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!
I was on the dogshow in Sweden today and the Tri looked bigger than the other dogs so I don't think the color matter with size?
Dear spirits, I don't think color and size all that related but I know many BIG tris. 
The pup I'm getting next week is a red and white female. Well, not exactly red. Sort of a tan color, but darker than fawn. Should I be looking for certain inherent traits in her? Seems a bit silly to assume that the color of the dog will give it certain behaviors. Is this actually something to be concerned about?
They're not naughtier, it's just you don't entertain them as well.
My tri is the devil himself. Our red is a little angel. Love the tri to death, though.
Should be called "trying", as with your patience. Still love mine to death, as does everyone else who meets little lucifer. Funny thing he is perfectly behaved when left alone at home, uncrated. He usually acts out for attention when he are home. He has demands & need that need attention, then he can settle down.
No general statement about anything is completely true.
