Aloof doesn't exist in my house either, However, outside my house it does… and as far as I am concerned that is how it should be. As pack leader, I expect my Basenjis to greet people that I have brought into our home as I have... but that doesn't mean that I expect them to like everyone or hang on everyone... if they want to fine, if not that is OK too... typically in our home people come in, the B's are all over them... then they are bored and go back to whatever they were doing. Again, I do watch my B's reaction to different people, it is very interesting to watch them and their take on people... and sometimes they have made the difference when people are visiting to talk about getting a puppy...
But when we are out, I do not expect, nor do I want them to be running up and climbing on strangers.... it was the fact that they are aloof with people that I liked about the breed... and I certainly would not want them to go running to jump in a strangers car either... so if you meet my Basenjis in the home, you are fair game... if we are outside the home at a show, trial, etc. they "did" read the standard and are aloof...
My little girl Jojo is almost perfect (at least in my eyes)…a B perfect? hummmm...I wouldn't change her for the world except maybe make her younger (she is 11yr)...
I know the feeling!! Peanut is 11 also, yet when I look at him I see a pup. If he only knew. :rolleyes:
My boyfriends dad has one that acts like a VERY TYPICAL basenji. Especially with chewing I'm not used to that so when we go over his house he takes anything I leave on the floor and destroys it!!! He acts kind of wild too.
We had to do some work with our boy because when we first got a basenji I said to my boyfriend I dont want our dog to act like Angus (my boyfriends dads basenji) he's cute but too naughty!!!
I was out walking with only 1 basenji and the funniest thing happened. We were walking minding our own business - which is astounding in an of itself. We passed this house where they have a newly fenced in yard and they have 2 dogs (1 choc lab and 1 sort of golden ret). The Golden type dog ran over to the lab as we walked by, put her face right next to the dogs ear and started to bark in the labs ear like crazy. The lab then got up and they both stood at the fence and barked.
It was as if the lab had it's own service dog.
Anyway - I was amused.
Quercus, you have one that likes to bark oh my gosh lol.
At the moment I'm trying to teach my dog to yodel on command. when we go out and we meet new people they always ask "can you make him yodel".
I met one at the park that yodels for a treat "so cool!
@vstripe:
My boyfriends dad has one that acts like a VERY TYPICAL basenji. Especially with chewing I'm not used to that so when we go over his house he takes anything I leave on the floor and destroys it!!! He acts kind of wild too.
We had to do some work with our boy because when we first got a basenji I said to my boyfriend I dont want our dog to act like Angus (my boyfriends dads basenji) he's cute but too naughty!!!
Come to my house and if you leave it on the floor, it is free game….gggggggg My B's love to go through your "stuff" looking for good things even at their ages...
Sahara is full flegged Basenji, I think she has all the B traits. She loves to chew my things, (will she ever out grow this) even though I provide her with things to chew instead. Hates the rain, will not go out to potty when it's raining unless I drag her with a leash. She loves to chase my cat and try to drag her by her neck around the yard, is very jealous when the cat gets near me or my hubby. She will bolt to the door when the door bell rings, and tries to jump on whoever is there, (can someone tell me how to correct this), I don't want her to jump all over my guest, some do not like dogs. She is very friendly to strangers and children, loves children and other dogs. She whines when left alone or in the crate, wants to be with me all the time. She scratches at my hand when she wants my attention. My hubby and I love her to pieces and would not change one thing except the jumping on people, and the chewing. We have lost lots of things to her chewing, she had my hubby's $800 new glasses last week and put a couple of scratches on them, he was sooooooo mad, but still loves her.
Ah… the old, if it is in my reach, it belongs to me...gggg.... Like I tell people, with a Basenji you will learn to put things out of reach....
As far as jumping, I would suggest if you have not, working some OB with Sahara.. teach her sit and stay. Practice when you come in that you do NOT pet her, until she is in a sit/stay, if she doesn't, she is ignored completely..... then you can work your way to people coming in the house, you put her in a sit/stay and she is only acknowledged when she is... however you may need to put a leash on her so that you have control to correct her when she doesn't listen... it is much easier to control your dog when they have a leash on...
While this is not typically what is done in Obedience, in the show ring if I have a dog that jumps up on me (for the treats) they are greeting with my knee... I don't kick them, but just a well timed "run into my knee) with a comment of down/stand/stay (since in the show ring for conformation we don't want them to sit)....
Tanza, Thanks for the tips, we are working on stay, Sahara seems to have problems with the stay command. She already sits when I come home for me to greet her, and if she does not sit, I do ignore her. She just doesn't want to stay for long, and lately she runs when I try to put her leash on, any tips on that, she tries to make a chase game out of everything. She is some character, and lots of fun.
If I take the great things about Topaz & the great things about C3PO then VOILA…A PERFECT BASENJI 
LOL LOL
We love them both just the same
Tanza, Thanks for the tips, we are working on stay, Sahara seems to have problems with the stay command. She already sits when I come home for me to greet her, and if she does not sit, I do ignore her. She just doesn't want to stay for long, and lately she runs when I try to put her leash on, any tips on that, she tries to make a chase game out of everything. She is some character, and lots of fun.
If she runs rather then sit for her leash, NO LEASH… easy, you just ignore her... the minute she returns to you ask for the sit, reward her and then try to put the leash on, if she runs, same thing all over again, she will figure it out... once you get the leash on, then a treat/reward... she will get the message
I'll address traits Jenny does not display first, then the jumping and door bolting questions.
Jenny loves the water; she lives with a lab and her first lake intro was in the dead of summer and the water was warm. That being said, this winter, late march when things were thawing, Jenny stood in 6-8 inches of thawing lake (meaning she was standing on ICE covered with water) straining on her leash to get to the geese out further in the ice water. She stood there for a couple of minutes until she was nearly convulsing with the shivers. 
She is a chewer (less so now and anytime she's tired) and often rude at the door (rushing to go out) but has learned that Nothing In Life Is Free (Google that phrase for more detailed explaination - also one link out of many http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/nothingfree.htm) and she has learned great patience and SOME self control because of it. She has to at least sit for everthing - food, outside, inside (when it's cold, she does her business and bolts to the door and sits so fast it is comical), chew toy, meet the dog (the dog above that is bonkers in it's own neighborhood most likely is bonkers to meet the other dogs), meet the child, chase the squirrel - get the picture? NOTHING in life is free. Basenjis are smart and as long as you maintain some self control and are calm but firm, you will see progress. Jenny will actually wait in the other room in her kennel while I prepare her food, AND as long as I remind her "wait" she will let me set it down and wait until I say "Take it". For the first 9 months we had her, I thought that type of obedience would be impossible due to her "basenjiness", but about 2 months ago she started to develop some self control. NILIF - Nothing In Life Is Free.
Exactly…. NILIF!!!!!!! It takes a while but they get it... and they think of it as fun interaction with you with totally positive results at the end!!!!
As far as water, I would bet my bottom dollar that if there was a critter that ran into a body of water, my B's would go right in... And Jamari would run into the ocean waves.. especially if someone was play ball in the water... his favorite was the big round colored beach balls that people would be tossing back and forth!
My boy Rosco (who died in January) never liked to sleep with us or snuggle. He was a loner.. not cuddly at all. He never yodeled, either. He stopped chewing everything up for several years before he died, so that was nice. Other than that, typical basenji!
Here's a GREAT site with basenji quirks: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pines/9467/bquirks.html
Senji doesn't really like toys. He has a ball that he will retrieve ONCE, and then he's not interested anymore. He doesn't bolt anymore either, since he knows he'll get walked. He used to bolt all the time when he lived with my brother and his family, because they hardly ever walked him. They just kept him tied out on a long leash. He isn't destructive any more. Once in a while, he'll tear up some papers if he gets frustrated. My grandma used to keep tissues up her sleeve, and it was hilarious to watch Senji poking his snout up her sleeve to snatch the tissues. I don't know if this is a basenji trait, but he likes to pee and poop on an incline…the steeper the hill the better! Sometimes I think he's part mountain goat!
That's funny C3PO is not a big snuggler either. He likes the petting & once he's had enough he goes off into a corner to curl up & sleep. He absolutley HATES it when his sister TOPAZ tries to snuggle with him…he gets very mean & snarly.
So I let her snuggle with me instead of that "meany"
My boy Rosco (who died in January) never liked to sleep with us or snuggle. He was a loner.. not cuddly at all. He never yodeled, either. He stopped chewing everything up for several years before he died, so that was nice. Other than that, typical basenji!
Here's a GREAT site with basenji quirks: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pines/9467/bquirks.html
So sorry your boy Rosco went over the rainbow. Now he can freely hunt all the bunnys and squirrels there. Your memories of Rosco live on in heart forever. Would love to read more about Rosco.
I found this website last year researching Basenji's. I laughed so hard upon reading the Diary. I read it several times and each time it put me in stitches as I related to almost everything. I let my DH read it and the same thing happened to him. We adopted Duke in March, and didn't know what he was until July when I read this website - It convinced me that he is a Basenji with a twist of Jack.
You can check out my pics of Rosco. I miss him every day, but he's in a better place. I imprinted his paws in cement before he died, and we're going to make a garden step with it to cover where we bury his ashes, now that it's warm out!
Your pictures are SO cute! I love the one titled "Ditto Stretch." I miss those basenji stretches!
Senji doesn't really like toys. He has a ball that he will retrieve ONCE, and then he's not interested anymore. He doesn't bolt anymore either, since he knows he'll get walked. He used to bolt all the time when he lived with my brother and his family, because they hardly ever walked him. They just kept him tied out on a long leash. He isn't destructive any more. Once in a while, he'll tear up some papers if he gets frustrated. My grandma used to keep tissues up her sleeve, and it was hilarious to watch Senji poking his snout up her sleeve to snatch the tissues. I don't know if this is a basenji trait, but he likes to pee and poop on an incline…the steeper the hill the better! Sometimes I think he's part mountain goat!
This doen't really have any relevance (I already posted my non-basenji traits) but I had to laugh at this comment. My grandma does the same thing, I always thought that was a little funny. And my B also likes to pee and poop on hills. It makes it a little tough to get to especially when the grass is wet.
My Rue is pretty perfect. She is mixed with something (I don't know what) so she doesn't look like a real B… and she isn't interested in anything in our house (chewing wise), doesn't bolt out the door, and licks like CRAZY! She also doesn't really like to play with other dogs at the dog park, she just smells them, occasionally chases them, then comes back and lays down by me (EXERCISE DANG IT!).
The only normal B behaviors that I see in her are the little noises that she makes (she makes a lot of them for different reasons) and her BAROOOOOOO (which is fitting because we named her Rue before we even knew she was a Basenji) and it seems like she is stubborn about sitting. It's like she is saying, "yeah I know you want me to sit, but first I'm gonna spin around in a circle. Then maybe I'll sit if I feel like it." Haha! She is a character!
