I must agree that naive, first-time wanne-be owners need to do deep, extensive research. Basenjis are supremely unique and definitely not a good choice for a "beginner."
I adopted an 18-month old 3/4 Basenji (other 1/4 is Min Pin, yet another quirky little breed, with some "bad" similarities to B's). I was somewhat familiar with B's, but not even a little bit of "enough!!" Gosh, Izzy-Bella was a piperoo!! A little 18 pound bundle of energy, destruction, and escapism. BUT, I have always loved bad boys (9 years working in a high school), so a little bad girl was a sort of delight. But, again, it takes many years before these dogs mellow out and mature and maximize their amazing intelligence. Izzy is SO SO smart: her early unbridled destructiveness has pretty much ended, and now, at ten years old, she amazes us every day with her intelligence, innate understanding, observational skills, language acumen, and comedic skills. And at ten years old, she acts like a three year old! I hope this means she will live forever.
Once you have bonded with a Basenji, you are probably done and gone. But
first-timers REALLY need to do their research and homework.
Someone referred to entrusting their dog
to a family member. I would entrust my B to nobody except a bona fide Vet hospital/kennel, with big-time fences and enclosures, B's are exceptional diggers-under-fences and escape artists. And a Number One cause of
death for them is traffic. Their prey instinct sends them careening into
traffic. Dumber than deer.
But, bottom line: do your due diligence Basenji research, and understand early on that these dogs are singularly unique: indescribably destructive; escape artists; independent thinkers and behaviorists; smarter than you can even begin to imagine (I swear my Izzy understands everything I say and reads my mind!); and prepare to have lots of tissues on hand as auxiliary food, because apparently, Basenjis require wood pulp
projects to prosper!! I don't get it.
Meet up in San Diego county
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Darn, can't make June 7 - I manage the Little Italy farmers' market that is launching that day. Sundays at Balboa are good though - keep me posted on when you'll be doing that again. There's a woman I know in No Park with 3 B's that does balboa sometimes too.
And, yes - love to see photos!
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are you free this Sunday after 1pm? we'd like to take our boys to Balboa Park for the afternoon.
We just found out about 2 more Bs in Poway who just got adopted from BRAT. Our community is growing. Yay! Between meetup.com and this forum, we know of 10 B's already who want to get together. That would so much fun.
Monica
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Yes! We'd love to join you on Sunday afternoon. Are you doing Cabrillo or Morley Field? Fiji and I walk to Cabrillo about once a week.
We were in OB over the weekend and spotted a basenji at the dog park there. We were so excited we pulled over and talked to Kufo and his owner. He said there were 3 b's that go there regularly.
Great fun! Let me know which park and if you're talking just after 1 pm or sometime later and we'll see you on Sunday!
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i dont know the name of hte park we go to, its the one off 6th Ave. the earliest we can be there is 1pm. we usually go for 1-2 hrs.
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i - tried to email but it bounced back.
The park off 6th Ave is next to Cabrillo Bridge so we've always called it that. We'll see you there 1:15 or so. You can email me at:
mercato (at) littleitalysd dot comCan't wait to meet a bunch of SD b's - and b lovers!
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We're still planning to meet at the dog park on the 6th Ave side of Balboa Park just after 1 today, if there are any more San Diego basenjis out there that want to come play! I think we're expecting 3 of us and 5 b's so far.
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Here's my first attempt to upload photos from our play date.
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Looks like everyone was having a good time…
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We really did have a great time. We had 6 basenjis show up and for the first 20-30 mins all they wanted to do is sniff each other and stay close to their owner. After a while, they ventured off in the park, and mostly in pairs. One man came up to us and asked "how many are there? I keep seeing them all over the place." Its a large dog park and I'm sure he thought he was seeing double.
We're meeting again this Saturday morning, most likely at the Del Mar Heights dog park. Contact monicazam(at)gmail.com if anyone in SD wants to join us.
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Hi Monica!
Avery and I loved meeting everyone - we'll try to make it up to see you all again this Saturday.
~Lori -
We had a great time at the park on Saturday too! Sherman was completely exhausted (yay!) after playing with all the B's and other dogs at the park. I was surprised by how many basenji's were there and I can't wait to see Eric's pictures
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I want to see those photos too, especially of the legendary Sherman
Monica told us he's a big boy.Had to miss this one since I work the market on Saturdays, but I'm looking forward to the next SD b meetup.
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I would like to know where the next meet up will be. Can't do Saturdays due to work but Sundays and Mondays are good for me. Have you guys tried Fiesta Island dog park? That place is huge. Cairo gets exhausted after 1 lap of saying hello to all the dogs.
Dan -
Lunas, I haven't tried that park but I've heard good things about it. I have the same schedule as you - Sundays and Mondays work for me, Saturdays don't. We're trying to do once or twice a month.
I think Monica always posts here when we have a meet-up planned. We also have a couple of folks coming who don't visit basenjiforums :eek: so if you send me an email I'll make sure we email you when the next one's scheduled: mercato at littleitalysd dot com
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Ha! Ha! Yes, Sherman is a legend (in his own mind…). I would think that we can probably switch to Sundays versus Saturdays to meet. I have heard of Fiesta Island, but not gone there yet, either. As long as nothing is going on in San Diego that day (i.e. - a marathon, sporting event, etc) we can drive down from Carlsbad for the next meetup.
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We had another meeting on June 7 in Carmel Valley. Here's a link to the album. Catt volunteered to send email notifications for our next meeting. At our last meeting it was suggested we BBQ. Any takers? We should pencil in a date (preferrably a Sunday so more people can join us) in July.
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I would like to know where the next meet up will be. Can't do Saturdays due to work but Sundays and Mondays are good for me. Have you guys tried Fiesta Island dog park? That place is huge. Cairo gets exhausted after 1 lap of saying hello to all the dogs.
DanDan,
We have thought about going to Fiesta Island. We met in Mira Mesa in May and Carmel Valley and Balboa Park in June. Our intent is to alternate locations and try new places. We'll have to try it out. We have some Bs living as far north as Vista, Poway, and Carlsbad and some in downtown SD. Right now we're undecided about our next location. If you want to join us, send your email to me or Catt.
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Just sent an email to Catt. Hope she passes it on to the rest. We are always looking for good places to take our B. We live in Normal Heights, so if any day after work or on the weekends people want to meet up drop us a line. It's always good to meet new friends with the same interests.
Dan -
Our next meeting will be Sun, July 20 at 4:30pm at Torrey Highlands Park (http://www.ourdogpark.com/park_map.htm)).
Bring a dish to share!
