• A note of introduction…............. We live in east-central Ohio and have a sweet little 5 year old Basenji girl named Jess. We were forunate to find her in Wisconsin. Jess is our third Basenji, so we were well versed when it came time too begin the training process.............. she has trained us well 🙂

    Unlike her predecessors, she is not bothered by rain or snow and does not mind getting her feet wet. When we are at the ocean, she delights in running through the waves chasing after the seagulls (all this while attached to a nice long leash, of course.)

    Since she was born into a family with 3 small children Jess loves every kid she meets and just generally loves everyone. We have never heard her growl or act mean even when she roughhouses with her toys. She does however let loose with a long drawnout yodel when she's happy or on the occassions when a scolding is in order.

    This Forum is great and the pictures of all the beautiful Basenjis are great too.


  • Welcome to the forum AndyBoy! Sounds like Jess is a wonderful member of your family.

    Post some photos when you can.


  • Welcome to the forum, on your 3rd B, I bet you could teach us a few tricks! My sister and I were talking last night, she has a Maltese.I can't remember what we were saying about our dogs, but she made the statement that ALL DOGS ARE THE SAME, THEY ARE JUST DOGS!!! I was about to tell her different, Basenjis are different than any other breed, but she would not believe me. She has no clue what they are like, she can leave things on her counters, tables, bathroom and her Maltese will not touch it, that is a big NO here at my house, and she says her baby is a handful. One day I hope she wises up, and I will tell her all of the things my baby has destroyed of mine with chewing and just knocking it off of a table. I bet you have some interesting stories. Hope you have a good time here!!!!


  • Welcome to the forum!

    HHHMMMM! Some people will never get that B's are just not like other dogs. Domesticated dogs are just that-people pleasers. B's are B pleasers-people are an afterthought!!


  • Welcome Andyboy! Post some pics of your little girl!


  • Welcome to the forum. I'm sure you will find very interesting information here and hope to receive any helpful tips from you since you have alot of experience. As for us. we also tell people that our dog is not the same as "all other dogs", actually I find it now that dogs have their own personalities. Well this weekend we took our dog for a visit with relatives and they all tried to contain his nipping. It was funny they were trying to teach us about our dog but we knew better, it was funny to see our rebeliouse little boy show them he can't be contained at least by someone who is not mom and dad.


  • Welcome to the forum, you aren't too far from me. I am a WV Basenji owner, which I hear is fairly rare! It is so nice to be able to meet other B owners here. My Bella is very well behaved w/humans and dogs alike, mild tempered and sweet. However, she will grow at moving feet under the covers or if she is awoken from a deep sleep!


  • Wlcome!!! Can't wait to see pictures.


  • Thanks for the "Welcome." Hope the pictures are enjoyed …. we never tire of seeing other Basenji photos and also like the posts on the forum.

    My first exposure to a Basenji was back in the middle '50s when I saw the movie "Goodbye My Lady" ...... actually there are two titles, the other being "Weep No More My Lady." We've almost worn out the VCR tape of the movie I finally found. I never forgot that little dog and years later, in 1983, I ran across a Basenji that was up for rescue. I was the only one who knew what she was. Without hesitation, I picked her up and Tami was mine for the rest of her life.

    Now that we're living with our third Basenji, we know about every trick in their book. Toilet paper eating, purse robbing, cheese begging, rabbit catching, squirrel chasing, table hopping, couch climbing, and bed hogging ... just a few of their lovable quirks.

    Our present B is Jess ....... Along with being a normal red blooded Basenji, her expertise is in the area of finding and watching airplanes as they cross over our house. When she finds one, she'll watch it until it goes out of sight.

    With all the funny, odd habits they have, there is no other dog we'd have.


  • Welcome AndyBoy. I live in just outside of Columbus in Worthington. I have only seen 2 Basenji's around here. I hear there are more but I have yet to see them. This is a great forum and I am sure you will find dome interesting info as well as be able to give some.


  • AndyBoy, hi, i'm new here, too, and will be getting my first basenji at age 53, yet I, too, watched Goodbye My Lady as a child and ever since wanted a magical dog like the one in the movie. I googled the movie and found a fascinating article archived in The Basenji magazine about the actress who played Lady. It would be fun to have a poll on how many basenji owners were influenced by that movie!


  • I had never even heard of the movie until AFTER I had Jazz, or maybe while I was waiting to get her.
    Her registered name is Jumoke's Jazzy Lady, and Bryan thought that I'd named her Lady as a result of the movie. After he told me about it, I was able to find an old copy online and bought it.

    I have to say, my kids weren't overly impressed, and found some of the Basenji scenes [like the crying] to be dorky, and they thought the kid was mean. I don't think it would have made them want a Basenji. LOL But we do still watch it from time to time.
    I doubt it would have influenced me when I was a kid either. Honestly,
    I don't see where it made Basenjis look all that special or particularly different.

    We wound up getting our first Basenji because dh didn't want any more dogs, but I was able to convince him that one day I could settle for a smaller dog.
    I researched and the barklessness and low shed appealed to him {our last three dogs have been barking, hairy dogs. Our current golden mix barks from sun up to sun down}. He had some reservations based on comments other people made and things we read in our research, but once we met a few Basenjis those fears were somewhat calmed. And once we had a Basenji, those fears were put to rest. We both think they are awesome dogs, and now we have two.


  • @JazzysMom:

    I have to say, my kids weren't overly impressed, and found some of the Basenji scenes [like the crying] to be dorky, and they thought the kid was mean.

    I have to agree that the sounds of "Lady" crying was a little odd (bad) but it's possible that the originators of the movie didn't have many Basenjis to choose. At the time the movie was made, Basenjis had to be few and far between. So maybe they only had one B and that one happened to be a silent one and the sound had to be dubbed. Andy, our second pal never uttered a sound except for a nice low growl if anyone approached my truck.

    When we met the breeder to take possession of Jess (or when Jess took possession of us 😉 ) we asked if she was "vocal." The whole family was there and collectivley replied "Ohhh yeah" 🙂 ….. and believe me, she is, especially when she catches H-LL..... she's a great backtalker.

    In the movie where lady is stalking the birds and is down on her front paws with her butt up in the air is a picture of one of Jess's favorite positions. Our other two never did that.

    One thing that Tami often did was to "bury" her bones in the middle of the room on the carpet. They were in plain sight of everyone but evidently she thought they were hidden and got very disturbed if anyone tried to move them.


  • One thing that Tami often did was to "bury" her bones in the middle of the room on the carpet. They were in plain sight of everyone but evidently she thought hey were hidden and got very disturbed if anyone tried to move them.

    That's funny! Topaz does the same thing 🙂 lol lol


  • Hello and welcome to the forum…look forward to some pix of Jess...


  • Welcome, Andyboy! I too had see the movie and loved it as a kid. I haven't seen it in years so I don't remember it. I have the book though and plan to read it with my daughter this summer. The movie introduced me to the breed, but it was ultimately allergies that led me to own one, much like JazzysMom.
    Enjoy the forum…I know I do. Post more pictures when you can!

Suggested Topics