I know its a bit late to be joining this thread, and I certainly don't want to get anybody riled up or anything. I just wanted to add my 2 cents for any future reader that stumbles upon this thread.
My first 2 basenjis are from a backyard breeder. We thought we did a lot of research before hand, but when it came down to it, we just wanted a puppy "right now" instead of being on a waiting list. So we found basenji puppies in the paper & went to visit.
The breeder lived out in the country, with a good sized bit of land, a barn and a house. She bred rabbits, miniature ponies, neopolitan mastiffs, some type of cats, chinese cresteds & basenjis. All dogs were in outdoor, dirt runs, except for the cresteds, which were in the house. Bunnies were in the barn, and all bitches with litters on the ground were in secure, heated areas of the barn (heated with a heat lamp). Her puppies were available to take right that moment, and were less than half the price of basenjis we'd seen elsewhere (only $400).
The woman was extremely nice, and answered all of our minimal questions. She was clearly an animal lover. The pups were up to date on vacs, and she had just given them dewormer the day before. She said the father was "DNA tested". We didn't know what that meant, but it sure sounded fancy. We took our basenji boy home, and within 6 months, wanted another one. I wanted a dark brindle female, so when I contacted her the following year and she had one dark brindle female puppy available, I went up & purchased it without viewing any other puppies.
About 8 months after that, I realized we had dodged a very large bullet. During this time, we had realized she wasn't a "responsible" breeder. The dogs were not health tested for anything. She didn't show, and despite living within spitting distance of arguably the best coursing field in Georgia, had never heard of lure coursing. I "adopted" yodeldogs as my surrogate responsible breeder, and she has been a great asset to me over the years, especially considering she is available any time of day or night to answer my questions or field emergency "omg my dog is…. xyz... should I take it to the vet!?" She has become to me what my original breeder should be.
After looking at our first male's pedigree online, yodeldogs was able to tell us, through her own personal knowledge of his lines, that his sire was either carrier or affected. She didn't know about his dam. When I spoke with our "breeder" about Fanconi, she had never even heard of it, and had TWO more litters on the way, both sired by our male's carrier or affected dog.
As it turned out, our male was a carrier, thank God, but who knows about the others in that litter? She didn't make anybody sign a spay/neuter contract, and now our carrier male is with my ex. He has no plans to neuter, and he's even asked me about breeding him with my current girl, Callie. Under no circumstances would this ever happen in a million years, but he sees breeding as a way to make money. (See why he's my ex?)
Lola tested clear for fanconi, but we had another descrepancy with her. When we got her, our "breeder" told us that she chose to register Lola's litter with CKC because it was cheaper than AKC. It didn't matter to us at the time; we just wanted the dog. But when we heard about coursing and wanted to get involved, we learned that Lola needed an AKC registration number to participate. We assumed we could get her AKC registration since her parents were both AKC registered, but when we contacted our "breeder", she revealed that Lola was actually CKC registered because her dam was from a line that was all CKC registered. We were able to get her AKC limited registration so she could participate in coursing, but we were mislead when purchasing her on her background.
So all of this to say: picking a breeder is EXTREMELY important. Although our "breeder" seemed very nice and had an answer for everything on the surface, in the long run, she was just a very nice woman who loves animals and likes breeding them. She definitely sells them for profit. It doesn't change that she's nice & lovely & caring; however, none of that makes her a responsible breeder. Her facilities were not filthy, although I did not love that all of her animals were kept in outdoor runs all the time. Everything, on the surface, seemed great. However, she does not test her dogs, she has no spay/neuter contract, and she is not readily available to answer questions or offer support. If something were to happen & I could no longer care for Lola, she would not take her back.
This post is in no way commenting on what type of breeder Nocturnal may or may not be, and I am certainly not suggesting she is the same as my "breeder". However, to any prospective basenji owner that comes along, I think its important to urge extreme caution when judging a breeder on how nice they seem.

Blue Buffalo is hosting a Halloween photo contest, and the winner gets a year's supply of Blue Buffalo. If my picture wins, I will donate the food to a shelter.
http://www.bluebuffalo.com/halloween/costume-contest.php?costume=785

Thank you!

I don't get on here often, so I just saw this. What a fascinating topic!!! Thank you for sharing.

You are all a riot hahaha.
I knew my comment would be appreciated here. I'm just happy he gave in, because I wasn't sure I could keep him if he wouldn't let me have a fence

I wanted to thank everybody for their input. At first, I was extremely disappointed. Part of me was hoping for even one or two positive experiences to make myself feel better about my only option. However, I think the overwhelmingly negative opinions worked in my favor. The boyfriend is coming around… last night we discussed options. He said, "We can have a fence, but you're not going to like what I want." I said "As long as it is a basenji proof physical barrier, I don't care if you put brown and pink lacquered (suggestively shaped boards) all around our yard!"
So it will still be another year before I save up the money, at least, but I wore him down much more quickly than I had hoped!!! Thank you all so much for your help!

Thank you all for your input. This is pretty much exactly what I expected. I am completely dead set against an invisible fence alone, and I think an invisible fence paired with a nice, quality picket fence would be very nice. My boyfriend is a commitment phobe when it comes to big, expensive decisions, so I think he is dragging his feet on the issue. I'm hoping to wear him down, and will be showing him the deer fence, etc.
Thanks all. Please keep my basenjis in your thoughts and cross your fingers that they get a fence, sooner rather than later.

@Voodoo:

Why not a physical, visual barrier with a shock device on it? Like they use with horses and such? There are devices that don't have that much wattage, so only small chocks that 'suprise' the dog. Used one with my racoondogs and worked perfect. They ran against it twice and then allways stayd at a little distance from it.

The whole reason for this discussion is that my boyfriend is opposed to a physical, visual barrier. He will only allow an invisible fence unless I can convince him otherwise.

I really appreciate all of the feedback…. these were all concerns of mine. I don't worry so much about the children aspect as we live on the end of a quiet street. The children around us are all teens, and there are a lot of dogs around so they all seem pretty dog savvy. I wouldn't be leaving them out unattended, but we have a HUGE yard, so it would be impossible for me to beat my dogs from one end to another if something happened. Also concerned because we have a lot of deer. If its baby season, I know deer can be extremely protective.
My biggest concern is prey drive, and there is a LOT of very interesting prey on our street. Unfortunately, our across the street neighbors have an invisible fence for their two mixed breed dogs. My boyfriend talked to them, and now he is sold on an invisible fence. Their dogs don't seem too driven to go after anything, human, prey or otherwise, and they seem pretty well socialized (they let Callie & Lola cross their invisible fence when they were supervised by myself and their own owners and mine were on leash).
I'll just use all of this in my argument.... I'd really like a physical barrier AND invisible fence combination.

Just bumping this back to the top. I have a hard time believing not one person on this forum has any input at all on health testing….
I'd really appreciate any and all help. This is for an article to help others understand the importance of health testing in the breed.

So I moved in with my boyfriend 2 months ago. We have a lovely house with, more importantly to me, a HUGE, mostly flat backyard with lots of fun wildlife. Since I first got basenjis about 4 years ago, all I've ever wanted is a big, SAFELY FENCED, back yard for them to run and chase squirrels and be silly and play.
Of course, the boyfriend has a bulldog, who hates any form of exercise, and does not run or chase things. He does not have much of a need for a fence.
We're butting heads on fencing. Neither one of us wants to break up the view or the flow of the backyard; none of our neighbors have fences. I was hoping for an invisible fence/picket fence combo to contain my two basenjis. However, he doesn't even want a picket fence. He says I can have an invisible fence and nothing more.
I will say this: this is my boyfriend's house. He is on the mortgage, and if we break up, he has to live with anything I've changed. He is very tolerant of basenjis although he is a bulldog guy, and we agree on virtually everything else. So breaking up with him over the fence and the bulldog is not a possibility I just want to know if anybody else has had success with basenjis and invisible fences. I know they are not ideal, and I don't worry about Lola. Lola is very eager to please, and follows boundaries set for her (ie: although she can, she won't jump over a baby gate put up in a doorway because she knows she's not supposed to.) However, Callie can and will jump over baby gates, and one of her littermates discovered she could run the battery down on an invisible fence collar by standing close enough to set off the warning beep and then simply walk away.
It seems to be my only option at this point; I'd just feel more comfortable with hearing some success stories or advice. I would not be leaving them unattended outside and would exercise more caution with an invisible fence than I would with a full privacy fence.
Any words of wisdom, consolation, or advice?

I was just gonna say… love the name Seeley. Great show!