I have two basenjis - male and female, and a young mixed breed female. My basenjis lives on separate floors. The male was the first in the house. A year later I got the female so he would have a playmate and all was fine at first. But slowly the female started bullying him. I wish I had been more aware of it at first - I might have been able to intervene before it escalated to where it is now, but I can't let them in the same room. I'm convinced she would kill him if she could. He's terrified of her and not much of a fighter. She can be fierce. They both got along with the new dog at first, but then Rose started picking on her a bit. The luck here is that Gracie weighs 20 lbs more than Rose. She'll never start a fight, but can always stop it. As a result, Rose has learned not to pick on her, but she also won't play with her now that she's full grown because Grace has become too much for her with the size difference. The both played with Grace when she was small.

Because I have a multi-floor house I've been able to manage things with gates. I love them both so much that I didn't want to part with either of them. I will enjoy it, though, when the gates can come down.

They are soooo smart. When my Willie was about 8-1/2 weeks old my daughters were playing a game with him around the kitchen island. They had him chasing them and it took him about a minute to figure out if he stayed at the end of the island, he could just go left or right from there to catch them.

That being said, if he doesn't want to do something, it's really hard to get him to do it. Food helps, but he is, as they say, an "independent thinker." A very intelligent independent thinker.

Willie and Rosie do that also, and they each give me a look as they do it as if to say "how cute am I!" They know they've got me!

Very sweet book - not a literary miracle, but such a sweet story. The way the Basenji speaks to his owner, though, is very like the way my guys let me know what they need without words. I really think Basenjis are incredibly expressive - not such a stretch to imagine them actually communicating in English, if only through our minds.

I've also had a dead squirrel in the house, and the dogs had scratched up noses, but except for the surprise of it, all was well - no infections. The dogs - particularly my female - were very proud.

Good luck. I have, in addition to my two basenjis, seven cats. I've always had cats and they give each other (not the ones that live in my house together, but other neighborhood cats) puncture wounds. Gross as it sounds, I've learned to pick at their scabs so any infection can drain because of the likelihood of abcesses.

And I agree - our female dogs are the tougher ones. My boy is a big baby - it's my Rosie you have to look out for in a fight.

Thanks - maybe I can get the vet to check his thyroid on the blood that was drawn today.

He will be 6 in November.

I had his thyroid levels done a couple of years ago and they seemed fine. Today we're doing a fasting blood test for his liver and we'll see what's going on with that. The orthopedic vet won't do surgery unless his liver is okay.

That's what I thought. I've used them many times before - always for short stays, and there has never been any problem. But I find it hard to believe that they didn't notice anything when the injury happened.

I picked my boy, Willie, up from the kennel a couple a weeks ago. He was limping. This did not concern me at first as sometimes when he's running around with other dogs he'll slide and strain a groin muscle. But the limping didn't get any better. I took him to the vet and it turned out that he has ruptured the equivalent of our achilles tendon (it's called something very long that starts with a "g").

He's been to an orthopedic vet and will have surgery for it (I'll be in debt for quite a while!). But she said that this in not a common injury. Does anyone know if Basenjis are more prone to something like this than the average dog? In the end it doesn't matter, I just want to help him get better, but I'm curious.

The kennel owners did not notice anything unusual, they just noticed that he started to limp. I would think that it would take something major to cause such a serious injury.

He will probably never walk the same way again, and he has always had such a beautiful gait.

Before he can even have the surgery, we have to determine whether his liver is better. I posted months ago about his raised liver enzymes. He has been much better since he's been on Prescription Diet - he's gained weight and his personality has improved drastically. He was pretty grumpy for a while, and I know that liver disease in people can cause irritability. He's being tested for that today. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!