Basenjis hunting is a "gas" to watch….my 2 have caught rabbits and squirrels.
This, in my opinion is what makes them happiest! They are a(for the most part) breed unchanged genetically for thousands of years. There was some tweaking of the "tight curly tail", I'm sure. They are hard wired for hunting, and if I indulge this, it seems to make them content like nothing else...:D
We are very lucky here in Northern California, Jeff Schettler is hosting a bird test for basenjis on May 3rd. The dogs will get an opportunity to find some chukar. I am looking forward to seeing how they all do, there are already 20-25 basenjis signed up.
Basenjis hunting is a "gas" to watch….my 2 have caught rabbits and squirrels.
This, in my opinion is what makes them happiest! They are a(for the most part) breed unchanged genetically for thousands of years. There was some tweaking of the "tight curly tail", I'm sure. They are hard wired for hunting, and if I indulge this, it seems to make them content like nothing else...:D
I do notice a difference in intensity between some of ours as far as hunting and what they do with something after they catch it. The B's I have with a larger % of African in them will eat what they catch…...immediately! The more domestic basenji we have isn't interested in eating things at all. Could be the domestic's personality, I'm not sure.
The African puppies we have now, you can tell will be hunters and seem to know how to hunt within the pack already. The pack was hunting doves yesterday and it was cool to watch them all spread out and control an area.
I would love to see Basenji's on upland game....awesome!
I clean and butcher the rabbits my hawk catches. My 2 Basenjis will not leave me alone when I do this!! They will try to dive in and snatch it, I push them away, and even scold them. I can leave a roast beef sandwich in front of them, and tell them NO!, and they won't touch it. But a bunny is just too much. They will do anything to get at it…....pretty funny...:)
I clean and butcher the rabbits my hawk catches. My 2 Basenjis will not leave me alone when I do this!! They will try to dive in and snatch it, I push them away, and even scold them. I can leave a roast beef sandwich in front of them, and tell them NO!, and they won't touch it. But a bunny is just too much. They will do anything to get at it…....pretty funny...:)
Do you feed your B's any of the rabbit?
We have some 5/8 and 1/2 af's, three of them tore a rabbit apart and all ate a peice…..nothing left, and to behonest, they acted scary once there was blood in the air.
In contrast a b/w female was around for a rabbit kill and wouldn't touch it. That same girl will hunt voles and mice......just won't eat them.:rolleyes:
It may be the individual dog and have nothing to do with AF or no AF......I'm not sure.
I hope they get lot's of pictures from the May hunting event.;)
No, I don't give them any…Mostly they are just "all full of themselves" when they catch one. If the girl gets it, it looks like a can of paint in a paint shaker!! Over in the blink of an eye! They really coordinate when they hunt. If one chases a rabbit into cover the other will find the "exit" and wait for the flush....I've never worked with them at all on their hunting. They can do it, no problemo. It's hard to find the "off switch" when they are in mode, though.
It's hard to find the "off switch" when they are in mode, though.
Yeah, that's what I see too, they go to that "other place".:)
How they hunt together is truely amazing, gorey, but amazing!
Yea…they really don't have alot of compassion for little furry animal.
Yea…they really don't have alot of compassion for little furry animal.
We have a lot of doves around, they love to catch those too…...feathers!!!!:D
When we used to go to a undeveloped area near the beach to run, I kept bells on Topper and Nicky to give the rabbits a head start, they chased a lot but never caught but one, and I got it out of Topper's mouth before it was injured.
Now Topper is older and not really as interested as he once was, but Eddie has a strong prey drive. He will visually follow a squirrel through a whole group of trees at the dog park, and he killed a rat once that had gotten into our kitchen. It took me several years to get him to ignore little fluffy dogs at the park, and his prey drive has diminished as well, now that I think of it.
Anne in Tampa
EEEK! Today was a lovely day and the dogs spent a couple of hours out in the yard. They chased the squirrels, birds, and each other and slept on their favorite warm spot on the patio. Sometime after I had made them come back in, I noticed an odd area in the yard. When I went out to investigate, I found a large circle of feathers. No body, no body parts, no bird…..just lots and lots of feathers. Cory and Jayden aren't talking but I suspect that Cory actually caught the bird. She is very fast and has a strong prey instinct. Jayden is more of a Bubba and runs around as if he's saying "What are we chasing? What are we chasing?" Hard to tell which one of them ate it…maybe both. Now, I didn't actually see them catch the bird and I guess a cat could have come into the yard and caught the bird. But I don't think a cat would have left the large "crop circle" of feathers. Whatever caught the bird really tore into it. Icccckkkkkkk! :eek:
So why do I both buying a decent dog food??
Pat
mia likes to catch leaves 
LOL
a lot less gorey.. hahaha
I'm with u hdolbow mine catch leaves It's pretty funny when Phoenix pounces on it like it's hard to hold down I don't let them get near any critters just because i am too worried about what the animal might have also i'm alll set with the clean up yuck lol I'll just let Phoenix keep believing that the leaves are 40lb creatures lol lol 
