• I'm sorry to have to tell you that my beloved Leki passed away in my arms this evening. Last night, Butu got his teeth entangled in Leki's collar while they were play fighting, and in his and her panic, she was half throttled. Despite rushing her to the emergency vet, she developed a neurogenic pulmonary oedema which did not respond to treatment. She was the most beautiful dog in the world, and for her legacy, please, please, please don't allow your dogs to wear a collar in the house. She will be sadly missed. If Butu is my soul, Leki was my heart.


  • What a terrible way to lose a loved companion. I am so sorry for you. Bless you for thinking of others at this time. My own dogs have never worn collars inside, as my horses don't wear halters when turned out. People leave them on, thinking it will make them safer. Unfortunately accidents happen, and collars or halters can kill if the animal gets tangled up. The compromise would be a breakaway collar of some sort, that would let go under pressure. We have such things for horses and cats. Perhaps we need them for dogs as well.


  • Oh, how heartbreakingly sad. I am so, so sorry for you. I know first hand that collars can be dangerous. The second time Zest! got her jaw caught on my malinois' collar, I said NO MORE COLLARS. Thankfully everyone at my house was okay, but it would have been so easy/quick for something tragic to happen. I later learned of several people who had dogs die due to collars. Please don't blame yourself. We always hear that dogs should have collars on for safety. You were trying to be a good dog-momma.


  • I'm so sorry to hear that. How heartbreaking. Although Anubis never wears a collar indoors, I've heard several trainers in the past recommend to always leave one on. I hope you and little Butu are ok.


  • This is so sad. Very sorry for your loss. Rest in peace, Leki. Our hearts and thoughts are with you and Butu.


  • I just came across the pictures you'd posted the other day. What a sweet, sweet little angel. I'm so incredibly sad for you. We should all hold our little Basenjis very close, they're so very fragile and wonderful.


  • I have never left collars on mine in the house (or yard) but the first reason that I didn't was because I was showing them…. however I soon learned after we got our Mickii many years ago... the real reason for not leaving on collars is Mickii would chew them off the other dogs and it was so easy to see then that someone could be seriously hurt.... Mickii even got herself caught on her own collar one time at a show in the x-pen. We had to cut the collar off her....

    So sorry to hear about your baby.... hugs...


  • Oh, I'm so sorry! What a tragic accident.

    The minute I read it, I went and picked up Ava at a playdate. They were shocked to see me come so early. Sending healing thoughts to you and Butu during this sad, sad time. Hope he's doing okay…


  • Rest in peace sweet little girl. Such a tragedy, you are in my thoughts.


  • Oh I am so sorry for your loss. It's never enough time, but it's especially heartbreaking when a puppy is lost.


  • How sad, our condolences.
    Thank you for your advice.


  • So sorry for your loss. What a terrible way to loose a puppy 😞

    Here to the dogs are never with collars when at home. I always worry because they do have to wear them when we are at the dog park and they play with other dogs…

  • First Basenji's

    How extremely tragic… My heart sunk reading about how it happened. I'm so sorry, but I thank you for sharing, even in your grief.


  • Oh what a tragedy…. how extremely sad.... I feel so bad for you.
    Our dogs never wear collars unless they're on a leash.
    And you were just doing what you thought was best....
    -Joanne

  • First Basenji's

    I am deeply sorry for your families loss 😞


  • Sorry to hear of your loss, something you just don't expect to happen and your story will stop this happening to someone else. Will tell my family and friends the dangers of leaving collars on. All the best hugs from Kaiser and me.

    Jolanda and Kaiser


  • Very sorry to hear about you're loss
    Run free little Leki


  • I have warned people of this so often, and then something like this happens and I feel horrific that in the "WELCOME" enthusiasm we often forget to remind people of such dangers. It makes me sick that you are so far from the first and so far from the last that this will happen to. I swear I wish they would make collar manufacturers put a warning, because most people do not known until they hear of or have such a tragedy. I am just so terribly sorry for your loss. I know it isn't a comfort, but somewhere down the road, I am sure your warnings will have helped save many.

    I just posted this a couple of days ago on FB.. It gives me solace and hope it might you also:

    You want a physicist to speak at your funeral. You want the physicist to talk to your grieving family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that your energy has not died. You want the physicist to remind your sobbing mother about the first law of thermodynamics; that no energy gets created in the universe, and none is destroyed. You want your mother to know that all your energy, every vibration, every Btu of heat, every wave of every particle that was her beloved child remains with her in this world. You want the physicist to tell your weeping father that amid energies of the cosmos, you gave as good as you got.

    And at one point you'd hope that the physicist would step down from the pulpit and walk to your brokenhearted spouse there in the pew and tell him that all the photons that ever bounced off your face, all the particles whose paths were interrupted by your smile, by the touch of your hair, hundreds of trillions of particles, have raced off like children, their ways forever changed by you. And as your widow rocks in the arms of a loving family, may the physicist let her know that all the photons that bounced from you were gathered in the particle detectors that are her eyes, that those photons created within her constellations of electromagnetically charged neurons whose energy will go on forever.

    And the physicist will remind the congregation of how much of all our energy is given off as heat. There may be a few fanning themselves with their programs as he says it. And he will tell them that the warmth that flowed through you in life is still here, still part of all that we are, even as we who mourn continue the heat of our own lives.

    And you'll want the physicist to explain to those who loved you that they need not have faith; indeed, they should not have faith. Let them know that they can measure, that scientists have measured precisely the conservation of energy and found it accurate, verifiable and consistent across space and time. You can hope your family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that they'll be comforted to know your energy's still around. According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of you is gone; you're just less orderly. Amen.

    -Aaron Freeman<<


  • I'm so sorry for your loss!


  • I am so very sorry, it must have been just awful for you. Mine never wear collars in the house, and we even walk in harnesses, thank you for thinking of others with your warning.

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