Silent Basenji

[ChrisF]

My Piper is pretty vocal. She barks about weekly and yodels whenever either of us gets home, and the longer we are away the more energetic it is. And she always yodels with Glee when my daughter stops over with the grandkids. Then she has a lower key yodel when someone new comes to visit and she is not fully sure if they will play with her. I love all her sounds except the growl, but I am getting to understand it a bit more too.

[jpschultz]

Hello, we have an eight year old male that does a rarrrrrrrr talking noise when he wants our 5 year old female to play, just about once a day. He will also do it when we get home if we have been gone for over 4/5 hours or more. Our female is very quiet. She rarely is the one that initiates play but when she does, she will make these little noises that I really can't explain but closest thing would be little monkey talking but with a wanting voice, so I call it her little monkey noises. Other than that, she let out 4 real barks in a row once when my brother was playing and raised his arms in the air like a big bear and sort of scared her or exited her, not sure but I was amazed at the loud bark. Raising her arms in the air is actually her trade mark maneuver when playing so maybe its related to that. I say wootwoot and she stands up and wootwoots her arms in the air. So with my experience, each basenji is different in how vocal they are Also, our male is not a tail wagger but our female wags that little tail like crazy when we get home. So maybe some are more physical and some more vocal. Maybe Wendy will show those signs when she becomes more comfortable and social. Poor thing, I can't imagine keeping and animal confined and alone, especially a basenji.

[Rocky1]

My guys are some of the most vocal basenjis that I ever had.
My Diva's kids are especially vocal,her one boy,Bolt won't shut up at
dinnertime. I have also found that my full Africans are great singers.
When they all vocalize at once it really is something to hear.
Anyone who has been to a speciality has heard what it can sound like.

[Rugosa]

I had one female that barooed, and any dog I kept that had her in their background, barooed.
I had another that made no sound, and any dog I kept that had her in their background, were also silent.
They seem to be living until 15-16, and this never changed.

[ceecee]

She may not baroo whatever that is but the are all different. George barks sometimes but isn't suppose to. i would think she is still stressed from her previous experience. Basenji's are social animals and need interaction from their owners and other dogs. It must have been very traumatic. Give her as much time as she needs and love and cuddles, if she will let you and I'm sure she will soon be howling, grumbling and squeaking her little heart out. Well done for rescuing her.

[B5004EVER]

My basenji girl never barooed, we'd play YouTube videos of basenjis and she could not have been less interested. Some beautiful b's are just made that way.

[Zande]

@ceecee said in Silent Basenji:

George barks sometimes but isn't suppose to. i

Some Basenjis, in some situations - like if they want to save face or are backed into a corner, give a sound not unlike a bark. But watch them. Any other breed will bark and the mouth finishes up closed. A Basenji 'bark' is open mouthed, more like a cough and is more often a single sound unlike the constant barking of other breeds. She's a lucky girl to have found a home with you- just enjoy her many other attributes !

[willem_42]

My girl is a cross and she can't seem to bark. When she tries all I hear is a drawn out "roo-roo-roo-roo-roo!" Or a single whispering "broof"

[ChrisF]

She is beautiful!!!!

[Izzy-Bella]

We have an almost-ten year old rescue Basenji mix (3/4 Basenji and 1/4 Min Pin) named Izzy-Bella. She is the singularly most delightful, funniest,
smartest, intuitive dog ever. She does baroo, but not spontaneously on her own. When she is kind of excited for whatever reason, I start my humanoid version of roos, and pretty soon she joins in. We make beautiful music together (Ha!!!!). Anyway, my point is that maybe if you initiate the rooing,
your B might respond.

[tanza]

@izzy-bella - some times they talk, sometimes they do not... Most all of mine over the many years in the breed did NOT baroo.... period. In the breed since 1990

[Izzy-Bella]

Izzy-Bella never initiates a genuine "roo," but she almost always responds to my
roos. And once she gets going, it is truly
sublime and quite hilarious. We should cut a record. She also more often does that "rarrrr" sound that somebody recently mentioned. It can be quite expressive and seems to be her version of communicating with The Dadster that it's time for a meal or a walk after that meal. It's pretty funny, and we know exactly what she wants. Then, after her peculiar noises, she runs laps through the house. This dog just turned ten, but acts more like a toddler than she did when she WAS a (rescued) 18-month old toddler.

[2baroos]

Our last two- the male talked and in 10 years the female maybe made 5 sounds

[Antigone]

@izzy-bella That is exactly what they are like! Toddlers! I find this stubborn Breed to be my all time favorite Breed. They are very intelligent despite reports that they are dumb because they are hard to train. I have found that the easiest and most stress-free for the Puppy and their Steward is to have them Pack with older well-trained Dogs of any Breed.

Mine would have been 20 this year, on December 23rd. Still miss her every day but someday I will get another B maybe I will buy one or Rescue one. Having had my Dog for 16 years there is little that I am not prepared for. My Dog was named 'Antigone' after the Protagonist in the Greek Play by the same name. Antigone refused to negotiate and that was what my Dog was like. Because no one could ever pronounce her name correctly I gave her the nickname 'Tiggy'. Her Tags had Antigone on them and she never got lost but she once climbed a Tree at the Horse Farm and it took hours to get her to jump out of the Tree onto a Draft Horse Blanket. She NEVER climbed that particular Tree again but she did climb shorter trees! She was hilarious.

Enjoy your Dog and maybe when your Dog is older she will start vocalizing!

[Rugosa]

Above I commented that I had one that barooed.
I have her daughter, and she got her mother's good traits, but not the bad. She is the most delightful 12 yr old girl. She baroos in the morning when she's happy we finally woke up. She baroos if someone comes in the door after being out for at least 10 seconds.. She baroos when food is coming, she baroos when food is gone and she gets to go out. She baroos all the time, she's just a happy happy girl. Her tail sits right on the top and wiggles whenever she baroos.

I was in a car accident, so stopped breeding/showing, but I always consider her the best that I bred. She's just delightful!
Her sire had 'Charlie Brown' in his name, and she was born on Christmas. So naturally, the puppies got names from the Charlie Brown's Christmas show. Her name is Freida, the girl with them naturally curling tail!

[Rugosa]

Thanks for the tree climbing story. My first basenji climbed the Cristmas tree we had when she was about 1. I finally figured it out -at the top I had put an ornament about 2 yrs old, and made of a DOG BONE biscuit! 1 point for the basenji, -1 for me.

A few years later we got her a basenji friend, because she needed something to occupy her mind. A few years after getting him, he climbed a 25 ft high spruce tree and ATE THE ROBIN"S EGGS FROM A NEST!!!!! I saw him up there and the blue shells in his poop were evidence.

To get back to the original topic, he barooed once, kind of a sad baroo.
He slid under our couch, his head sticking out the front. That's when we heard the sad baroo. He was stuck, I had gotten another puppy, and that puppy was in the back playing and biting his tail. I think that may have been the only time he made any noise.

[Izzy-Bella]

Oh gosh, these are wonderful and too funny stories. Basenjis are just simply the "ne plus ultra" best.
My Izzy-Bella was pretty ornery early on, after being adopted at 18 months. She was a pip, destroying many minor items and one major item: the den window blinds and window sill. She was always "on point" high alert for squirrels in the back yard, and she hurled herself from the back of the couch into the windows.
Destruction ensued.
Over the years, she has mellowed, and destruction is confined to tissues, preferably used ones. I think tissues and other forms of paper are sort of a special food treat for Basenjis. Strange and weird, but it's Basenjis, who are the epitome of strange and weird. AND--THE
BEST. Why would you want a boring dog when you could have a Basenji??
Rooing: Izzy does a beautiful expressive Roo when I initiate it. It is truly sublime. (Hers, not mine). We are pursuing a record contract.

[Antigone]

@rugosa The Robin's Egg Nest is a classic! People refuse to believe that these dogs do climb Trees!!

I was never brave enough to put up a Christmas Tree! At one point I had 3 Dogs and 6 Cats. They all got along very well and my oldest cat was the Apex Predator in my home full of Predators. I did not want to risk the Tree being climbed by the Cats! The Christmas Tree is something I got over years ago. Too expensive to find a nice one and taking the ornaments off the tree is rather depressing. I used to take it down before the New Year and there were always tons of Trees waiting for the Service to come and get them for grinding into mulch.

To the uninformed or the clueless, these Dogs are an enormous challenge. However, once you learn to manage them properly, for example, they HATE to be ignored. When my girl would do something I disliked I would pick up what she was chewing on and then I ignored her. I never raised a hand to her and I never punished her because ignoring them is the harshest thing you can do.

I know others disagree about how I trained my dog and the B's being a close relation to Wolves, however, whatever I did always worked. I see no reason to not suggest it to other B owners.

[PeaceAngel]

@raburr3
How sad, that makes me want to cry!
I had a rescue & he had separation anxiety. I realized within 2 weeks I could not leave him home alone. He hated his crate & 1 day he got out. He was so anxious & terrified that the Levolor blinds, everything on the table & bookshelf went. The only way I knew he would be safe is if he had a person w/him. For a year, if I couldn't take him, I didn't go or 1 of my sisters would come & "Spice-sit" (his name).
After a year or so, his former owner was able to have him back. Honestly, you would not believe how he changed, whenever his owner calls now, I hear what a happy boy he is. He can stay home alone, w/the other family dogs. He is happy, so happy.
I miss that dapper dog so much, he has been with his former owner for over 2 years & I still cry sometimes I miss him so much. But I feel so blessed he is happy!
I hope I will be able to have another Basenji, I love their independence, intelligence & oneriness! Even Spice's problems do not make me wary of another. I'd have another in a heartbeat! It is my 'breed of choice'.

[ChrisF]

Sometimes I can get wrapped up in how great my Basenji is but my son came last week with his two dogs, a coon hound rescue and a beagle mix rescue and they are two of the most loving,obedient and smart dogs you would ever want to meet. The three dogs got along fabulously and my dog has been sad since they left. If I were to get another dog I am not set on limiting it to a basenji. Time will tell.