It seems to me there are a couple of issues here. I don't think a shelter wants just any JoeBloe walking in one day to say "hey I'd like to help by walking your dogs". The shelter needs to know something about its volunteers though a criminal check might be a bit much. If someone has been volunteering at a shelter for some time so the staff knows them and now new policies are being put into effect, then the shelter should have some sort of informational meeting/handout for all its volunteers so they know what and why. And even when volunteers have been accepted, some mini-training should be included for handling dogs. Many shelter dogs have been abused so I wouldn't want a volunteer who grew up under the "old" system of training with spanking and collar yerking now handling a special needs dog. Actual certification for dog walkers - no - the government intrudes enough.
Weird Quirks our B's Have…
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All B's have some weird quirks…
Mine like to....scent themselves on wet towels/dish towels/wash clothes, Zest soap boxes, butterchicken or any type of curry
Do the play bow with Greenies....get down make a run for it, then dash away like it is going to grow legs and run after them
Dig like crazy.... in bed, on the carpet, whenever they feel like being a little weird. Becca will lay her head and shoulder down on the carpet or bed and just go to town like she is trying to dig to China
Do the B500.....bank off the back of the couch, up the stairs, do complete 180, come back down the stairs, hit the hardwood doing Mach-Chicken bounce off the kitchen island and head out the doggy door, all to come back in and do it all over again
Sniff and chew and try to see everything you are doing
Un-do folded socks.... they don't even try to re-fold them (Tucker is a genious at this)I'm sure there are more....what do you B's do?
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My guy doesn't do anything really unusual. He loves to roll on clothes we have just taken off. He goes nuts when I put on body lotion, rolling on the bed with his mouth open…....loves it if I put a dab of the lotion on the comforter for him to roll on. He also likes to do head stands on the couch when we play with him, and if he is sitting beside you he enjoys looking at you "upside down" by tilting his head back instead of turning it. All fairly common Basenji traits, I would say.
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i think all these weirs quirks are what make Basenjis so much fun to live with.
Our first Basenji used to go upstairs backwards, i so wish i'd managed to video him.
Malaika and Kwame both like to rub their heads on damp towels. Kwame likes to sneak up behind people sitting on the settee and pull their hair.
Malaika likes to drop her nylon bone on the floor whilst standing on the settee, she then yodels at it. -
Cricket will snuggle in with us to watch a movie, then you start to hear her gnawing on something. Sure enough she is chewing on her front paw. There is nothing wrong with it, and she's not destructive with it, but she loves to chew away with this sad look of "I haz no chew toyz". We tried giving her one of her many toys, but no. She only wants the paw. And this is only during a movie… makes me wonder if she wants popcorn...
She quick licking the speakers in time with the bass. It was getting pretty gross, so we were thankful for that...
And when she licks your arm, she pauses with her tongue in mid lick. She holds it there for about a minute, then keeps going... so strange!
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And when she licks your arm, she pauses with her tongue in mid lick. She holds it there for about a minute, then keeps going… so strange!
My guy does that….....it seems like he is lost in thought, then, "ah, where was I?" and back to the licking.
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Tucker does the whole…..lick, lick, lick, squirrel.........lick, lick. Hahaha I hope most of you have seen the movie Up
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My guy does that….....it seems like he is lost in thought, then, "ah, where was I?" and back to the licking.
I just knew Uzie was not totally weird…thought it was something strange, no, just Basenji...!!! Glad I read this!!! Also, the play bow thing, and then a 180 in front of (something or nothing) and zoom, off and running. I just love watching him 'show off' his need for speed with a visiting dog....Poking another do in the neck for play too. Does anyone ever see how they can 'trot' and bump their butt against the other dog during play? Too funny!
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The 'butt slam' is a pretty standard play move, always funny and they all seem to do it. Nicky does that stop-action mid-lick pause too, but none of the others do.
Nicky has started using the bed-skirts or blankets to wipe her face after eating (how messy can kibble be?) and will go up and down the bed, or sometimes couch, rubbing her face. If I use any kind of smelly spritz int he bathroom, they will all three writhe on the rug.
Nicky's strangest quirk involves eating. Sometimes she will approach her bowl cautiously as if there might be a monster in it, or she will be eating and suddenly back away from it, 2 or 3 rapid steps backward, and I will have to call her and coax her to finish. She may do this several times one day, then not do it again for awhile. We think in her former life there may have been food issues that are residual, because no one here has ever argued with her over food.
The boys don't have many quirks!
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Sigh, the bed digging, drives me insane. Cara also licks everything. And if she is at all frustrated, she flea bites the bed, pillows, rug, her toys.
Sayblee and Arwen nearly rear, roll and twist inside out rubbing on your head if you come out with it wet.
Arwen grabs her towels and shakes them making horrible noises if she is in her crate and you walk in the front door as if to say "THIS is what I think of you putting me in this crate." She's pretty impressive except the other morning she was standing on the towel trying to shake it and I am fairly sure my laughing wasn't the response she wanted. She also takes her head and flips the food bowl out of the holder.
Cara does the B500 on the bed.
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Mine also do the B-500 a couple times a day.
Gemma grabs a toy with a squeaker and squeaks it incessently whenever she sees a vehicle go by the porch, or anything makes her excited, so she won't bark - a trick she taught herself when we squirted her for barking.
Shaye tries to pull all the stuffing out of anything she can still - we've tried everything, but now we just don't give her toys with stuffing in them.
Shaye will pull clothes out of the hamper if the bathroom door isn't kept closed - her favorits are of course, underwear!
Shaye and Gemma both like to stick their heads under the couch pillows, bed pillows, any pillows, when they want to nap.
Another reason to keep the bathroom door closed: they like to jump into the shower stall and lick the walls when we get out of the shower. This of course is pretty disgusting, but worse, leaves footyprints all over the bottom of the shower stall which are difficult to remove.
Won't even go into walking where they see squirrels, cats, kids, other dogs, bikes, golf carts, loud vehicles…..............ah, but we love them all the same. -
I think it is hard for us to just pick a few things - basenjis are so unique and crazy!
Kipawa also does the bed digging, which we feel is him preparing his sleep area. Then he curls one, two, three, four, five times and settles down. If I look outside and tell Kipawa something out there is EEEVIL he will dash out and try to kill the monster for me. Often there is nothing there, but he is determined to get whatever it is. His B500s move the couch all around the living room (hardwood floors) due to the intensity he bounces off it. I love (don't tell him though) the way he smashes his head onto my laptop and winds up typing unreadable information… he just did it, here it is ***********////////////++ - And I love the way he learns on his own, where I can see the little lightbulb light up in his head.
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Becca also does the 'flea bite' thing. Though she only does it with a few things. She does it right before bed on my hubby's arms. Apparently this hurts? She also does it when fighting with Tucker. She will do it to the side of his face and his ears. He hates this also. Becca also has to clean her face…..every morning when we get out of bed she will walk down the hallway and clean the sleep out of her eyes. Then when she is finished her kibbles she will run her face along the carpet, both sides, to make sure that she gets the crummies off of her. Yeah who knew kibble was so messy?
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Our B., Mojo does alot of the same stuff!!! He also like to chew his tennis balls while he is upsidedown, and nap on his back with all four legs stetched straight up in the air. We also think he has "crazy person radar". We have a few neighbors who are a bit on the eccentric side, and everytime they pop in, Mojo growls at them and runs away. So, if someone comes over and he growls and runs, we know they must be "crazy"!
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Lola has a sixth sense when it comes to dirty Q-tips. The garbage can in the bathroom can have shampoo bottles, soap boxes and toilet paper rolls in it and she won't bother it. Once a Q-tip is thrown away, she considers it her mission in life to rescue it from the landfill! Within minutes of throwing away a Q-tip, you'll hear her trot out of the bathroom with the Q-tip sticking out of her mouth (like a cigarette).
It becomes a game of "Hey! What do you have? Drop it!" as she scurries as fast as she can underneath the bed! -
A lot of these are sounding familiar. I love it.
Bowpi is a super cuddler, which isn't so unusual. But lately, she has taken to positioning herself in the strangest, most uncomfortable places (for us humans!). Like if I'm lying on my side in bed, trying to sleep, she'll jump up and join me – not by squeezing in next to my side, oh no, but by depositing herself directly on my bony shoulder or bony knees. I can't see how that's comfortable for HER, let alone me! Once, she decided to sit down right on my neck. Didn't work out so well. Luckily, she's very easy to move.
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My first girl, bless her, dug holes in the sofa to hide her treasures. She also "pretended" to bury biscuits: she'd carry them to a spot on the broadloom near the baseboard, would dig a "hole", drop her biscuit in, then obsessively push imaginary dirt over it & delicately tamp it down with her nose until she was happy it was well hidden. Then she'd grab the biscuit and eat it.
She only buried a bone in the garden once, spent about 30 minutes at the task and restored the site so painstakingly that it was impossible to tell where she'd disturbed the dirt. It was eerie.
Does anyone have a B that runs & hides in the basement when you BBQ or grill lamb??? I've had two females now who seem afraid of the odour of cooking lamb…maybe they think there's a grass fire on the plains and they're next???
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OMG, Nicky used to do that 'cover with imaginary dirt' on the sofa all the time, then seem amazed when one of the boys found her treasure! thanks for a funny memory! Nicky is still with us but has stopped hiding things on top of the sofa!
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A lot of these are sounding familiar. I love it.
Bowpi is a super cuddler, which isn't so unusual. But lately, she has taken to positioning herself in the strangest, most uncomfortable places (for us humans!). Like if I'm lying on my side in bed, trying to sleep, she'll jump up and join me – not by squeezing in next to my side, oh no, but by depositing herself directly on my bony shoulder or bony knees. I can't see how that's comfortable for HER, let alone me! Once, she decided to sit down right on my neck. Didn't work out so well. Luckily, she's very easy to move.
Ayo loves to lie down on uncomfortable things like. He will lie over the round plastic base of the fan. Or against the leg of a chair with his head squished and twisted against it. he will also lie on a chair and let his head hang over the edge !.
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We had a dog many years ago who did the imaginary covering of things if you gave him food he didn't like. Sometimes though if it was particularly unwanted, he'd walk around til he found a rug or clothing and actually go carry it into the kitchen and cover the bowl. (not a basenji)
LOL on the Qtips. We have to put in the kitchen trash because Arwen is the same– she can seem to sense it from 3 rooms over if you put on in the bathroom can.
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Oh Q-tips I think are Basenji's gift from the B-god. Tucker is the same way…..he will find the q'tips and then de-fuzz them and all you see is a little white ball of cottton and a stick laying somewhere. Becca loves to lay on the heat registers......and she doesn't lay down all nice either, she thumps herself on top of it. i can't imagine whacking my elbow on a metal register as I am trying to lay down! ouch
