• We are 2 Basenji's both 8 years old and living with Marian and her human and animal family in the Netherlands

    Our full names are Adhimisha Jua Toko KIlima and Abotere's Zharif.
    Mischa red/white was adopted 5 years ago and Zharif brindle 10 months ago

    Living with basenji's has been a challenge.
    I had dogs all my life but never a breed like this, A breed that let me had a look at myself and what I knew about dogs
    A breed that made me think I knew nothing about dogs.
    I found Mischa online and fell in love with his face and without thinking I adopted him, I knew the breed because our Queen Juliana had one but that was all …....it took 2 years and a lot of effort to make him love me as much as I love him.
    But now he loves us with all his heart and shows that as often as he can.
    sometimes I felt he had no joy in his life, that he was sad. He did not like to play, he just wanted to lay on the couch and sleep
    I became a member of a dutch fb page called basenji friends learned even more about Basenji's and one day there was this picture of a brindle boy who needed a home, maybe at first a foster home because he was in need of a lot of love and attention and after a permanent home.
    And again I did not think but fell in love .
    At first mischa did not care for zharif at all, he just wanted to chase him out of the house, I had them both in separate benches, walked them separate, and gave them separate attention time
    Slowly we introduced walking together, and after a few weeks they started playing together on our walks. so we decided after one of those walks to put them together in the house .......and mischa loved it .they played, slept and even had their food together ..they were brothers.
    So we decided zharif was going to stay

    We came here because we thought maybe some one here could help us in our search to find Zharifs family
    His father is Abotere's Malik and his mother Abotere's Ijiba
    Zharif came up for adoption after his breeder Jennifer got ill and sadly died,
    Someone took care of him but had a good heart but could not care for him the right way and so he came to live with us
    after we rescued one of Zharifs half brothers this week we thought what if there are more of zharifs family that need help.
    So I had this idea to go and look for his family, first to get to know more about zharif and second to offer help if needed

    This is all about a breed that I came to love for me.
    Not about what went wrong and should not have happend or to point a finger but just about me loving a dog so much I came to care about what hapend to his family

    greetings from Marian and big barooooo's from Mischa and Zharif


  • Welcome, your boys are lovely and Zharif has such a proud face and Misca has such a happy face. They are lucky to have found you. Hope you have luck with your search for more of Zharif's family and that they are in happy homes.

    Jolanda and Kaiser


  • Hello Marian,
    Welcome. What a happy home it must be.
    We are Kees-Jan and Anne-Marie from Marken, north of Amsterdam. Where do you live? Maybe we can walk together some time? Also check http://www.basenji-club.nl/ for basenji walks.
    We have two daughters from Abotere Khamau, Lela and Binti (2,5 and 3,5 years old) - our first dogs, and we recognize a lot that you wrote.
    People warned us about getting a basenji, but we have not been happier since they took over our house and hearts. Lela came with us as a pup (enought to keep you busy) and Binti joined half a year later - it took her around 1,5 years to really settle.
    Here's a picture with their big mama friend Kiko the Akita https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/dNOYjJPSlhUGbZK3LZxvbwxZLf3J_PvRjNp46MdVlt4?feat=directlink
    We hope to meet all of you soon.

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