Our Black Magic lived to be 17 1/2 before we had to let her go to the bridge. She welcomed new basenji pups into our house, played with them and then almost overnight she was not Magic anymore, her eyes said it was time to go, and we did with great sorrow, but loved her too much to make her stay. She was a wonder, both of our kids grew up with her, learned to walk pulling up on her, she never growled at them or lost patience with the kids. She was a wonderful protector. As long as my husband was home, plumbers, electricians etc could come in the house and she would never even get up from her place. But let me be home with the kids and a service person needed to come in I had to hold her back from them, she wanted them out of her house and away from her people pack. My friends she had no problem with.

Thank you for saying these wonderful things about the mature Bs. My Black Magic lived to 171/2 and only started going down the last 6 months of her life. There is plenty of love in the B's without so much of the puppitis that infects them until age 5 or 6! Cherry just wants to do what is best for these 4. So thank you for the words and send anyone searching to us to get them connected. God Bless, Dawn

Thank you so much Terry, I know it will relieve her mind if she can get them into good homes where they will get more attention that she is able to provide them. I will send up prayers for success. I am (plus my husband) the only Basenji nut living in this area, they have mostling hunting dogs or lap dogs, nothing at all like the Bs. God Bless, Dawn

Yes, she is heartbroken about it, but she needs to reduce her pack size. She wants them to go to loving homes, she has been able to place a couple in good homes, but being back in the hospital with George does not leave her time to do a proper search for good homes. Any help you can give would be gratefully received I know. Thank you, Dawn

Hi, it has been awhile since I have posted about Kell and the rest of our pack. Kell will be three this Dec. After we fostered a couple of Bs, young ones that would play with him, unlike our 2 girls who thought playing with him was beneath their dignity, Kell went into a blue funk after they left. It was so hard to watch him go from an active playing hell hound to a sad boy. So even though I swore not another B puppy, since I barely survived kell's puppyhood, we obtained a beautiful black and white puppy from my friend who has bred several of the Bs we have had thru the years. In fact, Sidhe (Shaye) is Duncan's aunt and Rogue is his great aunt. So we stayed in the family. The only saving grace about Duncan is he is not as tall as Kell so cannot reach as much as kell can, and his nose barely touches the kitchen couner edge where Kell can almost reach the back of the counter. But Duncan can hop on his back legs and gains a couple of inches that way. We are back to our 4 pack again and life with Duncan in it is back to "where did he get that" "it was on top of the stove, at the back" Duncan Dammit is frequently heard. He followed in Kells footsteps or chewing steps and ate a TV control box and a pair of Duane's glasses. But we are nutty Basenji people and can't live any other way.
I have a favor to ask, our breeder needs to place 4 of her older dogs as soon as possible. Her husband has had a reoccuring health problem and is in the hospital again. She has her own health problems that are taking a toll on her with taking care of her husband. Duncan is from her last litter - she will no longer be breeding to show . She has 3 that are 10 years old and one that is 7 and all would love to have their own homes and couches. If anyone is interested or knows of someone who would like a well trained B, former show dogs, please let me know and I will get the connection made between the interested parties.
Another thing Duncan has done is to get the girls to play also, so we have B 500s with all 4 at times. Rogue ,the grand dame, will only occasionally join in, but Sidhe has remembered she does like to play thanks to Duncan pulling her into the puppy games. glad to be back. Dawn

looking so very sweet when asleep, they use that on us to wrap us tighter around their curly tails so that when the mischief arises they have built up a bank of "get out of jail" cards to play.

Cory my boy who crossed the bridge this year, was always untrustworthy around any male that came into our home. While the kids were young, and we had herds of young males running in and out, Cory wore a soft muzzle, all their friends were told to just ignor him, not even look at him. Cory also would not stay in any type of crate, ate out of all of them. So he was left loose while we were not home. He did fine with this. He was Funny his favorite dog sitters were both female, a mom and her daughter. The one time their son attempted to dog sit, cory tore his jeans. As he go older he was more trustworthy, but we never completely trusted him with anyone outside our immediate family. But he was a show dog, and at shows he was a perfect gentleman, so who knows why this breed does what it does. But I do agree you need to get a solution fast, and get the med checks done first is my advice.

My boy Cory was a very food aggressive boy as a young pup. There were days on end that I sat on the floor in front of him, let him have a very nice treat bone, then would tell him to give, he would growl and tug at first. This could go on for an hour or more until he finally let it go without a reaction. We repeated daily, this took awhile, not just a few days, but reached the point I could take anyting from him without a response, including inappropriate items that he had put in his mouth. Time, repetition, soothing voice, and persistence worked for us. Please do get someone that has B experience to watch you interact with him and hopfully will have some good advice for you.

Those ears are adorable! Thanks for taking him in. Our rescue Kell has brought a lot of joy into our lives.

We are failed foster parents too! Kell moved into our hearts and never left. So glad he has you!

Kell can open all cabinets, so they are all locked with old collars around the knobs to keep him out of the pantry. Once he pulled out a 10 lb bag of potatoes and left a trail of potatoes from the kitchen, in to the dining area and thru the living room. When we only have the screen door in use in the living room, he can open with his nose. He will stand there, inside the house, with his head out checking out the back yard for cats & squirrels. I tell him he is letting out the cold air and letting the bugs in, doesn't bother him. Now Sidhe can do doors. I keep a tennis ball hanging outside on the screen door. She will pull on the tennis ball and pull open the screen door, let the others in if they move fast enough to beat her in. If they don't Rogue and Kell cannot seem to understand pulling on the ball will open the door. Kell will start banging on the screen door and it gets loud and very insistant. Rogue will just cry if she is left out. My boy Cory, now at the bridge, would also use the tennis ball to open the door. When he was 6 months old, he figured out food came from the fridge. I kept one of those decorative towels on the fridge door (no long do this!) and he quietly pulled open the door, took out a metal bowl of tuna fish covered with saran wrap, stripped off the wrap, and dug in, his sister Timi was invited in, we got up when it got too quiet (everyone with a B knows how suspicious quiet is). Found the quilty two just as they were both going back in for more goodies. And somehow yesterday evening Kell got down the treat jar from the kitchen table, it was upright on the floor and we never heard it come off the table, I think he levatated it! Love these dogs.