We certainly have tried. He's dang smart. The majority of the tables in both the kitchen and her bedroom are low enough the he can get stuff from on top of them. I suppose we could completely remove everything from a room, but that's sort of impractical. I would go crazy moving 25 picture frames in and out of the kitchen everyday!

We do have a dog room that we occasionally let him run around in, but the door was poorly-constructed and he can push it open to get into the rest of the house. Short of buying him a house of his own, I just can't find any place to keep him.

I just looked into BRAT. I'll talk with my fiance tomorrow about getting all the information we need for the form. Do you know if they will deny our application if we don't have breeder information? All our breeder gave us was a handwritten paper with shots info and birth date info. No phone number, if I remember correctly.

Yeah, the only problem is that he can't be home alone if he is out of the crate. As much as we try to dog-proof our rooms, he always seems to find a book/trash/important document to play with. It just seems mean to me to lock him in his crate for 8 hours.

Thanks for the links, though. I will look into BRAT.

We don't live together. Currently she works part time, and I go to school. Right now, usually one of us is able to be around with the dog. Once we get married she will be working full time, and I will be working whenever I'm not at school.

Could you send me a link or something on how to contact or find more information on BRAT? I just get this feeling that googling BRAT might not find what I want :P

Name : Joe Wegner
City, State : Chicago Western Suburbs, Illlinois
Phone : 630-991-8663 Email : joseph.wegner [at] gmail.com (preferred)
For Sale : Basenji Male
Age : 6 Months
Weight : About 20 lb.
Price: Discuss Privately
When available to take : Immediately
Do I ship : Preferably not.

Hi all. Me and my fiance have a 6 month old male basenji, named Boss. He has all of his shots, is neutered, and has been vaccinated for rabies. We got boss from a breeder when he was 7 weeks old. We did not get any official papers (She had some hand-written information regarding his shots and such), but she assured us that Boss's parents have given 12 litters and all were Fanconi free.

We love Boss, but with our approaching wedding, we are afraid Boss may be too big of a commitment for a newly wed couple. Being a puppy - or a Basenji in general, as I have read - it is a pretty risky thing for Boss to be left home alone out of his crate, and it is unfair for him to be crated for 8 hours a day.

Boss has gone through PetSmart's beginning level puppy training. He doesn't always listen, but he does know the meaning of basic commands like leave it, drop it, and come. Boss loves to play, pretty much all day long. Unfortunately he hasn't quite learned that people don't enjoy play biting. He doesn't ever bite out of anger, but when he's riled up he might jump for your hands.

We are looking for either a previous basenji owner, or someone who very well understands the commitment level basenji's require. Preferably Boss's future owner would be someone who will not work 8 hour days, or at least has someone at home to let Boss out.

I'll post some pictures of Boss. He's a cute one :)

Edit: I couldn't get the images to show, so here's the links to them.

http://img338.imageshack.us/i/boss3.jpg/
http://img41.imageshack.us/i/boss2j.jpg/
http://img96.imageshack.us/i/boss1h.jpg/

Respond or send me a PM if you want some more information.

Thanks,
Joe Wegner

Well,

I took all your advice and went to double check on the fanconi thing. While I was looking up the listing for the puppy we were looking at, I saw that there was a new listing for basenji's in our area.

A breeder(not BYB) had just posted that she has 8 new puppies, just 7 weeks old. We really quick called and went out to meet the new pups.

We loved the puppies, her allergies turned out fine, and we found out that the parents have no history of fanconi. We are going tomorrow to see the pups again, and hopefully bring one of the boys home with us!

Thanks for adivising me on the fanconi thing,
Takamarou

We haven't had that much contact with our breeder. Our breeder is in Tennessee(apparently basenji puppies are hard to find), and we are in illinois, so we haven't met the puppies or the parents.

Hey all,

First off, I'd like to say that this forum has been a wonderful source for all the basenji reasearch I've been doing. Thanks!

Me and my girlfriend decided a couple weeks ago that we'd like to get a puppy. Her allergies required that we get a dog that has very little shedding, and it has turned out that a basenji is a great dog for us.

She is going this weekend to pick up the puppy. It will be a 9-week old male, coming from a backyard breeder.

I just have a couple questions on all of your experiences with your basenjis.

1. I've read several times that a bored basenji is a bad basenji. As a puppy, how much excercise does it take to tire him out? I know it varies by dog, but how much did it take for you guys?

2. I understand that a basenji is a very mischevious dog, and can't be left alone un-caged. Does this change with age/training? Will we eventually be able to leave the dog out when we aren't watching?

3. Do basenji's require any special type of : leash, collar, food, cage, etc.?

4. One place that I was doing research said that I shouldn't leave my basenji's collar on when I bring him inside. Is this true?

5. Are Basenji's particularly hard to crate-train or potty train? How long did it take you to train yours?

Thanks for all your help! I'll try and keep you all updated as I finally get to meet him this weekend.

Thanks,
Takamarou