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That is great! But it is kind of unusual. I am not sure how old your Basenji is, but that is *really unusual if he is under three years old. I understand you rescued your dog, so if you ask the group that you rescued him through, I think you will understand why we don't want the general public to say "these dogs are wonderful pets" The Basenji *could be advertised as the perfect dog....they don't bark, they don't smell, they don't shed much, they are 'hypoallergenic', and they are a smallish dog with a bigger personality. That sounds great to a lot of people who don't really want a dog or one person in the family wants one, and the other doesn't. "oh, you won't even notice he is here, he doesn't bark, he doesn't smell, and he cleans himself!' So these people buy a puppy, and go thru all the normal puppy stuff, plus all the relentless basenji stuff. And as everyone assures them the destruction and the screaming in the crate will get better with age, it doesn't. And then maybe the dog starts challenging them as he reaches adulthood. They learn to cope with his "moods" and then they have a baby...the dog is threatened and nervous of the baby...bye, bye dog.
I tell people, we try to scare you away, and if you are *still interested, maybe you are a good match for a Basenji. And, I won't start telling people any differently, because I want to make sure they are FULLY aware of what they *could be getting into. Some Basenjis really *are the perfect dog...but the majority are not the type of dog that someone who wants an *easy dog is looking for.
Hopefully you have or read thru the forum and realize how many problems there are with dog/dog interactions in Basenjis, personal space issues, waking while sleeping, destruction, crate issues. These are issues that can be dealt with a lot of training...but most people don't want a dog that is a "fixer upper". I don't mean people like us, people that ended up here....we like a challenge
I love it when people admire my dogs...they always ask about them, and when I give my warning, they are shocked because my dogs are acting adorable and sweet. My family, on the other hand, knows my dogs very well...and they often say 'that seems like an awful lot of work'...why not just have one sweet lab?