Hi.
My name is Nicole. I have 2 dogs, Katie and Petey.
Katie is the one we think is a Basenji mix, based on her vocals. She warbles, chortles, yodels, screams, howls. Amazing range. Her trainers said she sounds like a broken trombone. She did learn to bark after living with Petey (who barks constantly) for a bit over a year. But even her bark is a bit different. I call it "Blooping" because the sound is like a high pitched "bloop".
She is also quite the hunter. She has run up our 6 foot stockade fence to catch a bird out of the air! She digs and climbs and chews anything we don't immediately put away properly. Left down paper towel rolls are promptly shredded.
But she is the most tender, gentle dog we have ever met as well. She has the best facial expressions, and I swear she tries to talk to us. She communicates really well, but is very independent at the same time.
She is the coolest dog we have ever had the pleasure of sharing our home with.
Katie is a Katrina rescue who had severe PTSD. Her trainer suggested activities to help her gain confidence, so we took her lure coursing at Lure Coursing Fanatics (LCF) in WI, and she loves it so much. She was even mentioned in the October Issue of Bark Magazine regarding Lure Coursing.
There are some pictures of her coursing at LEARN's Pawgust Fest taken by All Creatures Photography here:
This is the first, and there are about 20 pictures of her.
http://www.allcreaturesphoto.com/Events/20080816_Learn/content/30D_20080816_1301_large.html
This one shows her curly tail pretty well.
http://www.allcreaturesphoto.com/Events/20080816_Learn/content/30D_20080816_1336_large.html
I am also attaching one that shows her face. It is a bit blurry, but I love the eye contact.
We love coursing, and are thinking that we want our next dog to be a purebred Basenji so we can compete in Lure coursing. I would also like to do some agility, so we are looking for a kennel with a history of versatile dogs, with multiple titles in the pedigree, etc.
We are looking to add our next dog in probably about 2 years, but you can never start researching too early!
We subscribed to the Basenji Magazine, and are reading here, and BCOA websites. I joined the BasenjiSports Yahoo group. We went to the BCOSW fundraiser at LCF to see Basenjis in action. We are hoping to go to some Greater Chicagoland Basenji Club events.
Can anyone suggest any good Basenji specific books? What are other places to go to get to know Basenji breeders?
Thanks,
Nicole and Rob,
Katie, Petey and the cats