My son was working at a warehouse cleaning it out and heard a awful noise and kept looking for where it was coming from… he found a little puppy in a pile a trash and brought her home...my husband and i wasnt really ready to have another puppy in our lives since we lost our best friend Buddy (A Lab) in January of this year...We told him he couldnt keep it to find it another home...his friend called said to bring it back to the warehouse the mother dog was back and goin crazy looking for her baby...he took it back and searched for her for 2 hours.. brought the puppy back home the momma had disapeared...Still we wanted no puppy so told him to continue looking for it a home.. he took it to work with him...found a family with 2 children that took the puppy.. he told them he would come the next day and bring them the puppies food...as promised he took the food the next day... they said thay had given the puppy away to a family who recently lost thier dog and it was a good home...
My husband cat is missing and we search frantically for him and cant find him..So we decide to go to our local animal shelter to see if he was there ... searching frantically every cage no Mikey ... we ask if maybe there might be another area where cats might be , a man takes us to another room we pass a rabbit a snake and even a ferret.. more cats yapping dogs and cryin puppies..But no Mikey ... 4 some reason i look down a isle and there sit a little red and white big eared bright eyed lil puppy with a curled tail...My heart broke... i leaned down to touch her little black nose and cried...Those people lied ... we ask if we could get her back and since we wasnt who dropped her off we would have to wait and see if she was adoptable.. again my heart breaks...we left and called our son told him what we seen...
I left went to see my mother she lives in a nursing facility... the visit was good... i told her about my week the cat missing the puppy found at the pound.. she told me " you wasnt sent to the shelter to find Mikey you was sent to rescue the puppy"..i called my husband when i left told him what my mother has said... he told me not to worry the puppy is back home...my son had all the information to get her out of the shelter...after he left there he went to the people house and demanded the $16.00 for her release and the food he took to them...they gave him the money..
When i got home i looked in the only place i hadnt for Mikey the bushes in front of our house... he was there he wasnt hurt but sick:( .. but alive and found ... we took him and the puppy to the vet the next day .. Mikeys gonna be ok and the puppy wellllllllll... the vet said shes a basenji/mix? which explained her odd comunication..Shes about 8 weeks old... and healthy...we named her Sandie... weve had her a week now and shes a holy terror...Mikey seems to be very tolerant of her and even allows her to lick his face...she has figured out by watching mikey that the cat door gives her freedom to the back yard (which we have secured and removed any dangers)..i have read every artical i can find on these dogs and we have friends who have 3 basenjis... she was sent to us for a reason.. the reason is yet unclear..but i love that lil big eared girl ....

Really nice story, Sandie found a good home and thank you to the cat who allowed this ending to happen

sniffle that is a definite "meant to be" story! Thank-you for sharing it!

Great story. I too ended up with a mixed Basenji and had no idea what I was in for. What I got was a loving loyal dog I will treasture forever. Basenjis are the best.

Truely a great story. I too love Basenjis. Mine I guess you could say rescued me. I wanted a dog, didn't really want a smaller dog, I've been a big dog lover for years, but almost 3 years later I love my dog to no end. They truly are a big dog in a little dogs body. (atleast mine is).

Kerrberr95, I can relate! I have never cared much for smaller dogs. I liked other people's well enough, but not enough to want to own one. I wanted a larger dog – specifically a bloodhound or black and tan coonhound. Dh didn't want another dog at all, but if forced may have been willing to get what I call a "sheeshy-foo-foo" dog, the kind that fit in your lap with room left over.

I went to the AKC website and started going through every breed, every dog I suggested, he turned down. When I got to Basenji I was intrigued -- a smaller dog, but with ATTITUDE. He agreed to "consider" the breed.
As he researched more, he became concerned -- LOL-- but as I had already been looking for local breeders and had made arrangements to meet with three of them, he agreed to at least go look. {and behind my back had been in touch with someone -- I have a feeling now it may have been Sharron at BRAT -- and had in mind already my Feb. birthday~}
Long story shorter , we found Jumoke! Darren really liked the dogs, and the puppies charmed him completely. We got home that night and he told me to make the phone call reserve a puppy!

We have had Jazz since Easter '05, and we LOVE her. He says it's the first dog we've owned in our 20 years together that he has really liked from day one. The others have had to kind of grow on him. LOL

Okay, so that was still a long story; sorry!

Anyway, welcome to the board!

Hi! I'm Karen & we acquired little Mary by accident also. We have Labradors & work with a labrador rescue. I try to help one of the small counties near me that is so small they have no pound or humane society. The dog catcher had a litter of lab mix pups that still needed to be rehomed, Mary was so tiny & almost solid black & as a pup "passable" for the rescue. It wasn't until she was older that we really put two & two together. (We ended up keeping her, she HAD a few problems from from lack of socialization & exposure to the real world. She has done pretty well working through her problems in the few months we have had her!) There was always "that dang curly tail" & then she grew but not too much, ESPECIALLY for a lab mix! Then I finially said I know that tail is a Basenji tail, BUT they aren't black, thay are red & white, RIGHT? So I looked it up online & HOLY COW, they DO, come in BLACK & white!! She is part Labrador but mostly Basenji. She has such a different personality from our other girls & she does things on her terms BUT we LOVE her to death!! The girls just love her to!!

Daisy & Mary 'chillin'

They both are adorable! I love the sweaters and your story! Thanks for sharing…

Awwww Karen, Marys story is so heart felt… I cried ... Thanks for sharing...How old is Mary again ?? Did her ears ever stand up ?? Sandie is all ears (giggles) ... and her tail is curly... I wish i had a larger yard and more time, I'de love to be a rescue home.

Mary just is 7 months old. She spent her first three months of life at the kennel. The only human contact they would get was a few hours on Saturday, when the volunteers would take them to a local pet store in a attempt to get them adopted. When I was getting ready to place another foster lab from the same place in its forever home, Mary was STILL there. So TINY, she had been there so long in her short life! I couldn't walk past her & the boys any longer. I told the head of the rescue I work with Willow is leaving Sunday & I am going to pick Mary up Saturday afternoon. She had NEVER had a collar on or been walked on a leash, EVER! We still CAN"T believe what a LOVE BUG Mary is for the lack of she had in her start! That's NOT the case NOW!! Marys ears have NEVER stood up all the way but her right ear seems like it is kinda trying to a little more. She is a Tweener, her ears don't lay flat like a lab & they dont stand up all the way like a Basenji. :p Her toes are webbed & she LOVES the swimming pool & she is solid black,(except for the little spot on her chest) thats about all the lab that we can find in her except her HEART. She THINKS she is as big as the other girls!

Sandies ears stood then fell one at a time then by 11 weeks both were standing tall… I wish i knew her mix...
We had a black lab for 16 years lost him jan 06.. prostate enlargement causing him to herniate his bowels ... No one told us to have him fixed when he was younger and we could have avoided this problem later in life...
Mary sounds like a real sweetie... to have had such a bad start in life...

Sandy is cute as could be! I love her perky ears. Sorry to hear about the loss of your big fella. We lost our 2 1/2 year old baby lab to a blood clot following a surgery several months ago. After her loss we brought Kiana into our family & then we decided to KEEP little Mary also. Needless to say, we have put off fostering for a while. :p Here is a group shot of all our girls, Mia & Mary have the same Tweener ears!