Hello new basenji owner in Wisconsin


  • Hi my name is Shannon, and my fiance got his hands on a abused Basenji yesterday and brought him home to me. I immeadiatly fell in love with him. 🙂 He is very sweet and so smart. I was reading bedtime stories to my oldest daughter and he jumped up on the bed with her and stared at me and listened to an entire book. He already follows me everywhere. He is great with the cats and adores our gorden setter already. He is good so far with the kids. He seems to be a thinker. He sits on the back of our couch looking out the window just pondering and he will just look at you. I can't believe how expressive his little face is. We love him so much already now we just have to come up with the perfect name for him. Im so glad i was able to find a forum to help me out. I have worked in kennels and vets but have very little experiance wioth basenjis, and from what i understand they r a bit different from other breeds of dogs.


  • Thank you for opening your home to him….

    You might want to visit www.basenjihealth.org to learn about genetic and other health concerns of our breed and doing the DNA test for Fanconi since you don't know anything about his pedigree.


  • Wonderful storiy and welcome to the forum! It's great to hear about a Basenji ending up in with the right people. We'd love to see some pictures.

  • Houston

    Welcome again, Shannon, I wrote on your other post as well. I am very happy to hear that y'all took this B in. He is so lucky to have found youir fiance. There is a lot to learn on this forum, so ask questions and search as much as your heart desires. Basenjis are very different, and that can be a good thing but also a very patience challenging thing.
    I am new to the B world as well, my Otis will be 5 months on friday. I have had dogs all my life, but never a B before. I thought my Westie was stubborn..he had nothing on Otis..lol.
    Have you named the little guy? How old do you estimate him being? Needless to say we all would love to see some pics of our dog.
    Again, welcome onboard


  • Welcome they are a blast and yes I do think they are thinking enjoy. Thank you both for caring enough to take this guy in your home. I second Pat about looking at web sites on there health. Post some pictures and let us know the name. Good Luck.

    Rita Jean


  • Welcome to the forums, you can learn a lot about Basenjis here! I would love to see some pictures of him… might make it easier to suggest names.:D


  • Welcome! Post pictures of the little darling!!!


  • Welcome to the forum! 🙂


  • Welcome, and thank you and your fiance for taking in an abused little guy. I guarantee he knows that his life has changed for the better!


  • Shannon,
    welcome to the forum, what a lovely story, it is lovely to hear. Please post some pics of your Basenji when you can.


  • Hi Jinxed,

    Yet another WI basenji person. Wahoo! What part of the state are you in? And thanks for taking in an abused little boy. I hope he makes a happy addition to your family.


  • Welcome to our pack (from neighboring MN) - there really is a wealth of info here as well as great stories - we've collectively experienced it all with these little beasties!

    I would ditto the comment about checking out the health website already mentioned and look through that section on this forum - Fanconi's is a nasty genetic disease but one that can be controlled so well worth having the test done.


  • Hi there,
    Welcome, I am fairly new on here myself and I'm sure you'll find this forum and these lovely people on here as friendly, helpful and genuine as I have.
    Was good of you to take your little boy in, I would love to see some pics if you want to put any on.
    Hope to chat to you soon
    Kat, Gavin and our little Eesha


  • Welcome to the forums, from another wisconite. glad to hear you opened up you home and heart.


  • Hi we decided to name him Beau. It seems to suit him lol. My uncle thinks he is about 6 months old. Im in milwaukee, Wi. And I finally managed to post some pics of him at first the site was saying i didnt have a security token, but eventually it let me post anyhow. Everyone in this forum is so nice and helpful already thank you guys so much I'm sure I will need the help if B's are as naughty as people are telling me they can be lol.


  • Welcome Jinxed. Beau sure is a cutie. Thanks ever so much for taking him in. Learning about Basenji ways is a lifelong experience:)


  • Welcome to the forum!

    Great you gave him a permanent home!

  • Houston

    He is so pretty. I can't believe how deep those scars look on his poor face. You might, with the vets approval, I guess, want to try some scar cream on the scars and see if they blend/heal better/less visible…if you think his scars are bothersome.

  • First Basenji's

    Welcome! Beau looks like such a sweetie.


  • There's a basenji club in the Milwaukee area (I think it's called Southeastern Wisconsin Basenji Club or something similar - too bad they're not in SW Wis. or I'd go) that has all kinds of activities - get-togethers, training tips, rescues, etc. etc. You might want ot check them out.

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