Best posts made by Rugosa

I have found that if a basenji is left alone for long periods, it will FIND something to do, many times not what we would call good dog behavior. In a crate, in my experience, that has been screaming (sometimes I\we wish they would just bark!) One can only imagine how it will find something to do if left alone in a home.

That being said, I think it's FANTASTIC that you are asking this question now. If asked AFTER you got a basenji, it would probably result in an unhappy basenji.

I would not rule out a B forever, but maybe someday your life will accommodate the quirks of the breed better, and you and the B will spend many many, happy years together.

@salemsockmonkey What a perfect basenji life!

Thanks for the tree climbing story. My first basenji climbed the Cristmas tree we had when she was about 1. I finally figured it out -at the top I had put an ornament about 2 yrs old, and made of a DOG BONE biscuit! 1 point for the basenji, -1 for me.

A few years later we got her a basenji friend, because she needed something to occupy her mind. A few years after getting him, he climbed a 25 ft high spruce tree and ATE THE ROBIN"S EGGS FROM A NEST!!!!! I saw him up there and the blue shells in his poop were evidence.

To get back to the original topic, he barooed once, kind of a sad baroo.
He slid under our couch, his head sticking out the front. That's when we heard the sad baroo. He was stuck, I had gotten another puppy, and that puppy was in the back playing and biting his tail. I think that may have been the only time he made any noise.

Looking back to when I got my very first basenji, a pet, the one thing I remember is that she taught us to never let a basenji do something that you are going to disallow in the future. Of course not everything can be planned ahead.

I bough her a pig ear' to chomp, kept it in a lower kitchen cabinet. Not long after, I learned this was NOT a healthy treat so threw it away. Until the day she died, 10-12 years later, she'd sit by that cabinet and whine, until I opened it to show her there were no pig ears in there.
EVERY DAY!!!!!!
This was really no big deal, but I imagine if it had been a chair that she was not allowed on. They just do not forget. Anything.

@cherif said in Please help!:
@Aileen you are the only one who got back to me constructively

Have a good day everyone!

I think there are many constructive things here. Anyone who has lived with a basenji, and has given their opinion, has written a constructive post.
Forums general rule: take what you can use, forget the rest

I'm glad last night was better, and perhaps with a good nights sleep, you can read the posts a bit more objectively?

A story I base my opinion on:
My niece, 3, had a handful of M & Ms.We watched as she handed one to my son, 1 1/2, and ate 2-3. Then, handed him one, and she ate ate 2-3.
It seemed so unfair to their Grandma, she told her no, give half to your cousin. So she did. Immediately, my son started crying. He was HAPPY with the way it was being done originally.
Lesson learned - don't interfere, if they're happy, we're happy.

So I kept the same attitude with the basenjis (I was told in the very beginning they are like perpetual 2 yr olds)

If the dogs work out how to deal with each other, without hurting each other, I let them go. In any group of dogs, wolves, etc., there's going to be a pecking order. I remember reading many years ago, a dog is happiest if it knows it's spot in the pecking order, trouble happens when they are not sure of where they are in that order.

That is the reason my dogs are fed in their crates. If not, those lower on the pecking order list wouldn't eat without causing fights.

My husband has developed a system for when he lets the dogs 'lick his plate' (one of their most favorite things to do). He has 3 dogs sitting in front of him. He says a dog's name and lets that dog lick. The others wait patiently because they know their turn is coming. Then, he says the name of another, and lets that one lick. The others wait patiently. He always starts and stops with the 'alpha,' and it's amazing to see them waiting for their turn. They are not like kids, they don't think "Hey, he got more than me"

It also shows that HE is the supreme alpha!
It's funny, when they feel it is mealtime and 'mom' is not showing any signs of getting their food, they go over and bother HIM, after trying to tell Mom, because they know a lot of times if he says something to me, I will probably leave what I'm doing and feed them.

2 thoughts, just things I thought of while reading this:

What you described (I think) as disorientation, that was what my Gretchen did for a couple of years before she started having real, can't deny it, seizures. When she did have them the first thing I thought of was how she just stood and stared for a few seconds before. I concluded they were related. Nothing like that has happened since she started taking the seizure medicine.

My husband was frying eggs 20 years ago, and I saw him just stand real still, shake for a minute, then fall. It looked like a seizure to me. The EMTs took him to the hospital, the doctors did whatever drs do, and said he had low blood sugar, and nothing like that has happened again.

(totally not basenji related, but gives us a laugh when we think of it now - my son Nick was about 6, was right there and saw it too, and while I was down on the floor said "You think maybe we should turn off the stove?" I had always thought he was born a little adult)

With that description, and that photo, I'd say definitely a BASENJI mix.
Addie is very fortunate she gets to live with you!

Does she smell like a dog when wet? If not, that's some basenji DNA making its appearance.

I'm going to describe how a crate is used around here, maybe you can get something from it:
My basenjis have always been in wire crates, the size made for a collie. A plastic crate was only used in the car. They are in them at night, and used to be in them when we aren't home, but they're older now (13,14,15,16), they are loose when we're gone now.

They were never put in for a punishment, or what they thought was a punishment. I might say@#$#@$%, but in a very happy voice.
Our goal was to be sure they thought of the crate as a good thing, sort of like a kid's bedroom.
EVERY SINGLE TIME they went into their crate, they got a 'biscuit', with me saying "Let's get a biscuit" Happy dogs going in the crate, and getting a treat! The biscuits are now a couple pieces of dry puppy food, they don't care, to them it's a biscuit. Someone told me years ago that using treats to get a dog to do something you want should not be used past 6 mos, EXCEPT WITH BASENJIS. Please do not resist using bribes!
In fact, one time 4 got out, the leader started walking down the sidewalk, with them following. I yelled "Spicer, want a biscuit?" He turned around, they all followed him home. (We never use the word biscuit for anything else)
They ate their meals in their crates
When we come home, the dogs are the first thing we deal with.

All of the above never worked for our Ibis. I honestly think she had some sort of brain problem that is medicated in humans. I could never get her comfortable in a crate, or even in a room by herself. I just treated her the way I would treat a child with a problem - made everyone's life more enjoyable. I called her 'the problem child I never had.'

As for the aggression, she should never learn that aggression works. I'm sure there are many posts in this forum about stopping aggression in basenjis. (I a not qualified to offer advice.)

You don't say how old your son is, but when my kids were 8-10 they used to run an obstacle course (the kind that only an 8 year old would design) with our first dog Sugar.
At first, they would hold her leash and she'd just run along with them, so, when they jumped, she jumped. It was just a big game.
They weren't training for anything, they were just kids having fun with their dog.
I can see if they had said 'jump' and then stopped afterwards to give a treat, she would eventually do it on her own.

I read somewhere that a basenji goes through life thinking "What's in it for me?" You will forever be trying to out smart the cutest, most intelligent, ornery dog ever.

When I sold puppies, I told people, "I never sell a pup to dumb people." Many still wanted one. Some decided a basenji was not for them - imo, this did not mean they were dumb, it meant they were not baseni folk, and that's ok. I heard one gal, as she was leaving, tell her husband "Why would anybody do this?"

If you decide you might be a basenji person, visit some, and really quiz the owner on what their life is like.

Above I commented that I had one that barooed.
I have her daughter, and she got her mother's good traits, but not the bad. She is the most delightful 12 yr old girl. She baroos in the morning when she's happy we finally woke up. She baroos if someone comes in the door after being out for at least 10 seconds.. She baroos when food is coming, she baroos when food is gone and she gets to go out. She baroos all the time, she's just a happy happy girl. Her tail sits right on the top and wiggles whenever she baroos.

I was in a car accident, so stopped breeding/showing, but I always consider her the best that I bred. She's just delightful!
Her sire had 'Charlie Brown' in his name, and she was born on Christmas. So naturally, the puppies got names from the Charlie Brown's Christmas show. Her name is Freida, the girl with them naturally curling tail!

I celebrate by telling them they can live here another year!

My Rosa wrote the "How To Be a Basenji DIVA" manuscript - as many rules there were, it was so worthy of a 'script' at the end! She, and all her offspring, had spring and fall heats, but I only bred her once in the spring. That produced one puppy, my Captain. She always ruled over her pups, except when Captain came along - she did what HE said when he was about 2 weeks old!

My Promise has a lump on her neck and the vet got a sample of it just by using a needle. (I'm sorry, I don't remember the word used to describe the process)
It was just a fatty tumor and as long as it doesn't bother her, I am not going to have him do the surgery required to remove it. (She is 14)

@tanza said in Charlie! Basenji mix rescue.:

I would guess maybe a Shiba mix

That's what I was thinking.
Monica has 2 Shiba mixes (rescues) and they look a lot like this boy.

If you were walking with someone, who you recently met, and you came to a fork in the road. Neither of you knows which is the way to go to get to your destination -
2 things can happen:

1. The other person is obviously unsure which way to go, seems like he might even be a little scared of making the wrong decision

2 . The other person says, let's go left, and acts like he knows where he's going.

In which scenario are you going to feel more confident about trusting the other person?

IME, our basenjis are the same way. They feel more confident when you exhibit confidence. I've even used a 'happy' voice and have seen results.

Once, the vet tech was taking my dog, on leash, to the back without me. She used a quiet voice, trying to convince the dog to come with her. I showed her what he needed, he needed for HER to act like it's the most normal thing in the world for him to come with her, that she knew where she was going.
His demeanor changed immediately.

I have a dog that is very sensitive to voice tones. I never use and 'angry' voice with her, she immediately shuts down. A 'happy' voice is what she needs. I have 2 lines of basenjis, totally different. One is more sensitive and I've had to use a 'happier' tone with them - I think it's in their DNA, which determines how they react to the world around them.
Your puppy just might be a little more sensitive

Our first basenji, if she could get access to a bowl, would lie with it in front of the tv and just stare. It was the cutest thing!
I have no trouble with them in the spring, but in the fall I use the month before to gradually change their internal clock. It works, but it's very gradual.

My Gretchen's seizure story, if there's anything here that might help:

Last year she was 13, and had a seizure every 4 days or so. The third time I took her to the vet.
The choice of meds was

1. phenobarbitol (sp?) - after doing a little research, it seemed to have some danger and neede periodic bloodwork to test her liver???.
2. Levetiracetam - for basenjis, because they are under 30 lbs, they have to be given the pill every 8 hours. My life allows me to do that, so that's what she got. It needs no periodic bloodwork like the pheno. She has been on it for 6 mos, and has had 1 seizure, so I'm thinking this is the one.
   I buy it at Costco and it is about $30 per month. (I found out one does not have to be a member of Costco to use their pharmacy)

IMO. he has basenji in him. The first pic I saw was the second one and that head? If he had different coloring, he would be a basenji twin.
Add in the behaviors, a basenji mix for sure.