• Hi Everyone!
    I am Jill and my husband I are the new owners of our first Basenji, Tosca. She is 4 years old, and we got her from a shelter in Dubuque, IA, although we are from the Sheboygan, WI area. We were going to go through a breeder but decided to do this instead, and I am glad we did. Our dog is a real sweetie (although often mischevious) and with her being my first dog ever, its been interesting! She is originally from CA, and we don't know much about her past. She has been very healthy for us, but she does have a tatto on her stomach so who knows what else her previous owners did to her, and we have no idea how she got from CA to Dubuque. I am excited to join this board, basenjis seem like an interesting breed and I am sure I will have many questions 🙂


  • What does the tattoo on her stomach say? People often tattoo dogs as a means of identification so they can be returned if they are lost. If Tosca is tattooed you may be able to find out more about her past.


  • The tatoo, I think, is an image of the female sign. We took her to the vet a couple of days after getting home from the shelter, and the vet said it was definitely cosmetic, not a breeders mark or anything like that. She is also microchipped so I don't know why they would have had to tatoo her too.


  • From the microchip company were you able to get her registered name?

    My boy is microchipped and tattooed. The tattoo is quite visible but most people don't really know how to find a person based on it. The microchip has to be scanned for but most people can then figure out what company to call to get contact information.


  • I don't think we can, unless you get can get microchip hisotry from awhile back, when we got her the microchip was registered to the dubuque humane society. The only thing we got from her was an owner review sheet, from someone in cA who had her when she was 5 mo old, so who knows what else happened to her the other 3 yrs, Dubuque said that before us someone had her, but only for a week cause she didn't get along with cats.


  • It sounds like the owner who tattooed her did not microchip her. If she was microchipped by her original owners then they should have submitted all of her information when they registered the chip.

    Did the review sheet from the owner in CA have her registered name or registration number? If you have either of those two things you may be able to track down her breeder. The breeder may then be able to give you some information about her family health history.


  • No, unfortunately it was just a questionairre about her being house trained,temperment, etc.


  • Well regardless on how she got to you… thanks for giving her a forever home!!!


  • That is so awsome you adopted your basenji! I was going to buy one from a breeder too but we came across ours at an all breed rescue place.
    If you are ever on the net my screen name is vstripe I love chatting about basenji's. Welcome to the club, basenji's rock!


  • Kudo's on the rescue and welcome! Pics of that B when you can!;) 🙂

    Great B-folk, great breeders, great fun…....great dogs!:)


  • I love hearing of any dog being rescue/adopted. I too got my b mix from a shelter and she has turned out to be a fabulous dog!!! You did a good thing, getting the dog from a shelter and that dog will be forever grateful.


  • Welcome…it sounds like you were meant to be together...this is fun and informative place to be if you are a Basenji lover!


  • Welcome to the forum. I'm sure you will find that owning a B is a wonderful experience, at many and I do mean many times challenging but very rewading too. At times and I mean many times you will probably feel like your B owns you. Have fun and ejoy your new family member. One word of advise, start some training immediatly. I love my B but wow lots of work. Hope to see some pics soon.

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