I know its a bit late to be joining this thread, and I certainly don't want to get anybody riled up or anything. I just wanted to add my 2 cents for any future reader that stumbles upon this thread.
My first 2 basenjis are from a backyard breeder. We thought we did a lot of research before hand, but when it came down to it, we just wanted a puppy "right now" instead of being on a waiting list. So we found basenji puppies in the paper & went to visit.
The breeder lived out in the country, with a good sized bit of land, a barn and a house. She bred rabbits, miniature ponies, neopolitan mastiffs, some type of cats, chinese cresteds & basenjis. All dogs were in outdoor, dirt runs, except for the cresteds, which were in the house. Bunnies were in the barn, and all bitches with litters on the ground were in secure, heated areas of the barn (heated with a heat lamp). Her puppies were available to take right that moment, and were less than half the price of basenjis we'd seen elsewhere (only $400).
The woman was extremely nice, and answered all of our minimal questions. She was clearly an animal lover. The pups were up to date on vacs, and she had just given them dewormer the day before. She said the father was "DNA tested". We didn't know what that meant, but it sure sounded fancy. We took our basenji boy home, and within 6 months, wanted another one. I wanted a dark brindle female, so when I contacted her the following year and she had one dark brindle female puppy available, I went up & purchased it without viewing any other puppies.
About 8 months after that, I realized we had dodged a very large bullet. During this time, we had realized she wasn't a "responsible" breeder. The dogs were not health tested for anything. She didn't show, and despite living within spitting distance of arguably the best coursing field in Georgia, had never heard of lure coursing. I "adopted" yodeldogs as my surrogate responsible breeder, and she has been a great asset to me over the years, especially considering she is available any time of day or night to answer my questions or field emergency "omg my dog is…. xyz... should I take it to the vet!?" She has become to me what my original breeder should be.
After looking at our first male's pedigree online, yodeldogs was able to tell us, through her own personal knowledge of his lines, that his sire was either carrier or affected. She didn't know about his dam. When I spoke with our "breeder" about Fanconi, she had never even heard of it, and had TWO more litters on the way, both sired by our male's carrier or affected dog.
As it turned out, our male was a carrier, thank God, but who knows about the others in that litter? She didn't make anybody sign a spay/neuter contract, and now our carrier male is with my ex. He has no plans to neuter, and he's even asked me about breeding him with my current girl, Callie. Under no circumstances would this ever happen in a million years, but he sees breeding as a way to make money. (See why he's my ex?)
Lola tested clear for fanconi, but we had another descrepancy with her. When we got her, our "breeder" told us that she chose to register Lola's litter with CKC because it was cheaper than AKC. It didn't matter to us at the time; we just wanted the dog. But when we heard about coursing and wanted to get involved, we learned that Lola needed an AKC registration number to participate. We assumed we could get her AKC registration since her parents were both AKC registered, but when we contacted our "breeder", she revealed that Lola was actually CKC registered because her dam was from a line that was all CKC registered. We were able to get her AKC limited registration so she could participate in coursing, but we were mislead when purchasing her on her background.
So all of this to say: picking a breeder is EXTREMELY important. Although our "breeder" seemed very nice and had an answer for everything on the surface, in the long run, she was just a very nice woman who loves animals and likes breeding them. She definitely sells them for profit. It doesn't change that she's nice & lovely & caring; however, none of that makes her a responsible breeder. Her facilities were not filthy, although I did not love that all of her animals were kept in outdoor runs all the time. Everything, on the surface, seemed great. However, she does not test her dogs, she has no spay/neuter contract, and she is not readily available to answer questions or offer support. If something were to happen & I could no longer care for Lola, she would not take her back.
This post is in no way commenting on what type of breeder Nocturnal may or may not be, and I am certainly not suggesting she is the same as my "breeder". However, to any prospective basenji owner that comes along, I think its important to urge extreme caution when judging a breeder on how nice they seem.
but if I were going to put some pics on the internet advertising my 'breeding facility' I would surely make sure it looked freakin' perfect.
