Posts made by BEK

After much thought and some tears, we have made the very difficult decision to back out of the adoption of Benn. Though we love the little guy, after all the research I’ve put in I just don’t think we can give him the time and attention he will need and deserve.

I really want him to go to a good family who will have the time to spend with him and exercise him. So if anyone on here is interested or know of someone, please spread the word. He’s a super cute and friendly brindle/white guy, birth date is February 1, 2010, he was previously in a pet store which closed down and was then surrendered to the humane society in Regina, Sask. He’s a purebred but we weren’t given any papers. The HS says he’s healthy, no fanconi testing has been done. He’s very lonely at the HS in a kennel all my himself, they wouldn’t even let us take him outside to play, so he’s pretty much cooped up in a kennel indoors most of the time - he gets very excited and happy every time we visit him to play. So he needs a loving family to take him asap so he can get out of there.

The HS will not under any circumstances let him leave until he’s been neutered, he has an appointment for June 8 (not sure if they’ll keep that, or wait and re-book once someone else adopts him). So if you are a breeder wanting him to breed, then don’t bother calling. I don’t think he’ll last long at the HS, but I really want him to go to a good home who understands the needs of this type of dog. Purebred puppies are rare at the HS, and unfortunately it’s likely that someone will just see a cute puppy and adopt him based on his “cuteness” without researching the breed, and the HS wasn’t all that helpful in educating us. The HS doesn’t allow you to put a puppy on "hold" over the phone, so anyone interested would have to be nearby, so if you know of anyone have them visit the Regina Human Society website, Benn should probably be re-posted there soon.

Thanks everyone for the information and advice. This was a very difficult decision. If we had a fenced in yard and didn’t both work full-time and go to school part-time, we would have took him in a heartbeat. Unfortunately we made a too-quick decision with our hearts when we adopted him, but I think we are making the right decision, as it would be much harder to take Benn home and then realize that we couldn’t handle it.

Thanks for all the input. It's not so much that I think crating is a bad thing it's just that I don't want to have to do it forever. I totally understand that it's a good idea for training or for situations were a crate would be best such as travelling, and I would plan on using a crate in the beginning. However, I'd prefer to have a dog I can leave in my house alone, or at least in the kitchen without coming back to a disaster. Also, I'd prefer to be able to trust the dog in my car without my seats being chewed up. I understand the importance of car saftey but sometimes situations arise were you need to leave your dog in the car for a bit, obviously only if the temperature is safe, and I wouldn't want to have to load up a crate every single time I go somewhere with my dog, if anything I'd prefer to use a doggy seatbelt. If I didn't just purchase a brand new car and new furniture in my house I'm sure I wouldn't be as concerned. The only way to know if he'll destroy something is to leave him alone and see what happens while I'm gone, that's what I'm afraid of, it could go either way. I'm totally aware that many breeds of puppies will chew and will get into some trouble, but usually with training they grow out of it and wouldn't even think of chewing on anything other than their toys, at least that's my experience with the dogs I've known. With the basenji I'm getting the impression that they may or may not grow out of it, it's just in their nature, and even if they are perfectly trained not to, if they feel like chewing on a couch one day then they'll just do it.

Another thing that's concerning me is that my prior research was that B's shed "very little" and have very little dander and are a good choice for allergy sufferers…which is one of the reasons I was excited at first about the B, because I have dog allergies. I've looked at some of the threads which talk about undercoats and "blowing coat", which is making me think they shed more than I initially thought. What are your experiences with shedding? Do they typically only shed just a little?

I've spent alot of time going through the differenet forum discussions on here….and I have to say I am getting quite worried. I did do research prior to signing the adoption papers but I didn't come across the stories and issues that I've read on here. It seems like the majority of Basenji's are "bad" as in they will likely ruin my house and anything that's in it if they are given the chance and I won't be able to trust him alone in the house or car ever, unless he is in a crate....is this true for the majority of Basenjis? Or am I just focussing too much on the negative stories? I thought I did enough research and I knew he'd be alot of work but figured once he's trained he'd be okay to trust in the house, I really don't want to have to crate him at all times and not be able to take him in the car without a crate. Now I'm getting worried that I may have made the wrong decision after spending hours online reading the bad stories. Since I haven't brought him home yet it's not too late to back out of the adoption, I'd rather do that then get him and realize that I can't handle him if he turns out to be destructive, because I know it would be very hard to have to give him up after bringing him home. But then there's also the chance he'd be perfectly good and I missed out on a great dog. Any advice?

Thanks for the info, I will have to get that done. I went to see little Ben today and the lady there said they are pretty sure the "breeder" he came from was a puppy mill situation…so I'm a little nervious now that we might have bought an unhealthy dog. I sure hope not. He's very cute though, a little bundle of energy. It's too bad they won't let us take him home for over 2 more weeks, he looked so sad in the kennel there.

That's unfortunate that there are irresponsble breeders like that. I am suprised that the humane society didn't say anything about fanconi or tell us to get him tested. Do we just get that test done at the vet and is there a certain age that's best to get it done? Do you know roughly how much it costs to get the test?

Oh, do you know anything about that breeder, like are the parent dogs clear of fanconi? Have you tested Teak for fanconi?

Also, do you know where Ben came from? They didn't tell us much about that at the humane society.

Are you guys talking about "Ben" from the Regina Human Society? If yes, I just adopted him yesterday. Just waiting now until he can get neutered, then I can bring him home!
I came upon this site doing research on Basenji's….so any tips you can give me on this breed would be great.