Interested in breeding

[satieo]

Hi I'm new to the site and I've always wanted to get into basenji breeding. I haven't yet because I don't want to unless I know more. Does anyone have any tips or sites that I can do more research at? I've done some research but there's so much. What should I worry about?

[lvoss]

What is your reason for wanting to breed? There is lots involved in becoming a responsible breeder.
You will need to become informed on the health concerns of the breed, a good place to start is http://www.basenji.org/?q=node/17
An important part of responsible breeding is preserving the basenji breed in conformation traits and behavior/performance traits. For conformation you can start by becoming familiar with the standard at http://www.akc.org/breeds/basenji/index.cfm After looking at the standard check out Conformation, Lure Coursing, Agility, and Rally Obedience under the EVENTS tab for some of the activities that Basenjis participate in. You can also look in the events calendar for events that are coming up near you. Other Performance Events that basenjis participate in are ASFA Lure Coursing, http://www.asfa.org, NOTRA Oval Track Racing, http://www.notra.org, and LGRA Straight Line Racing, http://www.lgra.org A responsible breeder participates in these activities in order to show how well they are doing at preserving important breed traits.
Becoming active in your local and the national club is also a part of a being a responsible breeder,the National club is at http://www.basenji.org and for regional clubs http://www.basenjiclub.com/?q=node/4
A good place to do some reading on basenji history and new imports is the African Stock Project found at http://www.basenji.org/african

In addition to all the online resources a good book to have in your Basenji Library is The Basenji: Out of Africa To You by Susan Coe.

A really important step is to get out to some local events and start to meet people in the basenji community and to meet some dogs of different lines.

[satieo]

Thank so much for the information, I will definitly do all of those things. I don't plan to start for at least another year in which case I'll raise a pup or 2 so I have a couple years at least to get familiarized with everything. Im even contacting a breeder in the same state to get tips. She shows them. btw love the pics ivoss

[satieo]

How did you get into breeding?

[lvoss]

I got my first basenji about 8 1/2 years ago. I wanted a dog that I could try lure coursing and maybe agility with. I was not interested in showing but agreed to try a a match or two before making a final decision and getting him neutered. At first Nicky didn't really show much interest in lure coursing and I couldn't find any agility classes near me so I entered Nicky in a match. We had fun and I decided I would give showing a try. When Nicky turned about 20 months old he finally decided the lure looked like a whole lot of fun so we split our time between showing him and coursing him. Nicky finished his AKC and ASFA Field Championships fairly quickly and when he was about 2 1/2 years old we decided we wanted to get him a companion. When his breeder was a planning a litter with black and whites expected I told her that I wanted on the waiting list. Nicky was 3 years old when Rally joined the pack. Rally has always been an enthusiastic courser and had that elusive "show attitude" that Nicky lacked she became my first Champion. During this time I also became active in my local breed club and in rescue. I learned a lot about the history of the breed and about how many people get basenjis because they are attracted to its small size and "barklessness" without understanding about its intelligence, sense of humor, and ability to scream bloody murder when upset. It was a big decision to decide to breed Rally. Being a responsible breeder means being responsible for the pups you bring into this world for the rest of their lives and means breeding with the best interest of the breed at heart. I decided to co-breed a litter out of Rally with her breeder because I felt that Rally had a lot to offer the breed as a whole. She has a healthy pedigree that is not over-represented in the gene pool, she has a fabulous temperament that has charmed many a person, and she is a lovely example of a black and white basenji. It took a year of planning and some bumps in the road but in the end we had a nice litter of 4 pups. I am very proud of all my puppy owners for keeping their puppies active and participating in lure coursing with their dogs. We had really hoped for a black girl in Rally's first litter but she gave us a black boy and only red girls. So we started researching again and after nearly 2 years of planning we bred her to an Avongara. Please take time to read about the emergency c-section that we had to have when one of the pups was mispositioned. It was heartbreaking to lose one of the pups and so scary to think that we could have lost Rally.

Breeding is a labor of love. There are so many things that can go wrong and so much screening to make sure the pups end up in homes that will cherish them forever and understand what it is to own a basenji. Basenjis are not for everyone and as much as I love the breed, I have seen many end up in homes that should never have had a basenji and some were homes that would be great for the right breed just not a basenji.