Hey Everyone,
My name is Michelle and I'm so excited to have come across this forum! I live in Michigan and am the human slave to 2 little basenjis. One is Tayda (short for Potato) , a female red and white that I got a year and a half ago from a breeder in Kentucky. And the other is Lenny (named after the character from John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men), a male brindle I got from a breeder here in Michigan about 9 months ago. They are of related lines, I suppose they are distant cousins or something like that. They both have really distinct personalities - Tayda is much more subdued, probably because she is 3 years older than Lenny, and more of the "aloof" type that basenji folks talk about. But she is a sweetheart. She always has to be within 10 feet of me, but isn't the cuddly type on her own. I can take her into my lap and she is just dandy, but on her own, she'd like to just curl up on the other end of the couch from me. Not destructive at all, not a climber. Lenny, on the other hand, is a monster. He has destroyed 2 cell phones (grabbed of the counter and chewed off the antennae), 1 watch, several pair of underwear, the electrical cord to my sewing machine, a t.v. remote, and many others. That was only in the first few months of having him. I have wisened up a LOT since then, and for now, have outsmarted him. He is a cuddle bear… always has to be sitting on my lap. resting his head on my arm, or shoulder, or knee or anywhere he can fit his head.
The two get along pretty well, I think they are still trying to sort out who is alpha between them. Lenny usually wins the toy tug of wars, but whenever they wrestle, Lenny is the one that always ends up on his back. Anyway, its been fun watching them interact and I love having them around.
Michelle
