My 15 month old basenji boy has not had an accident in the house for many, many months. He was slow in housebreaking as he came from an elderly breeder who had him and his 4 sisters locked in a single crate 24/7. He ate and peed in the crate for 4 months until we rescued him. We have a 2 year old basneji girl who has no house breaking issues! The past week, our boy has peed and/or pooped in the house almost every night! WHY? We take them out every 4 hours or sooner … they sunbathe in the backyard for hours a day. Any ideas as to why he could have taken a step backwards? Thanks for you thoughts!

We have had elsa since she was 8 weeks and no parasite until this week when we picked her up from her 9 days/nites at daycare during our vacation … she had profuse diarrhea for 24 hours ... the Vet is not worried ... said common from daycare situations ... she is on pills for 20 days ... the fur loss is worrisome ... not coming out in clumps ... just that her coat is clearly thinning and becoming brittle ... the diagnosis was "allopecia" ... should get thyroid results tomorrow ... what am I supposed to ask the breeder ... if there is thyroid in her background?? thanks!

hi everyone … elsa is now 11 months ... and her fur is looking very bad ... a month ago she looked like she was losing some very small areas of fur on both sides of her neck ... the vet tested for mites and all was negative ... we thought allergy but she is not scratching. After a week's vacation last week, we picked her up from boarding in a home daycare environemt (where she had had a bath before we picked her up) she she visually looked like her fur was thinning everywhere! We took her to the vet and she has a parasite in her stools (thanks daycare) and the vet is testing her thyroid due to the "allopecia". Has anyone had experience with this ?? Is this an age where baby fur goes away and adult fur is growing in? HELP! Elsa's mom!

We are hopefully getting a second basenji … a 5 year old male ... who's name we simply can not keep ... is there a protocol for changing the name? is this going to present huge problems? HELP!

Tanza … I am not raising a show dog ... nor a bog for breeding purposes ... what I meant to say is that this 3 year old male has been raised as a show dog ... when we met him last week he could not "sit" on command ... his command language appeared to be different. Even the breeder said that he has not learned a "sit command" ... Will bringing a dog into my house that was raised as a show-dog bring challenges I am not prepared for? Will I have to train him with a whole new set of thought processes? I think I would rather raise another puppy than teach a 3 yr old new tricks!

Actually, Elsa has not been walking poorly for the past 10 months … when we first got her at 8 weeks, it was the dead of winter, so we let her out in our fenced in yard to house break her. We started taking her on long walks this spring when she was atleast 7 months old. We walk miles a day ... taking her out 4-6 times a day. Our breeder, said that this age is a tough age on the leash. This is our only frustration. Every other basenji quirk is a joy to us. When we met the 3 yr old male, she walk well ... he was a show dog and used for breeding ... I fear issues around raising a dog for show/breeding that I don't know about.

Thank you so much for your insight Tanza. I suspect non-basenji owners just don't understand this special breed. I had a basenji named McKenzie for over 11 years and knew she was special … but I did not get McKenzie as a puppy. My 10 month old puppy Elsa is just such a spit-fire ... she is so sweet, cuddly, friendly ... but she is also stubborn, a poor eater, and tough to walk. My only fear about getting the 3 yr old male is that both my husband and I work for ourselves ... I used to take McKenzie to my office every day for 11 years ... I could not take Elsa (she is tooo wild) ... so my husband, who works from home, and is in and out of the house all day, would be responsible for the walking of both Elsa and the male. Stressful at the thought of getting them both out during the day. We crate Elsa now, when we are both gone. Could the 10 month and th 3 yr old be alone together? Seperate crates? Same crate? No crate? oh boy! Joan

Thanks everyone for your feedback!!! We just picked up the 10 mo old from day-tripping at doggy daycare … and she is SLEEPING! She plays so hard there that she is exhausted when she gets home! The owner of the Daycare suggested that if we got the 3 yr old male, that because he has not been neutured yet, he would most likely "mark" all over the house to mark his territory. My husband wasn't thrilled to hear that! Any experience here with that? We really would love the companionship for our girl ... I am just so afriad of the walking! We love to walk our dog ... and the thought of combatting two basenji's is scary!

Our 10 mo old female has been playing with other dogs in our home, and at their homes since the day we brought her home! She is very social. She goes to Day Care once a week, and the owner of the facility can't keep her with the "small" dogs because she is tooo playful! She plays with the big dogs! She and the 3 yr old make played in typical Basenji style at the breeder's last weekend. The breeder offered to have them both stay at her house for a week to get used to each other. I am having trouble walking the 10 month old … she is so active on leash, wanting to chase every rabbit, squirrel, and chipmucnk she sees. Just fearful I won't be able to walk two at once!

I can not say why/when he finished showing … the breeder said that she had shown him, and now looking for a good home. The breeder said he was "shy" and when we met him he was certainly well behaved, not hyper-basenji, but very playfull with our girl. He was not trained in the typical "sit", fashion ... I am nervous that the older male will threaten our 10 mo old girl who has been in the house since 8 weeks. I do not want her to feel like someone has usurped her territory! HELP!