Best posts made by Sass7656

We just introduced our new puppy to our 2 existing basenjis and we did everything wrong! Unfortunately I flew in late and it’s winter so no introduction was possible at a park. My breeder lives in Seattle so no scent blanket available. We had to do it the hard way, ta da! Here’s a new puppy! My girl I was worried would be grumpy and she was great the first day, my boy who I thought it would be fine was all sorts of put out. In the next couple of days it reversed and Maia was pretty cranky and Remy was fine. They growled at this annoying little brat a bit but that’s all. They are all from the same breeder so she smelled like home. They are also all very mild mannered so that helped a lot. It hasn’t been a week yet and we have had full blown basenji 500(once you get one and watch it run you’ll get the reference) and they are all sleeping together on the couch and in bed. It was a pretty easy transition thank goodness!she has settled right in and seems pretty happy with her new digs. She also really loves our dogs and they are all playing like puppies. Potty training is going well but it is our only struggle at the moment, the cold and the snow is not helping. I hope when you bring your girl home it goes as well as ours did. I can’t wait to see a picture of your new fur baby!

I have a puppy who just came out of heat too and she is less playful and more defensive and aggressive with my other dogs. From what I read a female dog may be out of heat but her hormones don’t really go back to normal for a few months. You might not want to push the dog park for a couple of months so she doesn’t develop a negative connotation to the dog park. Apparently she could still trigger aggression from male dogs as well as she smells hormonal to them. Good luck!

My b’s never took to toys. Stuffy squeaker toys are fun to kill and desqueak. Toys that can’t be killed or have no food reward are a waste of time. Pieces of paper towel are super fun to shred. Small animals to chase are fun. Another basenji to rough house with or another breed of dog that can make them feel superior is good. 0-3 they like to wreck stuff, after that they like to walk, chew on bones, nap and cuddle. They also really like to watch for intruders. So I nice front window is a plus. I’m excited for you! I can’t wait for you to get your new baby!

She is beautiful! All dogs are lovely but basenjis do tend to grab those heart strings. I hope you can find some answers, it’s so hard to miss them so much!

My husband was allergic to everything, dogs, cats, birds, horses trees, grass. Really he should live in a bubble! I needed something furry to love and he just wasn’t cutting it. We like you guys discovered the basenji, but as Debra states no dog is 100% hypoallergenic. So we found a breeders dogs that were living near us and we went to meet them. I had my hubby rub his face on the dogs and sniff her carpets and couches. I made him pet her dogs and intentionally rub his eyes. No reaction. He was good! We were elated! Fast forward a million years, we have since had 5 basenjis. We went to the allergist after having had our first one for a year and low and behold he was no longer allergic to dogs! Over the years we have had 3 people react to our dogs. Mostly they would get hives where the hair would poke the skin. See if you can find some basenjis to sniff and rub on. Good luck!

I use liver bites. It’s freeze dried liver chunks. The reason I like them is they are one ingredient, so I have more control over what they are taking in. Also, they are really easy to break into tiny little chunks which is great for training. They are also really smelly and tasty. My dogs will do anything for them. If your dog isn’t crazy about your food you can throw them in a blender and grind them down to dust and sprinkle it on their food. Good luck with your new baby! It’s so exciting to get your new puppy!

She’s adorable! She looks part basenji. Have fun with your new fur baby. They do like attention but they will love you like no other dog.

I currently have 3 basenjis and I have had 6 over the last 17 years. They all have unique personalities but they all have similar things in common as well. I’ve had some that can never go off leash and I have had others that are great at an off leash park. I choose one that is fenced and away from any roads just to be safe. I knew a lady that took hers for years and one day her dog ran onto the highway and was killed. So that prey drive can rear its head anytime! I have baby gates everywhere! They just aren’t trustworthy. Some love to chew plastic some like to chew sheets and pillows. You just don’t know until you get your pup. Some don’t like to be alone ever, some don’t like other dogs, so you have to be willing to figure it out when you get your dog home. I had one that was a jumper so I had to get a super high gate to keep her in the kitchen. They have all loved to cuddle and sleep in the sun. They have all loved to chase squirrels and be chased around the yard. My newest puppy even plays fetch which is super unusual for a basenji! Keeping your house tidy and keeping them away from roads is a big must. They are super sneaky and will even trick you to get what you want. They don’t really do well at home alone for long periods, they typically need some company a cat or another dog, but if you get an adult basenji be careful with cats or other small animals as their prey drive can make that not work either. No matter what I’ve done or learned every dog is unique and special. If this is the breed for you, you will fall hard for them and no other dog will be quite what a basenji is to you. Good luck! If you are committed to this you will make it work, and it will be so rewarding!

I know the key to crating your pup is consistency. I know lots of basenjis get crated over night. My first basenji would howl and cry in his crate and after months he never did like his crate, he had separation anxiety. He only ever settled down in his crate when we brought home his sister. So needless to say he slept in bed with us, we couldn’t stay the course. You could try bringing the crate in your room so he can see you, it might help. My guy never could be alone. He would panic and destroy whatever he could find. Good luck!

Unfortunately for us Maia has never done well with chicken, she loves it and eats it but it gives her diarrhea and seems to mess up her over all health. We did blood work again and her liver enzymes decreased by 30% which is great! Her actual health though is not so good so that is bad. We can get her to eat which is good, but the food control is not great salmon, ham(boiled a few times to remove the salt), breaded cauliflower, Mac and cheese. Whatever we can get her to eat. It’s crazy! We have her booked with a chiropractor to check her nerve function and we are ready to get prednisone going if it is ibd. We are working closely with our vet daily, she currently is on metronidazole and amoxicillin and gabapentin. Thursday I thought we were going to lose her and she has rallied. I hate optimism as I don’t do well with a broken heart but I am hoping for the best right now. She is on 2 billion probiotic per day as well. Every bite of food I can get into her I think, ok 1 more day at least. If I have to spend all day hand feeding her, I will. She is finally sleeping and twitching a little less! She is going up and down stairs ok, not great but ok and she is no longer falling over. We are far from out of the woods but I have seen some small improvements. Thank you all for your words, encouragement, advice and stories of what you have gone through. It is tremendous to me how kind you are. Thank you for taking some time out of your day and trying to help! We so appreciate it. Mai Mai means the entire world to us and every word, suggestion, or story we take into account and thank you so much for being such a loving wonderful community. With lock down and a sick pup we feel quite overwhelmed, so thank you!

If Washington is not too far my breeder Rita Webb is there. She was referred to me from the basenji club of Canada. I have been thrilled with her. We are quite good friends after 8 years and 4 basenjis. I love her dogs. They have been mostly healthy, we took in an adult dog of hers that someone had given back and he had issues. My other three are wonderful and make me happy every day. She just had 2 litters this year so I am not sure when she is breeding next but she sometimes has some older pups or adult dogs that she may be looking for forever homes. I can send you her contact info, just let me know.

Her colouring is ver duck tolling retriever or vizla with the light eyes and lighter nose. I would not say shepherd she is too smooth and so I would say she is mixed with a medium sized dog as well. Genetics are funny though, I once saw a dog in the dog park that looked like a pit bull. She told me her dog was genetically 89% shitzu. Go figure!

I am so sorry you are having this issue. I have 2 basenjis and in total I have had 5. So I have seen a few personalities. My first one was like yours. He would pee on the bed while staring my husband down. He was potty trained but he was marking and trying to dominate. The crate was a nightmare. 6 months of cleaning out poop, pee and vomit, every day. Anything I put in it was destroyed. If I left him in the house for 5 minutes he would howl and poop and pee because his separation anxiety was so awful. I couldn’t even go to the bathroom! I hate to tell you this but it never improved until we got a female basenji to keep him company. Neutering helped a bit with the dominance but other than that it did little. But literally over night once we got Tia, Whiskey was a new dog. She became alpha. He chilled out. They could be locked in the kitchen together while we were out. We never could leave the two of them with full run of the house, same as above no pillows, cushions or blankets were safe from being eaten. But they were happy, we could go out and 90% of the bad habits stopped instantly. They were both neurotic dogs and I don’t think either of them could have ever been an only dog or would have grown out of or been trained out of their panics. The anxiety meds or stress remedies I haven’t tried so they might help. Good luck! I would never not have a basenji but they are all consuming. They are not dogs for us but demanding children who get pissed when they don’t get their way. My current basenjis are from a different breeder and they have almost no panic, they can go off leash with great recall. So maybe look into getting a basenji girl from a different breeder? I know the thought is terrifying that you will get double the bad but I swear my life was 100% better with 2. Good luck!

Did your puppy have diarrhea? It can happen I think it’s called a prolapsed anus. If that happens there isn’t much that can be done. A vet may be able to do surgery. I would take the puppy in to get checked. Good luck!

My first boy was the same, it absolutely was separation anxiety. He would cry and pee and poop and even vomit in his crate every day for 6 months. We worked so we didn’t have much of a choice, he would do the same if he wasn’t kennelled but then we played the game of find that smell. Every day for 6 months I bathed him and washed out the kennel. It was a nightmare. Then we decided to get him a sister and overnight he never did it again. She peed in the kennel the first day and he piled the puppy pad on top of it to try and hide it. But from that day on I never had a problem. My first two were super neurotic, die hard chewers, runners, stubborn like crazy, they would eat the sheets on my bed while we slept!since then I have had 4 more and the rest have all been way more relaxed but we just live in a pack style life so I have never dealt with separation anxiety again and I have to say life with 2 or more is way more relaxing than one. Everyone is just much happier. If that’s not an option then first thing is a tired dog is too tired to be bad so tucker your dog out, then give them something to chew if that appeals to them, maybe a frozen Kong with puppy safe peanut butter, leave a tv on or music, and maybe even try some rescue remedy to help them stay relaxed. Also reduce the size of the crate so they can only turn around. If they have room to pee and lie down elsewhere you will have a hard time breaking the habit. Good luck!

I remember being in your exact situation 17 years ago. I have always had dogs and they have always had free run of our house once they grew up. I currently have 3 basenjis and I have had 6 over the last 17 years and 1 beagle. Our first one we got a big beautiful crate. And every day we came home he had peed, pooped and vomited in his crate. He was so anxious when we left, we couldn’t leave him alone for even 1 minute. Nothing helped. He would howl and scream and cry and the whole time we were gone he would never settle down. This went on for months. Then we got him a sister and put them in the crate together and he never had another issue. Left loose in the house though, those two would chew blankets, pillows, carpets, couches. You name it they would destroy it. Since then I have never had an only B, so I have never had the loneliness issue again. I do have little kids which means little kid toys and all 3 of my B’s cannot be trusted with them. We have come home to more than one Barbie massacre. So the dogs are locked in the kitchen, and crazy puppy is in her crate. They will find anything and it will be killed. For some dogs it’s paper, some anything material, others it’s plants or cords. I don’t leave them with bones to chew either as they can’t be trusted not to try and swallow it whole and we have had choking issues with all of them. They can just get really bored and destructive. You don’t know what you are going to get until you meet your B. You need to be prepared to either crate them forever or find an inescapable place for them that is tidy and clean and they can’t get into anything. Ours also don’t have access to the outside or you have to lock your gates, the gas man can easily let them out and they are gone or hit by a car as they are fast and sneaky! I have baby gates all over my house so they can’t sneak out the front door. Some B’s are more chill then others but you have to plan for the worst case scenario and hope for the best. Good luck!

I met a basenji who had very similar symptoms and he had a carrot that went up through his soft pallet into his sinus cavity. It took them forever to find it as it didn’t show up in an X-ray. You may want to look into a specialist for dog sinuses. It could be anything and very likely a foxtail. The infection for the other dog didn’t stop until the carrot was removed. Then he was fine!

New update: Tika is no longer in heat! Yay! Remy got neutered and is doing great! We got a dog trainer to come in assess the situation and she thinks it is starting to improve compared to how I described it when I booked her to come. Only Maia seems to need the muzzle, she seems to be very unsure of the puppy. We are working with her to build her confidence. The puppy doesn’t seem to have any stress with Maia around and won’t start anything. The muzzle is on just in case when I am home alone as I don’t want anything bad to happen when if I can’t separate them. The puppy is getting lots of training time to help her learn how to behave properly. With 2 people here we can have the girls on short leashes and they are fine together. They did have a small altercation of snarling but no biting and no one got hurt. The older female backed down and walked away. As much as I want her to be the top dog it seems that the puppy has a much more dominant personality. If they figure out the pack hierchy hopefully everything will settle down. The trainer says there are no pack instincts in domesticated dogs, but after having 6 basenjis I can’t agree with that in regards to basenjis. We can walk the girls together without muzzles now so I think things are more positive and they seem to be improving every day. When Remy is healed from his neuter I will get the puppy spayed and hope that calms things down even further. So far there is a lot more peace in the house. Please anyone let me know if there is anything else I should be doing to keep these girls on track. Thank you for all your advice and guidance! I am so grateful for this forum as what is normal for other dogs is not so much with these guys!

My first boy was so anxious, we had him alone for 8 months. He was a mess! He pooped, peed and threw up in his kennel on the daily. We got him his sister and it all stopped! After that we have been a 2-3 basenji household. Life is much better with more basenjis.

I applied to BRAT after my basenji died. She was from the only breeder in my province and it turned out she was a terrible breeder. I had another basenji at home that was heartbroken and I really wanted to rescue a basenji. I was told I might get one in a few years as I could only rescue one in my area. I was not allowed to travel to get one on the website nor would a BRAT person travel to me. It was not fair to make my basenji wait so long for a friend. I ended up getting one from a breeder. It has been 8 years and I still have not heard back yet. I love the idea of animal rescues but sometimes it feels like they really aren’t looking that hard for good homes. People can wait a few months for the right dog but years? That’s ridiculous.