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Breeding my 2 year old Basenji

Breeder Talk
  • Now she mocks the military...

  • Says she was also in the military isn't mocking it. It was point out that your son being in the military has nothing to do with the topic, any more than her being in it. Nor does Trump have to do with it. Nor does your family jewels. Nor does calling people names. Nor does most of the other stuff. Are you capable at all of discussing dogs like a mentally stable adult without the abusive rants and stuff? Give it a try.

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  • @DebraDownSouth

    Having been a 'dog person' all my life I decided to get a dog after starting a family with my wife. Tried the local shelters but couldn't find a dog that I felt was 'right'.

    My first B came from a pet store, I knew nothing about Basenjis and the owner said they are great dogs, good with kids and very loyal etc, he came with an AKC pedigree. I figured he would be great as he had a pedigree.

    Many years later I found out by research he came from a puppy mill in Kansas. His health was problematic after the first two years, he was also prone to pancreatitis. At six years old he developed diabetes, with the constant testing, insulin and needles. It worked out around $2000 a year for five years until he passed at eleven, so around $10,000. Still, I didn't really care so much about the money as he was such a good dog. The constant care was hard, he needed monitoring almost 24/7 as he was a brittle diabetic and his sugar was hard to control. Many late nights staying up late and every morning was early to test him.

    He coped with it well although I know he did not like the injections sometimes, we got different size needles which helped and became experts at injections. Still, I would wish no dog to have to go through that.

    Our other two Basenjis we got from a reputable breeder, our oldest is ten in a few days and has been very healthy her whole life. She is showing elevated liver enzymes now on routine blood work but shows no other symptoms. Our youngest is three and is also very healthy.

    So, to me it seems insane to buy any basenji without full health testing and from a reputable breeder.

  • I am sorry about your first dog. Having had rescues with serious health issues, I understand the desire for getting the healthiest possible. Sometimes, even with the best of breeders (like our Samoyed), problems can be a firestorm of bad luck. But your chances are so much better with good breeders.

    Not sure if it will help, but I have used milk thistle for my liver for 14 yrs. The research on it is not strong, but it can't hurt. And it's not expensive. I put nothing in me without my liver doc's approval, btw.

    https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/milk-thistle-or-silymarin (for pets)

    http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/milk-thistle/evidence/hrb-20059806 (for people)

  • Yes you can be unlucky with anything, but doing everything you can to ensure a healthy dog should be the top priority.

    My girl has had blood work every year just as routine after my firsts problems. She has no symptoms, we just caught it on the yearly two years ago she slightly elevated, last year she was more elevated.

    We first started just Nutramax denamarin, three months later it made no difference to her readings.

    We switched her to Dr Dobs detox diet and Nutramax denamarin, went back after three months and her levels went up!

    So now we have her on regular food, denamarin in the morning, milk thistle in the afternoon and twice daily 1000mg of fish oil.

    Due to go back in February and see if that works. If not we will probably have to ultrasound. All her other blood work is normal so that is a good thing.

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    @thunderbird8588: Hi Kathy, both my dogs came of course resposible breeders in the UK. I could be speaking out of turn here and i hope someone in the UK will correct me if i'm wrong but UK breeders in the Basenji world as far as i am aware don't tend to breed that many litters to warrant moving a dog on to make room. The Basenji population in the UK is still quite small Sorry, but I doubt it. Lets say you have done it all right and you are starting out with ONLY one bitch. You breed, you keep a bitch. Now you have 2 bitches… breed the original bitch again once the next year, may now have 3 bitches. Next year you may skip I guess, so okay, couple of years later you breed 2 litters (original and at least one of the other 2). So now 4 yrs out the original, 2 daughters, and probably one or 2 from the new litter. You now have 5 dogs. Can you really manage and give attention to 5 dogs? if you have kids and family, sure. What if you want to add an outside dog, or a puppy or 2 comes back, or even the next years breeding-- you can easily be up to 8 or 9 dogs. Doesn't matter if you are in the UK, USA or France, if you are seriously breeding, you are going to accumulate more dogs unless you place the older ones too. I understand it is hard. Heck I kept and spayed a very doggy bitch (Rottweiler) because my child and husband fell in love with her. Fortunately I had a cobreeder with her half-sibling who took the next generation and sent me the 3rd. But those are ROTTIES who are often gone by 8 to 10 yrs, not much longer lived Basenjis. If you can't do it, don't get into breeding. Either you are serious about moving the breed forward which means a long term plan and generations... or you just want to breed once for the experience. If you are in a breed that is not already bleeding out with massive overbreeding, and you do it right, many once-only folks produce puppies for which there are homes and I don't fault them. But those who are dedicated and keep at it for decades are the keepers of the breed and my hat goes off to their work. Btw, you want horror stories -- try the Benkisers who had an accidental breeding they didn't want to ever breed from but decided one would be good for working sheep-- so they (their phrase for it) "grew them out" to 6 mos, picked one and SHOT THE OTHER 5. Add in they had a 6 yr old daughter-- well I have never spoken to them since and it's been some 12 yrs. Or Felicia Luberich -- another Rottie breeder, who posted on the AOL boards that she had a litter of puppies she couldn't sell and was going to euthanize them all. Rescue folks BEGGED HER to let them spay/neuter and find them homes. She said if she couldn't get her $2,000 per puppy, no one could have them and she was going to kill them. Perhaps when you work in rescue as long as I have, you appreciate people who do what is responsible for their dogs. And rehoming a dog at almost any age just isn't irresponsible to me.
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