I know they did some color/behavior research with horses long ago. As far as I can remember, … I think it had to do with stockings. Anyway it was in Quarterhorses and after all was said and done, some stud 4 generations back was a real shall we say pistol and they attributed this horse with the stockings (don't ask me if it was front legs or back, but I recall not all 4), a popular sire, as the only maybe link. I really have never found any research about colors and personality with dogs, but I do know there are coat color/temperament research validating it with other animals.
That said, in a breed with limited genes in the US, not unlikely there might be some connection. But honest, forget the color, trust your breeder to pick the right puppy. 
I would be surprised if color had any correlation to personality traits!
I have only had the fortune of owning one red and white B so far. And I think she's also very atypical of the breed – she's very mellow, completely non-destructive, yielding, avoids confrontation, etc.
I love the look of brindles in general (of all breeds) and would be tickled to experience life with a tri someday. I also like the look of "tri" Shiba Inu (they're called black and tans there). But in general, I think there are certain colors and patterns I'm attracted to... which leaves out the black and whites, generally speaking, but I'm sure I'd love a B&W all the same if fate willed one to me.
Oh, what a fun topic.
Yes, it is something that many, many people (including researchers and academics) have been interested for quite a long time.
You might enjoy reading up on it.
Here is a very quick scan of information that is easily available (sorry for the longish post).
This article is about rat research : "Coat color, temperament, and domestication"
http://www.ratbehavior.org/CoatColor.htm
And this one is about cats : "Is Coat Colour Linked to Temperament
http://www.messybeast.com/colour-tempment.htm
And a synopsis of the well know study of domestication in canids : "How Farm Foxes Trace Back the Process of Canine Domestication "
http://www.suite101.com/content/interesting-studies-concerning-dog-domestication-a187309#ixzz1A9TQiiv1
or
http://www.suite101.com/content/interesting-studies-concerning-dog-domestication-a187309
And finally, from http://www.akerrsbengals.com/temperament.htm
This is a fairly complex concept that comes from some observation and from conjecture. Melanin is what colors the hair… and behaviorist surmise: (Beaver, Bonnie: Feline Behavior: A Guide for Veterinarians. WB Saunders Company. Philadelphia. 1992; page 102) : ?Epinephrine has the same metabolic pathway as the pigment melanin, and the same precursor is need for synthesis of both. Genetic manipulation of coat color could then be useful for breeding in or out certain behavioral characteristics such as fear and aggression.?
Helmut Hemmer, Domestication: the Decline of Environmental Appreciation. Cambridge University Press, NY 1983. ?The coat color of a mammal is related to the basic level of its activity, its reaction intensity and its environmental appreciation. The reason for this is probably to be found in the fact that up to a certain stage the pigments that determine color - the melanins - and the catcholamine group of neurotransmitters that are to a large extent the basis of the information processing system share a common biochemical synthesis pathway. Selection of certain coat colors can produce a behavioral change with a corresponding change in the stress system either towards attenuated behavior and increased tolerance or in the opposite direction. Combinations of the alleles of single color genes that deviate from the corresponding wild-type increase or alter their effect on behavior. It follows that the strategy of selecting and combining certain coat color types can produce direct effects on domestication.?
Clyde Keeler in the USA has done studies on laboratory rats, ranch mink, and foxes. Here is a summary of his studies which are often observational. He was visiting a fox farm. (Fox, Michael: The Wild Canids: Their Systematic, Behavioral , Ecology, Evolution. Reinhold Co. NY., page 399. ? All the foxes near me were ambers with an occasional glacier. Farther away I could recognize a pearl or a silver and in the far distance a few platinums. Red foxes never show themselves like this, although they sometimes find their way into the range - nobody knows how.? From this observation , Keeler began a lifelong work in coat color and behavior genetics. ?Quantitative determinations of behavior, size development and biochemical parameters in ranch foxes were the most significant of Keeler?s studies? The colors are as follows: (Fox, 123) ?The animals used were wild red foxes, silver foxes (that is the non-agouti black animals with a silver allele): and pearl, a breed color that combines the non-agouti allele with a dilution allele (blue), amber which carries the brown allele of the piebald allele and for the non-agouti (black) allele of the agouti locus. The offspring were bred further and the behavior of the wild-colored animals (ones in which the agouti allele of the agouti locus was expressed) and the bland animals (with the non-agouti allele) was compared. The non-agouti black rats proved to be less timid and less aggressive and showed more confidence in new situations by exploring them more quickly. Albino rats in these experiments proved to less ready to react to olfactory stimuli than others.?
Keeler also studied rats. (Helmut Henner) ?Keeler first crossed brown rats with albino laboratory rats that , in addition to the albino allele, were homozygotes for the Black locus in addition to the two former alleles, and glacier, animals in which a white allele is add to those for the amber coloring.? This is a very elaborate study that measure adrenal gland response, size, and many other areas statistically. In essence, the amber fox behaved with the least amount of fear, and is also the largest of the fox in size. The more heterozygous for color the animal was, the ?less fear it exhibited?. Keeler went on to study mink and found that color made a difference in size and in behavior. Again, ?the heavier, animals (pastel mink, ie. light brown) had smaller adrenal glands and were characteristically less active and aggressive, that is, they behaved more tamely.? (Hemmer)
Zebras have been studied, Hemmer, (p. 127) sites a study done by Eckehard Eich and Elisabeth Reichert. ?The activity values of the ?whites? coincide with those of domestic horses and donkeys, while the values of the normal-colored zebras differ distinctly from them. ?White? (albino) zebras are less shy of observer in the enclosure than others.?
And still quoting from http://www.akerrsbengals.com/temperament.htm
There are many more studies than I can even begin to note here… however, it should be pointed out that this is being studied and is not a known fact. It could very well be that hair color does indeed follow the same pathways and neurons but I go back to the article in Discover magazine (Sapolsky, Robert: A Gene for Nothing. Discover. October, 1997. Vol. 18 No.10) : ?...By now, I hope, we?ve gotten past ?genes determine behavior? to ?genes modulate how one responds to environment.?? (p. 46.)
It would be a gross mistake to make broad range assumptions on behavior and color alone...
?most differences in behavioral traits are influenced by many gene, not just one or a few genes which means that inheritance will likely be complex.? Voith, Victoria and Borchelt, Peter, editors: Estep, Daniel ?Ontogeny of Behaviors?, in Companion Animal Behavior, page 27.
Fox bred for friendliness. Helmut Hemmer, p. 161-162. Chapter on New Domestications: ?In the preceding chapters, three principles of domestication were elaborated. (1) Wild animals seem to be more suitable for domestication the easier they are to breed successfully in captivity in crowded conditions. (2) Individuals from a species to be domesticated seem to be more suitable the smaller their relative brain size within that species. (3) The selection and combination of certain coat color types can elicit direct domestication effects. With the knowledge of these basic principles, it must now be possible to undertake purposeful selective and combinatory breeding for new domestications which enable the transition period between the wild and the domestic animal to be traversed within a few animal generations, in contrast to the domestication of animals of past millennia that proceeded slowly over hundreds of years and involved a great deal of chance. A further possible approach is to select rigorously for the typical domestic behavioral syndrome, where the fundamental suitability for domestication seems to exist according to the first principle but no differences in the populations or individuals corresponding to the other two principles can be defined.
An excellent example of this approach is provided by a study on breeding a fox that resembled the dog in its behavior, undertaken by K.K.Belyaev and L.N. Trut. This experiment was carried out with silver foxes on a fur farm belonging to t the Soviet Academy of Sciences near Novosibirsk. Young foxes aged between 1 1/2 and 2 months were selected according to the criteria of their tolerance of hand-feeding, their reaction to be handled by humans, and their response to being called. In this way, after 15 years of constant selection, foxes were finally bred that came when they were called, tolerated being petted and picked up by humans, wagged their tails in greeting and barked on seeing humans; in brief, they behaved in practically the same way as dogs.?
The study goes on to say that the foxes changed their reproductive cycles to resemble the domestic dog and the hair color of some of the fox changed to one of a piebald. Black and white fox.
In Sweden its a small general rumor for all dogbreeds that red dogs are more aggressive than black and the one with red noses are the most dangerous. haha!
I think the color has nothing with the temperament or behavior to do, Its just the breed itself that hade special things that they do.
That was some interesting reading Dr. Jo, thank you!
The fox study seems to prove that there are genetic links between color and behavior.
I have had red & whites, black & whites and tris. My most impish and playful were my first red male and my black male. I have a male and female tri currently, only Nicky (female) is destructive, and her desire to eat my shoes and glasses has lasted all her life and she is now 13. Eddie would not dream of tearing up anything or eating a shoe!
Personally, I think it is the way tris look that contribute to their reputation. Those red pips over the eyes contribute to an impish, dare I say demonic, looking face.
So don't fear a tri, but do guard all your favorite things from any basenji puppy! Not only tris are tri-ing!
There always seems to be a lot of talk on here about "naughty tri's", and maybe I just got lucky but my tri is very laid back and well behaved 
She is playful and loves to pester the other dogs into playing, but thats not unusual for any dog I dont think? Certainly all my other dogs have their playful sides. Maya likes a good long run at least once a day, but as long as she has had that she will happily sleep on the sofa for the rest of the day, only waking up to be fed, or for another walk She has not been anywhere near as bad with chewing as i'd have expected. The only things she's chewed (couple of hairdryer cables and a phone charger cable) have been things i left in her reach. She has free run of the house when im out and never chews the furniture..
Maybe with my next basenji I will have a shock if that turns out to be a "typical tri" lol! But I think, as far as basenji's go, Maya is a dream to live with!
Thanks Dr Jo. I hadn't had time to look up stuff to post but I actually had read most of those!
I agree…don't fear a tri! They are wonderful...and probably my favorite color. Even if they are a little naughtier than the other colors (debateable!) it isn't enough to make your life that much more difficult than any other Basenji. Admittedly, I haven't read much of the research on this, but I can tell you that my friends who are SERIOUS about retrieving competitions will SWEAR that you should stay away from Chocolate Labs...that the ONLY way to go is Yellow or Black...they claim that Chocolates are just dumber than the others, across the board.
I agree…don't fear a tri! They are wonderful...and probably my favorite color. Even if they are a little naughtier than the other colors (debateable!) it isn't enough to make your life that much more difficult than any other Basenji. Admittedly, I haven't read much of the research on this, but I can tell you that my friends who are SERIOUS about retrieving competitions will SWEAR that you should stay away from Chocolate Labs...that the ONLY way to go is Yellow or Black...they claim that Chocolates are just dumber than the others, across the board.
The chocolate lab thing is a myth too Over here a lot of people say the chocs have sharper temperments but I have blacks and chocs and there is no difference in them at all other than individual personalities. I think the Yellows and Blacks just have more established working lines, what with chocolate only being an accepted colour relatively recently so possibly it is easier to find a successful yellow or black working lab, but theres plenty of chocs out their doing their job just fine
Tri's are not "really" naughtier… but they are more amusing... and as said... they are "Tri-ing"... gggg... But I love my Tris!!!!! They are my most favorite
Admittedly, I haven't read much of the research on this, but I can tell you that my friends who are SERIOUS about retrieving competitions will SWEAR that you should stay away from Chocolate Labs…that the ONLY way to go is Yellow or Black...they claim that Chocolates are just dumber than the others, across the board.
Hate to say it but I know a couple of Chocolates that deservedly live up to that reputation. Sweet dogs, but not the sharpest knives in the drawer. :D:D
No, coat color does not affect personality. Each dog is an individual and you will find all ranges of personalities in every color.
Temperament, on the other hand, is developed through both genetics and life experiences. Color is passed along genetically but it has no bearing on temperament.
In my house the behaviour seems to have mostly to do with mental capacity and stimulation. My experience with 2 r/w, 1 light brindle/white and 1 b/w so far has it this way…but I'll preface this by saying that my dogs breeders know that I LOVE the crazy, high strung basenjis. All 4 of mine have fantastic temperaments.
Brando - my r/w boy (who is now 6) is a complete wise a$$. Anything naughty he can do to get attention (even if he is tired)...he will do. He craves human interaction and he'll get it one way or another. He is the starter of all trouble with the Ruby/Brando pack.
Ruby my r/w girl (6yo also) only gets fingered for Brando's crimes. Maybe once a month I need to correct her and she has a day where she has me at wits end. That said, she is super active and by herself she was into everything. Training with her helps take the edge off in a huge way.
Ozzy (1yo) my b/w boy has been the easiest basenji in my group of 4. He is the laid back, sweetest dog. I was counting and I think I've only corrected him 4 times (for misdeeds in the house - chewing, that sort of thing) since I've had him - I'm serious. He is my angel basenji. And boy did I need him after my 3rd basenji...
Aaliyah (2yo) light brindle/white. OMG, hell on wheels!!!!! Made me almost rethink my love of high-strung basenjis :eek:. Even at 2 (and having been spayed), she is still something to behold. The standing joke with her breeder is that she is the one that could be used as the example of how bad it can get with a basenji and how short an attention span they can really have. She can be VERY trying but the problem is I find her highly amusing, and it probably doesn't help that we laugh at her antics. In Liyah's mind, she is never wrong, everyone else is and she could care less about being corrected. If she doesn't want to do something, good luck getting her to do it - even for the yummiest treat that she loves in 99.99% of other situations. I have an 8 week old pic of her when she was being stacked for her puppy pic where she is rolling her eyes - pretty much sums up what she would be like in the future :D. Liyah doesn't do anything to get human attention - she doesn't care about human attention, she is out to entertain herself. I would easily say she is my smartest basenji. Anything she wants to do, she will figure out a way. She is the one that can open doors by putting both paws around the door knob and turning it - pushing in or pulling out to get the door open once the knob is turned. She opens her own crate as well as all my other dogs crates. She opens the cupboard doors (mind you never takes anything...just opens and climbs in to investigate). She takes a 5 minute nap and you would think she had slept for hours - endless energy and always needs to be on the go. She has been diving off of tables and higher objects since she was 12 weeks old - usually to pounce on something or someone. The list goes on and on. Hands down I laugh at her more than any of my other 4. We call her the court jester as she is always outdoing her crazy stunts - she is fearless, and oh so funny. Training with her only helps so much as you can almost see the thought bubble outside her head reading "what makes you think I want to do this".
I have some hilarious show stories about her...although none of us thought they were funny while they were happening. One final funny puppy story on Liyah though...we had a contractor at the house when she was 14 weeks old and I had her upstairs in a covered expen. She jumped from the top of her crate and grabbed onto the top of the expen with her paws - hanging like a monkey. She'd drop to the floor, climb up on her crate and do it again. The contractor was like - what the heck is that. Our response, that is just Liyah - she loves to do that. :eek: She is a nut!
I know they did some color/behavior research with horses long ago. As far as I can remember, … I think it had to do with stockings. Anyway it was in Quarterhorses and after all was said and done, some stud 4 generations back was a real shall we say pistol and they attributed this horse with the stockings (don't ask me if it was front legs or back, but I recall not all 4), a popular sire, as the only maybe link. I really have never found any research about colors and personality with dogs, but I do know there are coat color/temperament research validating it with other animals.
I have never liked riding white horses. Way too jittery and highly unpredictable.
No, coat color does not affect personality. Each dog is an individual and you will find all ranges of personalities in every color.
Temperament, on the other hand, is developed through both genetics and life experiences. Color is passed along genetically but it has no bearing on temperament.
While in general I tend to agree, I don't think you can absolutely declare it doesn't as research on other animals has shown a linkage. But in general, really… 2 reds here were totally different. Cara is a sweetie.. wild but a soft gentle creature. And if you trust the breeder with puppy evaluations, I wouldn't see a reason to even consider coat color relationships to temperament as it has to be only a small factor if any.
Paco's my one and only ever Basenji, but he is a tri and I have to say…as long as he's exercised and not bored out of his mind, he is the sweetest little thing, and I never would have expected him to be so cuddly and friendly, even with strangers, based on the research I did on Basenjis.
Of course, today I wasn't paying attention to him when he clearly wanted it, and he tore a small hole in the couch. :rolleyes:
All it took was picking him up and putting him on the computer chair with me for him to curl up and go to sleep, though.
This is a strong rumor in cats as well. When I worked as a vet tech, we always feared the calicos, because they were meaner when you took them away from their person.
My tri is as laid back as a basenji can be. She gets silly sometimes, but never naughty.
-Nicole
I agree that tris aren't more naughty but I've always found that my tris have a very cheeky temperament much more so than the red/whites and can be rather more of a handful although they have all been reared in exactly the same way.
The other difference I've found is that they have been much less wary about playing in water than the red/whites. Not to say that the red/whites haven't had some of the same traits but they've varied in behaviour - my tris haven't. May be a coincidence as obviously can't be linked to coat colour and of course I've had many more red/whites than tricolours.
I'd be very interested in what other breeders who've had Basenjis for some time have found?
are tris generally smaller than others? when i look at most people's pics on here, their dogs look so much bigger than suki. and then i saw some people with tris and r/w, and their tris look smaller. maybe it's that the black is so slimming??? i don't know but the dogs on here look bigger than my darling. granted, she's only 7 months (tomorrow!), but still… just curious!
