The "perfect" breed

[Andrew]

I have to remind myself not to sound haughty when a stranger asks, "What were these dogs bred for?" and I reply "They weren't. They were created naturally adapted to their environment."

[lvoss]

That is not entirely true. Man has played a role in basenji evolution. Basenjis may not have been selectively bred in the same sense as some other purebred dogs but tribesman have played a role in which basenjis breed and which don't. Basenjis live with humans in Africa and need to have adapted to living with humans. Humans have played a role in shaping that adaptation.

[torchsong]

@Andrew:

I have to remind myself not to sound haughty when a stranger asks, "What were these dogs bred for?" and I reply "They weren't. They were created naturally adapted to their environment."

I get this one every now and then on walks. Usually I say they're considered part of the hound group, but are one of the (I believe there are eight) "ancient" breeds of dogs, and primarily had to be domesticated by African tribal hunters to assist in the hunt and stuff like that.

Usually that throws them…that such an elegant looking dog is actually one of the earliest examples of what a dog actually is, as opposed to the breeds that have come after them.

Then she baroos and freaks them out.

[sharronhurlbut]

Folks come up to me and say "barkless dog"?
I say yes, and my girl barks to show me someone is invading out area!
Its a hoot.
She only does one bark…but that is enough to prove mom a Fool!

[Andrew]

@sharronhurlbut:

Folks come up to me and say "barkless dog"?
I say yes, and my girl barks to show me someone is invading out area!
Its a hoot.
She only does one bark…but that is enough to prove mom a Fool!

Lola does this to me, too. Haha. I try to tell her she's not a barking dog, but she doesn't seem to believe me.

[sharronhurlbut]

My husband calles her the barking basenji beagle!
she is purebred fyi.

[YodelDogs]

That was a very good article. Thank you for sharing the link.

[Andrew]

@YodelDogs:

That was a very good article. Thank you for sharing the link.

You're very welcome. I figured there would be others who would find it as interesting as me. I was appalled at the description of just throwing a male of one breed into a cage with several females of a different breed "just to see what would pop out." I don't necessarily have a problem with hybrids in theory, as most breeds are "man-made" in a way, but just throwing a bunch of dogs together just to see what's going to happen is a little sickening.

[wizard]

Yes indeed a very good article – one thing (actually two) that popped out at me was -- this guy had over 400 puppies in his kennel and that he was basically indiscriminately throwing breeds together just to see. Talk about a puppy mill ...

[bizrandom]

@lvoss:

That is not entirely true. Man has played a role in basenji evolution. Basenjis may not have been selectively bred in the same sense as some other purebred dogs but tribesman have played a role in which basenjis breed and which don't. Basenjis live with humans in Africa and need to have adapted to living with humans. Humans have played a role in shaping that adaptation.

Yes the reasearch I have done over the years has basically come down to this… Good hunters and useful basenjis - ALIVE, bad dogs - Stew pot (sorry if this disturbs some of you)

Add this to our breeding programs over the last 80+ years, and one has to conclude that this is a "groomed?" pariah dog

[ChaseandZahrasmom]

@tanza:

I have not read the entire article.. but I loved this statement about breeding Pugs and Beagles from a Pug breeder

"So now you’ve got a dog with wanderlust and no doggie sense.”

Yup, I agree. I love my Puggle (Pug and Beagle), he was my first dog and he is so cool.

[Robin_n_Jack]

I was at a board meeting the other day that was followed by dinner, and we go to talking about dogs, and I said I have a Basenji.

No joke, here is the response:

"So, that is a cross between a Bichon and a what?"

um….no.

[sharronhurlbut]

I was down at the park, 2 ladies with nice dogs were walking toward me and admired the b's.
I thanked them and said, oh, your Yorkie is very cute…and then looked at the over dog who had a pap head, but the body was all wrong...
So, I said your breed is??? and she said papoodle, its a new breed.
I without thinking and not trying to be mean said...Oh, so you have a mix...
Sigh.
Didn't win any friend that day.
Really these "designer" breeds are just mixes with a good PR agent.
Sorry if I offend, but I have to say, breeding mixes when there are so many in the shelters is offensive to me.

[MacPack]

A couple of years ago someone sent me an url that showed about 20 photos of dogs, for each pair (they looked almost just alike) you had to pick which was the expensive 'designer dog' and which was the shelter rescue. I was correct on about 80%, which shows that the new designer dogs are MIXES…as Sharron says, with good P.R.!

Anne in Tampa

[sharronhurlbut]

I think its more than 80 %. In my limited knowledge of dog breeding, all of these Mixed advertized as a designer breed don't breed true, so they breed mutt to mutt and "try" to get one that looks like what they advertise.
Just bad business to someone like me who works in rescue and sees dogs put down in shelters every since day.

[Capt_Jack_our_Basenji]

Ill tell you what, Jack is a full basenji, but I have NO clue about his line and as you all know he was a rescue, and he is the most amazingly beautiful - get-on-my-nerves- cuddle bucket - makes-me- smile- when- no- one- else- can- Kind of basenji!! And I wouldnt trade him for the World!! (And for a fact, we are basenji owners for life!!

[tanza]

@Capt_Jack_our_Basenji:

Ill tell you what, Jack is a full basenji, but I have NO clue about his line and as you all know he was a rescue, and he is the most amazingly beautiful - get-on-my-nerves- cuddle bucket - makes-me- smile- when- no- one- else- can- Kind of basenji!! And I wouldnt trade him for the World!! (And for a fact, we are basenji owners for life!!

Hey.. the line for all Basenji owners… "get on your nerves..."... ggg.. how perfect... because they do/will try your patience... totally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! bless their Basenji souls...

[Andrew]

@Robin_n_Jack:

I was at a board meeting the other day that was followed by dinner, and we go to talking about dogs, and I said I have a Basenji.

No joke, here is the response:

"So, that is a cross between a Bichon and a what?"

um….no.

We went to the park this weekend for a playdate with Zip & Riley (mauigirl). We sat off the the side with our 4 basenjis running around & naturally got a lot of questions. One woman was on her cell phone with a friend, and she had this conversation:

To us: What type of dogs are those?
Us to her: Basenjis
To her friend on the phone: Basenjis… I don't know.
To us: What are they?
Us to her: African sight hounds... they're hunting dogs
To her friend: African hunting dogs.... I don't know.
To us: So they're mixes, right?

Haha. She had a lengthy conversation with her friend about what they looked like, etc, and you could just tell she wasn't convinced they weren't mixes. haha.

[mauigirl]

Yeah, that was ridiculous. I've heard that before – "What mix is that?" -- and I usually put extra emphasis on PUREBRED when responding. I guess I could tell them to go check out AKC's hound group if there are any doubts.

[wizard]

I noticed that the AKC does not recognize papoodle, schnoodle, puggle, and such. Is it because they don't breed true?