We do still meet up in Arlington, VA at the Shirlington Dog Park. You can keep up with our group on Meetup.org.

http://www.meetup.com/basenjis-DC/

Hi Folks,

Sorry, but I don't check the Forums here too often these days … too much else going on. But, yes, the Metro Area Basenji Meetup Group is still active. I usually post information via the meetup website (http://www.meetup.com/basenjis-DC/). We haven't organized a large meetup yet this year, but I'm happy to do so, and as I mentioned before, we are willing to move the location around the area. I can send out a post to the group re: the 3/4 acre dog park in Leesburg to see if we can get up some interest to arrange a meetup there. If there are other dog parks around the area, feel free to pass along that info as well to me (via the meetup page would be best). We should definitely try to arrange a big group outing while we have good weather.

J.R. Key
Basenji Rescue And Transport
www.basenjirescue.org
Adoption Coordinator
jrinlogan@gmail.com
202.270.8447
(f) 202.355.6484

While I take my own pack to a small off-leash park in DC every weekend morning about 10am, we can plan Meetup playdates anywhere in the region. If folks know of a nice completely enclosed off-leash park in your area, please let me know and we'll move the location around each month to make it easier for more people to participate without having to drive quite as far every time.

JR

Though the dog park rules state your dogs must be spayed or neutered, people ignore that rule all the time. The most important thing is that you be smart. Don't bring a dog in heat to a dog park. Monitor your dogs closely while at the park and if they get into any snarkiness step in immediately. Even dogs that have all been spayed/neutered can get into spats. It's only when a foolish owner doesn't immediately take control of their dog that people get annoyed. In regards to keeping your dog on leash, that's also against the rules, but for good reason. We all know that dogs are more defensive and aggressive on leash. Having your dog on-leash in the park just isn't smart. There will nearly always be some snarking among Bs at the park initially but a quick scold or correction is all that is generally required and soon they're all running around and playing. Those that don't get along have plenty of room to avoid each other if they wish. Most importantly, you have to relax as well. If you're timid, tense, or nervous chances are your dogs will pick up on and respond to that as well. Assume things will go well and act on that that assumption, and that's what will most likely happen.

But many shelters/rescues have an acknowledged habit of listing dogs as mixes if (a) they aren't entirely certain it's a purebred or (b) if it's a breed that can be difficult to place and listing it as a mix may make it more likely to be adopted.

Melodie Muprhy has graciously posted a number of great photos from our first Washington DC Metro Area Basenji Meetup. You can view them by browsing to http://basenji.meetup.com/76/ and click the link for Photos.

JR Key

Though a couple of folks weren't able to attend who had hoped they could, we still had several folks join us at the 'Gucci' dog park in Arlington. There were at least 11 Basenjis running around together – maybe more but it's hard to keep track of them as they were always on the move. Hopefully we can plan another event soon and draw a larger crowd.

Several people in the metro and nearby area are planning a basenji play date this weekend. More details available at:

http://basenji.meetup.com/76/calendar/8253536/

Location:
Fort Ethan Allen Park
3829 North Stafford Street
Arlington, VA 22207

Park Hours:
Sunrise to 1/2 hour after sunset except on lighted facilities.

Features:

• Community Canine Area (Dog Park)

Special Features:

• Adjacent to Madison Community Center
• To avoid congestion around the Dog Park, please park at the Community Center.
• The Dog Park is just on the other side of the Center…

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=3829+North+Stafford+Street,+Arlington,+VA,+22207&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=69.738802,108.28125&ie=UTF8&ll=38.923476,-77.124045&spn=0.00429,0.006609&t=h&z=17

Not to worry … Odie has found a great new home even without my charging an adoption fee. (I would never have allowed him to go to a home I didn't feel completely comfortable with, and Craigslist doesn't allow you to sell dogs). Luckily, a family in New Jersey contacted me. They previously had an older male and in January adopted a young female through BRAT. Their older male died of cancer a couple of months ago, and so they were looking for a new B as a companion for their girl. (Free was a good price for them, too, since they had just spent a lot of money on their boy who passed). Follow up reports from the new family suggest Odie is doing extremely well in his new home. It was very hard to let him go as I had become quite attached (and vice versa) in his 9 weeks with me, but I'm thrilled he's in a home where he can get more individual attention and affection.

Banjo has been listed on Petfinder.com for quite a while. The first day he was available, I made the BRAT Board and the District Coordinator aware of this boy. However, when the DC contacted the shelter they were unwilling to work with the rescue to help place him. Perhaps now that they have had him for a while and haven't placed him, they'll reconsider allowing BRAT to help. In some cases, BRAT just has to have a volunteer pay to adopt the dog (and BRAT reimburses them) just to get it out of the shelter and into rescue. It's unfortunate some shelters operate this way, especially since some of them provide really poor accommodations and the dogs end up so much more stressed or traumatized as a result of their stay there than they would if we had been able to get them out sooner.

JRinDC