda and Kaiser
