Welcome, I have a young female, Piper. Bought her last Jan at 8 weeks old. I had read lots but still was not prepared. Yes expect lots of laughter. A few important lessons I have learned is to always keep boxes of tissues up high and out of sight, keep bathroom doors closed, keep laundry baskets both clean and dirty behind closed doors....and though crate trained, she has never slept in our room and she does fine. I can't stress enough the importance of socialization with people and animals and lots of walking or running opportunities daily. One more tip I could not do without yak cheese. She has not damaged any furniture and she loves to chew. Speaking of that long sleeves help the first year....my girl uses a grab to my wrist with her teeth as an attention getter. This is being extinguished over time. Looking forward to seeing her picture and hearing the name you choose.
Chris
Welcome to the Forum, Packmom and to your little girl when she arrives. You've already received good advice so I won't add to it. You sound well prepared for the so-called problems but a Basenji will always find something that surprises you! I look forward to your stories about your new 'adventure' pup.
Welcome!
Fully understand your emotion and nervous feeling. Basenjis are beautiful and you have to consider they are not a regular dog. I have two basenjis, Zuri and Maya, 12 and 10 years old respectively.
You have to be patient with your current furry kid and with the new one. My best advice is : your patience will be rewarded with many years of basenji inconditional love and that is the best.
Congratulations! I am the proud mother of a 12 year old female named Kembe. I took my baby to doggy school when she was young which I think was great for socialization and also in teaching simple commands, walking your dog, etc. I have been very fortunate that my dog was NEVER destructive and she NEVER peed or pooped in the house. I was forced to install a doggy dog because she would wake me up during the night to take her out to the bathroom. My dog was crate trained but I found I was able to let her have the run of the house with no issues. She also sleeps in our bed - she is a child trapped in a dog's body.I walk her 2 to 3 times a day which I think helps keep her stimulated, active, and in good health. Basenjis are extremely smart - you have to be one step ahead of them. My dog knows everything that is going on in the house and she understands what we're talking about - to the point that we have to spell out words in our conversations. You will need to be patient and firm in your training because they are stubborn and highly intelligent.You are going to get so much back in love and devotion from your basenji. They are a very unusual lovable breed and I'm sure you're going to be very happy! Best Wishes!
Basenji puppies can really be a handful for those who are unprepared for it. I think girls are generally better behaved than the boys. No surprise! 
All Basenjis are different, but as the mom of an 8 yr old blind male (bad breeder, he has PRA), our experience with Bongo (from 11 wks to about 18-24 mos.), was that he was a total sweetheart who had an appetite for secret destruction! This adorable little baby chewed holes in every single piece of furniture in our living room. AND we had a crate. He would do it when I was around but not looking at him! My husband had this v expensive sculpture and one day I came home to find Bongo up on a console table delicately biting and licking the most expensive thing in our house!
We had some trying times for sure. But he has taught our family so much. We all love him so much. Basenjis are aristocrats and they LOVE to be naughty. Give your new girl lots of exercise, use the crate, and teach her the rules. Even if she won’t always follow those rules, make sure she knows them. I think Basenjis are the most lovable creatures I’ve ever had the privilege to know.
Thank you all so much for the kind words. We are starting scent introductions next week between our current dog and our new girl while she is still with the breeder. We purchased her a blanket that we can use to get her scent, then bring home to Buddy to start getting used to. Have any of you had any issues with bringing a new family member into the house? I've read that Basenjis can have problems in that area, but hoping that starting young and taking things slow will alleviate those problems.
@packmom - The meet and greet should be on neutral territory, not in your home/yard..... take them both to a park or some fairly quiet area on leash and walk them around together.... then go home..... make sure that you treat your current dog first.... pet first, feed first, etc.... so he doesn't think he is being replaced
We just introduced our new puppy to our 2 existing basenjis and we did everything wrong! Unfortunately I flew in late and it’s winter so no introduction was possible at a park. My breeder lives in Seattle so no scent blanket available. We had to do it the hard way, ta da! Here’s a new puppy! My girl I was worried would be grumpy and she was great the first day, my boy who I thought it would be fine was all sorts of put out. In the next couple of days it reversed and Maia was pretty cranky and Remy was fine. They growled at this annoying little brat a bit but that’s all. They are all from the same breeder so she smelled like home. They are also all very mild mannered so that helped a lot. It hasn’t been a week yet and we have had full blown basenji 500(once you get one and watch it run you’ll get the reference) and they are all sleeping together on the couch and in bed. It was a pretty easy transition thank goodness!she has settled right in and seems pretty happy with her new digs. She also really loves our dogs and they are all playing like puppies. Potty training is going well but it is our only struggle at the moment, the cold and the snow is not helping. I hope when you bring your girl home it goes as well as ours did. I can’t wait to see a picture of your new fur baby!
@sass7656 I don't mean to derail the thread but I am curious as to who your breeder in Seattle is. I got my girl from a Seattle breeder way back in the day and I'm kind of hoping I might find someone who has dogs descended from her parents.
@coyohti - Do you know your girls pedigree? Breeders (responsible ones) use their kennel name in their registered names.
My breeder is Rita Webb she is originally from Hawaii. Her kennel name is No Ka Oi. What was your kennel name of your breeder she might know where you can find a descendant. She is pretty involved in the basenji community there. She also shows up and down the west coast.
"A Basenji is a slob's best friend"
Remember that and you will be right. It teaches you to pick up and put-away things you don't want destroyed, chewed, or nibbled. Especially the crotch out of underpants, the right thong/flip flops (so that you finish up with left ones untouched), your Mother's best coffee table, your best plant, (they will always pick the "best" that you have if you have multiples). I feed mine RBBB cut into chunks by the butcher - but wait until the pup gets their adult teeth. Good luck with your pup.
I want to thank all of you for welcoming me into the group. We were waiting on bringing home our new puppy in a couple of weeks. We were so looking forward to watching her grow up and being a silly basenji kid. Unfortunately, I was just told that our little girl had an adverse reaction to her vaccination this morning. We are heartbroken and completely devastated, I don't know what to say. Thank you all so much.
@packmom Oh my goodness, this is so awful to hear! Did the breeder say if any of the other pups reacted in a similar fashion? I've never heard of this happening, ever!
@packmom Oh, I am so so sorry. I'm truly heartbroken for you.
I’m sorry but I don’t understand, is she ok? One of mine had an adverse reaction to her shots and she survived but ended up with a lifelong autoimmune disease. We managed it until she was 6 and we finally lost the battle. Sometimes they can be fine they just develope a fever and they recover after a while. I hope she will be ok! I’m so sorry if you don’t end up getting your basenji as you were hoping.
Terribly sorry to hear this. Yes, for clarification, did she not survive the reaction? I think this is unusual but perhaps this unfortunate pup had an unknown problem. If not, was a mistake made? Do you know which vaccination was involved? I understand if you don't want to discuss it. So sorry for your loss.
@sass7656 Sorry to hear about your dog ending up with a lifelong autoimmune disease and after 6 years lost the battle. I hesitated to post this at such a sad time, but even though it’s not the norm, dogs are having a lot more negative reactions to vaccines than most people realize, it’s more the adjunctives/additives in the vaccines that cause problems. The lower the weight of the dog the worse they can react. Can search about this online and find lots of info on it. Will also find it to be as controversial as children's vaccines. This is why I chose a holistic vet - my girl received all her core vaccines mercury free and thimerosal free. She also did not receive any multiple vaccines, all were given individually. It was a decision I made after researching both sides. So sad to hear these stories.
Sadly I was told she passed away this morning. I don't know exactly what happened, but it sounds like all of the pups had a reaction to the vaccine and our little girl along with a 2 of her siblings didn't pull through. This has devastated our family. We were all very attached to her, my daughter wanted to name her Opal. We will miss her without ever getting to know her.
