Kembe always slept in our bed up until these last 2 years of her life. She was a bed and blanket hog - legs stretched out and took over the bed. I put her doggie bed in our room right next to our bed in her latter years - I was afraid of her falling or jumping off the bed and getting hurt.
What do you love most about your basenji(s)?
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What do I love most about my basenjis? They are all so different!
Ruby is amazing. I love that she is extremely independent, yet extremely loving. I love that she taught Brando how to sing (yodel). I love that she is sweet - but not a pushover. I love her wild dances for dinner and songs when Brando and I are playing and she feels like she is being ignored and wants us to play with her as well. I love the dark red of her coat and love how soft it is (feels like mink). I love how Ruby moves. I love her whippet ears and pawing at me for attention when I come home.
Brando is a softie. I love that he really is a momma's boy - he is so bonded to me now since he broke his leg and he was babied back to health. I love that he tries to annoy and trick Ruby - all done with mischief in his eye and his tightly curled tail wildly flipping back and forth. I love that he will leave the warmth of lying in front of the fire to lie in the crook of my knees on the couch. I love his deep deep yodel for dinner - and love that he does it on command.
Aaliyah is the court jester. I love how funny Aaliyah is. Lots of laughter in our house as result of Li-Li…she is too much. I love that she is so smart and clever...you can just see the wheels turning trying to figure something out. I love her markings and I love her size - she is slightly smaller than my other basenjis - but she is wired for sound! I love how she talks to Ozzy when they are playing and I love that she loves Ozzy so much. It is common to find her lying on top of Ozzy when they are resting. I love that when she wants to come in the house and Ozzy doesn't, she will get Ozzy to chase her so that he follows her up on the steps. I love that she will completely wash my face with her kisses. She is too darn cute!
Ozzy is my angel dog. What I love most about Oz is how attuned he is to me. I love his whippet ears when he is happy to see me. I love that he absolutely adores Liyah...he is her shadow. I love that he and Aaliyah are a perfect match. I love how he looks...I love that he has only a tiny bit of white on his face and his dark dark eyes. I love that he moves like his father. I love that he will have a full on conversation with me when I ask if he has any stories to tell me - he is quite the talker. I love that he is quietly self assured - everything just rolls off his back. He is the sweetest dog.
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@sonnyboy:
What do I love most about Sonny…its hard to put into words & it's a little personal ....I love that I am lucky enough to get to be HIS human
I so understand. When I lost Sayblee 9/9/2008 I felt like my heart was ripped out. I cried daily, buckets. I found myself sometimes in bed holding her ashes container wailing. It got better, but she left a Sayblee shaped hole in my heart that was nearly unbearable. I had promised my husband no new dogs til the massive vet bills on our credit cards were paid off. In 2009 I found not one but 2 rescues I wanted and he threw a fit, reminding me of our agreement.
Then the Wimauma pack happened and I asked again. Whether it was the decreasing amts or his tiring of my crying, I don't know, but he agreed. Just a note, normally I would NEVER allow him to make a decision about dogs, but since it was our joint credit I used, I had made a deal and I felt bound to it.
And here is Cara, who is still a puppy, still not quite the adult mature bonding I had with Sayblee. But she has carved her own Cara place in my heart. And while it doesn't fill the Sayblee hole, the heart expansion makes the hole relatively smaller. She gives me joy. When I get up at night, like Sayblee, she has to poke her head out til I get back in bed. Last night she was actually laying on my pillow when I came back. It is a sacrifice of their beloved warmth, since my room is well under 60 at night with the heat shut out of my room and my bedroom window open.
I am sorry for people who don't love or know the love of dogs.
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I love how my girls run up to greet me when I get home, and sit expectantly in front of the cabinet for their treat when I leave home. I love that they always smell clean and get in really funny positions to keep themselves that way. I love that Gemma has taught herself to hold a kong in her mouth when things upset her so she won't bark (she is a mix) because she knows it annoys us. I love the way Shaye curls up behind us wherever we sit. I love when we go to the dog park and Shaye keeps after all the big dogs until they will chase her because she loves to run so much and Gemma will not keep up with her. I love their faces - how can you look at a basenji face and not melt when they are gazing back at you? I love that my arms have not fallen out of the sockets yet even though I think they should have been pulled out by now. I love how we wind up doing all they demand, and don't even mind it. I think I finally love being owned by a basenji…..and a half.
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rwen I am sorry to say it.. I love her but it isn't bonded. She has always been sort of a distant dog, coming for petting and food but if you don't have those, no thanks. Until THIS YEAR if you touched her at night, she moved further. I am very happy to say the last 6 mos she has been changing a LOT and I actually am growing fond of her… not just love and responsible for her. She has actually started sleeping closer and coming to sit next to me or my daughter without food or petting being involved. That it has taken 8 yrs.. I don't know, just glad it is happening.
You should move to Chicago. Winter makes them heat seeking missiles. I always look forward to the cold, a warm basenji & football!
They become so cuddly in the winter.
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Everything! All of them have been and are little troopers! I always wonder how many total miles I've walked with them all over 35 years. I wouldn't trade those years I've had with them for anything!
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It's really nice to read everyones comments!! I love a lot of things in common. In general I love about basenjis that they are so peculiar, and beautiful, and funny.
I love it when Ayo smacks me for attention, he gets this look on his face that is too much, not so much when he nips for attention, we are working on that. I love the way he moves, The way his tail wags with the curl is really funny, his poses, his smell, the proud way he walks with me on the sidewalk on our walks. I love how he'll pick up something from the sidewalk and walk in front of me while looking up to me so that I give him a treat when he leaves it on command, he is so smart!! I love, that although he sometimes get too excited and has been known to nip ( we are still working on that), he is really good with people, especially children, in their presence he is extremely well behaved, and great with other dogs!!! -
Shaye's Mom, you are busted! I'm copying your "why I love" to remind you next time you want to strangle Shaye for dislocating your shoulder! (I know you really love those good girls!)
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I love Gossy's facial expressions; and her talking back (my previous beasties never vocalized) to me; and her tail; and the way she'll cuddle when I'm in the recliner-chair; and her sneakiness to get treats; and her many ways to pull on my heart-strings.
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Silent and easy to take care..
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Shaye's Mom, you are busted! I'm copying your "why I love" to remind you next time you want to strangle Shaye for dislocating your shoulder! (I know you really love those good girls!)
Yeah:rolleyes:. I talk a lot about how they really drive me crazy, but come right down to it, we do love them a lot.
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i love his OCD personality. his wonky looking tail wagging, his stress yawns and play snorts, his happy Baroo, the way he stretches to get attention, i love how he smells, or well, how he doesn't smell, i love his heat sharing ability at night. i love the way he will do anything to get a sunbeam. i love how good he is with kids and babies. i love how smart and inquisitive he is. i love how he smacks things. I love how he hates puddles but is usually the first in the river…i love how happy he makes me everyday, in between spurts of me wanting to strangle him
but what i love most is that he loves me too, and is my best friend.
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I adore just everything about Basenjis - their independence, their inyelligence, the way they always stay one jump ahead, the way they work things out for themselves, the way they look out for each other, the way they know when someone is not feeling well, the way they smell, their aloofness, their beauty, -I could go on and on. I'm just addicted to them and could never live without one!
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They are , they are addictive!!
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I love that when I come home, Cody is standing at the door to his kennel waiting for me to open the door. Then he bolts out, runs to the bedroom door, jumps on the bed, goes back to the door, then rears back on two legs and boxes with me. The whole time, his curly little tail is wagging. When I reach down to pick him up, he jumps into my arms. This is our daily ritual.
I love that Cody sleeps under the covers with me, and even though he can get under them himself, he waits for me to hold them up so that he can make himself comfortable.
I love his grumbles, sighs, and snores, how expressive he is with his ears and forehead wrinkles, and how sometimes he looks at me like I'm an idiot when I try to bribe him to do something I know he doesn't want to do (a b-slave can try though, right?). I love how he is content to lay next to me while I'm reading or writing, and how he has to be touching me while he's asleep or napping.
I also love that he rarely destroys my clothes anymore, he doesn't scream for hours while I'm gone anymore, and he has taught me to be neater.
I love that he has taught me patience, to laugh at my mistakes, to be silly even when other people are watching, and to enjoy the little things that we usually take for granted. I love that he puts up with me, and I love that the little butthead loves me back. (I say that as a term of endearment
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I love this thread
I love that basenjis think I'm one of them because I'm aloof and snarky, too. They pull me into their little circles and make me give them all the good bits of my meals. I love that they are so obvious
I love that they can take a human who says "I'd never sleep with a dog" and turn them into a person who buys a bed big enough for two humans and two basenjis and a cat. They have magical brain powers.
I love looking out the window over their heads, between their ears, and seeing the amazing things they are seeing.
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I could list a whole lot of things but the snuggling under the covers is the sweetest. That's when I love her most. One thing I'm really really thankful for now that Abbey's 7 is that she no longer explodes out of the covers at 2 am when a helicopter flies over. Gotta love her for that. Took 7 years but my girl has finally grown up!
