My first female, who was never neutered and died young used to pee on our bed when my husband had been out of town and returned. Happened a few times till she got used to it going on.
My current female is neutered and has only peed on the bed once and I’m pretty sure she had tried to tell us she wanted to go out.
I think Basenji’s are much harder to train to go out then other breeds. But with persistence I believe it is possible.
If your boy is not neutered I would start there, and until then I agree that diapers would save you a lot of extra work.

My first female, who was never neutered and died young used to pee on our bed when my husband had been out of town and returned. Happened a few times till she got used to it going on.
My current female is neutered and has only peed on the bed once and I’m pretty sure she had tried to tell us she wanted to go out.
I think Basenji’s are much harder to train to go out then other breeds. But with persistence I believe it is possible.
If your boy is not neutered I would start there, and until then I agree that diapers would save you a lot of extra work.

She still seeks out water but not to the degree that she was. As the accidents wane, I have been trying to leave the water out a bit more, but like one of the other members said about their husband, mine also is sick of cleaning up the pee so I have to find a happy medium between the two. All in all I think we are doing fine, and once again thanks for all of your concern. I will be sure to connect with the Basenji Forums again if there are any other questions.

Thank you for all your concern in regards to Kali.

I will tell you that she is doing absolutely fine. I believe that most of it was the teething thing. We ran the course of antibiotics and since then Kali seems well. I can't speak to the genetic testing of the animals but I do know that Kali was one of the first litter to her mother and she is the only survivor. I do know that there was a real attachment to this puppy since the mother had no real interest and they wanted her to survive. I will say that I have tried to contact the breeder on more then one occasion and have had no reply so I am not sure what to think.

Ordinarily I would agree with you on the topic of the breeder however I know the background story on Kali and I know she was well taken care of by the breeder. She was in beautiful shape when we picked her up and if it was a mill it was very well kept. Even so if it was then it was a good thing that we bought her and she is being well taken care of now.

We are on day 2 of antibiotics and I will say that there has been a dramatic improvement. We have had 2 small mistakes in two days versus the incessant accidents on Tuesday so I hope (dare I say) we are over the hill.

We have had so much good information from all of you and I think it might be a combination of all sorts of the ideas that you have shared with me. Whatever the case I will be checking it out with the vet tomorrow and will let you all know how she fared. Thanks again.

Since we came home from the vets, Kali has not had an accident in the house and has been her usual puppy self the only thing that remains is the overwhelming desire for water.

In answer to your questions about whether or not we leave water for her all the time the answer is no but I do make sure that she has something to drink 5 or 6 times a day. You might call it rationing but when she is relentless about it, I do give her water, just not copious amounts but enough to whet her whistle 3 or 4 oz. at a crack. She always finishes it all and always looks for more. The vet did say that that was enough water for a 13lb puppy. She was also looking for any signs of dehydration and found none.

As for where did we get her, we got her from a breeder in Southern Illinois who breeds 5 or 6 different kinds of dogs , from westies to corgies to ridgebacks. She has had 2 or 3 litters a year for 3 or 4 years of Basenjis. Being a first time Basenji owner i never knew there was a registered club of Basenji breeders, and when i found Kali we had just lost our 9 yr old daschund and my daughter was heartbroken so we were looking for a replacement as quick as possible.

Thanks again for all your concerns and comments they have been very helpful and appreciated.

Hi again, I'm Kali's "sister" if you will, but a human! I went with Kali and my mother today to the vet and listened to everything the vet had to say, and about how Kali may have a congenital problem. Well we have had Kali for about 3 months and if she has a congenital problem, wouldn't we have seen signs of a problem much earlier on? That is my only question.

By the way, I'm pretty freaked out right now because I am completely in love with Kali and the thought of her having a problem that can't be fixed really scares me. But my mom read me your responses to the post and it really reassured me. So thanks!

Thank you for sharing your experience with us and calming our fears. I am not one to panic but I grew up with daschunds and have 30years of experience with them. Ewven with all the research we did we can not be prepared for everything with a new breed. The one thing I did omit in my tome was that the vet did say there was no glucose in her urine so I don't think she was trying to say that Kali might have Faconi. I believe that like all doctors she is a practitioner and just like humans all dogs are different but when you have such a young pup and so many different indicators you have to rely on the experience of others. Thank you again

Hi everyone,

I am new to this sight and the proud new owner of my first 4 month old female Basenji named Kali.

I am looking for some help in regards to same Basenji.

Some background on Kali . . . . up until 2 days ago Kali was and is everything our research into Basenjis had told us she would be, inquisitive, loyal, loveable, aloof and totally endearing. I will add to this that from almost the beginning she has been a water fiend, she will search it out, inside, outside, in a glass on the table, it doesn't matter she wants water.

Two days ago she started peeing and trailing it all over the house. I will admit she was not completely house trained however she had been getting better day by day telling me she had to go out but two dys ago that all stopped and with out warning while running through the house she will suddenly stop and pee wherever and whenever . She can just have come in and still she will pee.

After questioning my trainer she suggested that Kali may have a kidney or bladder infection and I should take her to the vet. Today I took her and a urine sample to the vet and here is where I need the help. After testing the urine and finding nothing but the fact that it was rather dilute (which the vet did not like) she suggested that we take more tests and find out what is really going on. She suggested that we take a blood test and some X-rays and also an ultrasound test at which point I said WHY? She then replied that the dilute urine in itself was an indicator and that the other test would point us in a direction. I said "like what" and she said that the blood tests could tell us if it was on infection or a congenital problem such as a deformed kidney or the lack of a kidney or something with the bladder. I went ahead and had the blood test done and it told us that creatin level was twice the normal and that another element (which name escapes me now)was also elevated twice what it should be not a terrible thing but abnormal especially for a 4 month old puppy.

With that I asked what we could do and she said that she could send me home with a course of antibiotics and hope that there would be a great change in Kali by Friday, if not, the prognosis was not going to be good.

Well to say the least she scared the you know what out of my family and I and so now I am turning to the good people of this Basenji loving forum to see if there is anything the least bit recognizable with any of this or if anyone can shed any light on this for us.

We have come to love our little Kali and our hearts are breaking in thinking that we might lose her .