I have had the pleasure of owning both breeds. There is another forum member here who also has a basenji and a Shiba. Lol, they are both very stubborn breeds. Depending on what you want they are very different though. Shibas need a lot of care for grooming, they blow a lot of coat and can get matted fur, on the other hand they make a very good watch dog. Basenjis don't bark but make a multitude of other noises. Their coat is nice and short for less grooming, though they too blow coat, just not as bad as a Shiba. They both maintain puppy characteristics their whole lives and live long lives. I think our Shiba was 16 when we lost her. Both need a lot of socialization, with both people and dogs. This is a must. Good luck with whatever breed you choose. Look at parents for temperament and do your reading on health problems and make sure you adopt from a reputable breeder.
New Basenji Owner
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lol, sounds like a B to me! Basenjis have varying amounts of tail curl, and the tail can be single curled or double. So if less tail curl is the only difference no doubt she is a purebred. Her behavior also sounds very basenji typical….they keep you on your toes! Make sure you do some research on Fanconi Syndrome, a desiese that basenjis can get. I would also recommend that you get her tested for it with The Fanconi DNA marker test, the cost is about $65.00, and it is a very important test to determine if your b might develop fanconi. Anyways welcome! This is a good forum for any basenji owner especially a new one....lots of people to help you out!
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How old is she??? Just wondering because even if you can't get the DNA test immediately, you can still strip test her for signs of fanconi. If she is three years or older it is best to do it at least once a month. There is a website that gives details on how to do this… http://www.barkless.com/guide/strip.htm
And by the way, we are glad to have you on the Basenji Forums. Feel free to ask questions, Basenjis are a wonderful and amazing breed!!! We would love to see some pictures of your little one…
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Welcome, let me know if you need any advice to help you with your b's.
Also, we love photos, if you can do them. -
Congrats on adopting Reba! Do you know what happened to her puppies?
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Best of Luck with your new companion! Pictures pleeeeeese!!!!!!
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Congratulations on letting a basenji steal your heart. You'll find lots of fantastic advice and heart-warming stories here, lots of breeders and rescue people and just plain basenji lovers. We are all passionately involved with our beasties so feel free to come for help.
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Hello and welcome to the forum!! Please post some pics, we love them!
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Hi, welcome!
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She is now about a year and a half. When we first brought her home, she was way too skinny. The shelter's vet said that it was from a compination of her not being fed enough by her past owners and having puppies when she was too young to. The vet had stated that while dogs go into heat as young as 6 months, they should never have puppies before they are a full year and a half old. It took us almost two months to get her up to a healthy weight because she is soooo active. Which is great for playing with our son who is nine, but makes weight gain hard…I usually go for a 2-mile walk with her every morning, then after Aaron gets home from school the two of them run outside for about an hour and a half playing "Reba tag" and fetch...she still seems to have energy to burn though. While it is rough to get out of bed to go for a walk, it keeps her from being distructive while I am at work...
We have also discovered she has a nose that you cannot hide anything from. We have a colony of feral cats that we care for (we live on an old farm that backs up to a boyscout camp, which causes our biggest problem of people dumping cats...of course this is how Reba came to us since we were working with the rescue to have cats spayed and neutered -- my never ending project -- when we found her). Anyway she finds all of the cats "trophies", so she needs to be watched very close when outside lol. She listens pretty good when you tell her to leave it. She drops what ever she has right away, but when you take it off her, you must throw it somewhere she cannot get or she will just go get the trophy again...lol.
I will have to have the vet do a test for Fanconi Syndrome.
All of her puppies have gone to their furever homes. Many of them had been adopted before we found Reba, they were just waiting to be big enough to go home without mommy. I have to say I was not surprised since I know most people want the cute little puppies and not the old mom. We were actually looking for a slightly older dog as I was hoping not to deal with some puppy issues like teething and house breaking so it worked out perfect for us. Aaron had been bugging us for a new dog since Buffy, our cocker spaniel, and Brandy my Bermise Mountain Dog and Border Collie mix had passed (Buffy was about 15 years old and Brandy was a few weeks short of 20). After Buffy died, Brandy went down hill fast.
We had a rough first month as she was so afraid of everyone and everything. I suspect she may have been abused (and by a woman because she was more scared of women then men). Anytime you picked something up she cowered like she thought you were going to hit her, which broke my heart. I don't understand how people can do those things.
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Please note that your Vet can not test for Fanconi. It is a DNA cheek swab test. You need to register her with CPP, order the test kit from OFA and then return. Please go to www.basenjihealth.org for details of the DNA Fanconi test
Would love to see pictures
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Yes, photos please and thank your taking her in and building her thin body up.
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I was struck by the fact that your Bernese lived to be 20 years old! Wow! I know they have had concerns with cancer in the breed, and very few of them live that long. How wonderful for you that you got to have her for that long.
Terry
