• Hey there, so new to all of this, Zaki is my first and if all goes well, the first of many. I really love this crazy guy. Anyway, we have a gas fireplace at home and over the weekend it got very cold (for Oregon anyway) and we flipped the fireplace on. A few minutes later we found Zaki right in front of it stretched out like a cat (which is so weirdly cute) and he would not move. We then noticed that the living room had shot up to 72 and we were roasting. What is the deal with B-dogs loving the heat, or is it just mine?


  • HEAT SEEKERS PERIOD... lol.... all of my Basenjis have found the heater vents immediately even with litters at age 4 to 5wks old. Or the fireplace. It is a Basenji thing.... My Basenjis immediately know when the heat comes on... and find their place on top of the heater vents.


  • Basenjis love heat! My Lady would drag her blanket into a sunbeam to lie on it when she was a pup. When older, in front of the fireplace was her spot, and when we got a stand alone woodstove, she would lie close to it and if I let the fire die down she would crawl underneath to get what heat remained. When we got a gas fireplace it became the location of choice for every Basenji we owned.


  • They love the heat! My B has a doggie heating pad located in front of our Bay window - she will lay there for hours. She will also stretch out in front of our gas fireplace if we have it on. This afternoon she laid on her doggie bed in front of the French doors with the sun beating on her. In the summer she loves to sun bathe on our pontoon boat. They LOVE to stretch out and relax in the sun and heat!


  • Laughing out loud at your post. YOU will need to wear sweaters and put extra blankets on because your basenji block the heat vent with his body which will drastically reduce the heat coming from the vents in your house to you, the human residents! Welcome to basenjis!!!!

    On the other hand, the summers are a great time to see them stretched out snooZing away in the sun.


  • Yep, basenji's are heat seeking missiles. I have a woodstove. I had 3 b's at that time, and they would all get as close as possible. One would even go around the back of the stove and lay down. Am now down to 2 b's. Mr.T sometimes will lie in front of the stove, or if Zak is already there, T will lay on the sofa but as close to the edge as possible to the stove. Even the cats have taken up position in front of the woodstove! Its a b thing.


  • My Sarge lays up high between my legs when I'm in the recliner and has to have his blanket covering him.....I walk bow legged now but I love him;-)


  • @tanza That is so funny. We were watching TV the other day and he took off like a flash and my wife said, what's going on? and just laughed and said he is running to the heater vent. She just looked at me strangely.


  • @kembe Yes, and mine will stretch out like a cat. So funny.


  • @jhewell said in Some like it hot:

    My Sarge lays up high between my legs when I'm in the recliner and has to have his blanket covering him.....I walk bow legged now but I love him;-)

    Oh, they do like to be covered! I had a comforter on my couch and when I would come home often there was no dog to be seen, just a funny looking bump under the comforter. 😉


  • @eeeefarm See, I tried to cover him up with a comforter and all he wanted to do was rip at it with his teeth, so we kiboshed that idea.


  • @tanza
    Are you the one that years ago posted a photo of your dog(s) sitting to get the heat from the light bulb when the lamp was on?


  • We have had 4 B’s or I should say they have owned us
    We heat with a wood stove and all my dogs (3) Basenjis from very good breeders and 2 rescues have all absolutely loved laying by the stove. They get hot then go lay on the tile floor and cool off.
    We Loved them all 😊


  • One of my (many over the years) Basenjis developed bald patches on his neck and shoulders. The hair just stopped coming and the skin became leathery. We visited vets, homeopaths, alternative practitioners. Best guess, because it was so symmetrical, was that it was glandular. For over a year, nothing, no herbal, no medical, no alternative remedy worked. And believe me, we tried them all !

    Until at a show, a fellow exhibitor/breeder said "you're burning him, Sal" -

    I thought about it and bought a crate which Marvin dismantled into one long strip, cut down to about Basenji sleeping size and fixed to blocks of wood. He laid this fender along the front of our ancient, huge, coal-fired Aga (kitchen range). The Basenjis could no longer lie tight against the cooker, they could only lie about 4 inches from it, along the fender.

    Within a week the hair started to regrow, and within a month the bald spots were completely gone.

    The symmetry was also easily explained. Sometimes he lay facing one direction, sometimes the other - so was equally burned on both sides. . . .

    Yeah ! Basenjis love warmth !


  • @rugosab - Yes! LOL

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