Way back in 2006, there was a discussion here started by WestCoastFlea about a breeder here in the Houston area who was "getting out of Basenjis" because her HOA would only allow 3 dogs and there was a long sad story about how she got her original B's from her daughter, etc, etc, etc. The breeder's name was Mary Beth Weiss.

Well, guess what! Apparently she didn't get out, (SURPRISE!) as she just e-mailed me asking about stud service or purchasing a breeding female since she's 'retiring in a few years and interested in getting into showing or lure coursing'. Her boy and girl are 1/2 brother and sister, so she doesn't want to breed them together. I e-mailed her back asking for registered names and health testing and suggested she ask the breeder of her dogs, hee-hee. We'll see if I hear anything back, though I really don't expect to….

Terry

Welcome back, Jae!!

Terry

Please, please, have your vet contact Dr. Gonto at outdoc@aol.com
He is your best hope for help for your fur-babies.

Terry

Evergreen Basenji Club publishes a great one, go to their website!

Also, check out the Basenji University on the BCOA website.

Terry

I am not new to showing Basenjis (we got our first show Basenji in 1991). And I have to say that we don't participate in all the drama. I would probably just say, "Well, if he/she asks me, I don't intend to lie."
I agree with you, the more the merrier. Can't make majors if people are acting like high schoolers. Let the best dog win!

Terry

Congratulations on your new family member! Lynn and Dennis are great people, glad they had a dog who was fated to be yours!

Terry
and the Illusion Pack in Texas

Just came back on to the Forum after a longish absence. I was so sorry to hear about Digital.

What a wonderful boy! And you were lucky to have found one another. It's so hard to lose them; we never have them long enough. Trite, but time does help with the pain, someday you'll be able to think of him without tearing up every time!

Terry

Praying it is something you can treat and NOT IPSID/malabsorbtion, HORRIBLE disease! We lost one to it years ago. We had another with IBD; it was treatable and she lived to 15 1/2 years old. Although the vets said she would need to be on a special diet for the rest of her life, she went to college with our daughter, and was eating Purina One, not a prescription diet for many, many years.

Know what you're going through with the meds, Chealsie! We had almost the same ones for Tex the last time he had surgery for his extracurricular dining - and the last time he passed the plastic in the office before the surgery, thank goodness. Some good news, the Tramadol is for pain, so you can ease him off on that if he doesn't seem to be in pain, especially the midnight one (although it will help him sleep) The 'pill poppers,' which you can get at Petco or PetSmart, are great for giving pills when you can't hide them in food. Keeps your fingers from getting chomped and you can get them way back in the throat. And when he's eating a little better, you can give them with a small amount of food (scrambled eggs worked well for us). If worst comes to worst, ask the vet for a prescription and go to a compounding pharmacy and see if they can make everything liquids!

Tex was also kicked out of the vet hospital for the same reasons as Oakley, except he didn't manage to get out of the crate!!

We are, Pat! Hope to see your tri baby (babies?)!

Terry

Hooray! Haven't seen a Medio, love the Grande, and the Pequeno has grown on me since we have 1 wire coat who shows regularly here in Texas, and she is adorable!

Terry

Welcome! Where is your new baby coming from? Although we moved to TX in 2009, we spent over 30 years in San Diego area and were founding members of South Coast Basenji Club, so we pretty much know and/or are related by dogs to most of the So Cal breeders.

As far as what to get for your puppy - we provide a "Supply list" for our new puppy buyers. Items on it include: Bitter Apple (works better than other brands), ECO 88 stain & odor control, available online, not sure if it's in CA or not. It seems to work better than Nature's Miracle, which we've used for many years. Also a supply of food, preferably the same brand fed by the breeder. I'm sure your breeder will have a puppy kit which they send with the pup, so you should check with them to find out what you need to get.

Good luck, and post pictures!!

Terry

We have used spray bottles with ours. Some find it very 'yucky' and will respond to it, others ignore it, and some actually seem to get angry about being spritzed! The good thing about it is that you can spray them from a distance so they don't associate the punishment directly with you (although all of ours are savvy enough to recognize the bottle in our hands and stop doing the undesirable behavior just by being 'threatened' with a spray). If the behavior is serious enough, i.e., for ours, fence fighting that goes beyond just playing and involves actual biting through the fence, we don't even use a verbal command, they just get sprayed without warning.

Terry

Huge congratulations!! I also saw them on FB; what pretty babies!

Terry

Michelle, I know how hard it is. You never stop wondering if you did enough, if you had just tried a little harder. But in your heart, you will know when you and Tayda have given everything you have.

The Fanconi test is one of the best things that ever happened for Basenjis. Yes, it may have some issues, but compared to not knowing anything, it's magnificent. We had to make breeding decisions based on, "Well, no one's ever said any of this dog's close relatives have had Fanconi," and "All the dogs are strip tested monthly."

All you can do is love her for as long as you have her.

Terry

I did post a couple of ideas for you in the member intro section, but here are some others. How many bicarb is she on per day? Those are pretty much the only ones that have to go in whole - the rest could be crushed, mixed in with food, etc. Instead of the Pet Tabs Plus, we used the extra strength vitamins from Revival Animal Health (I think their brand is Doc Roy's). Our Fanconi dogs liked the taste much better and would eat them as a treat. Instead of Pet Cal, you can use powdered dicalcium phosphate (available in the horse section, comes in fairly large quantities, so it lasts forever). I think 1 teaspoon is the conversion for 1 Pet Cal. Because it's powdered, you can mix it in the food with a little canned dog food.

Again, I urge you to join the Yahoo Fanconi Dogs group; fabulous people and a wealth of experience!

Terry

Welcome to the forum!
Has your vet been in contact with Dr. Gonto? (outdoc@aol.com) Dr. Gonto is the one who developed the Fanconi protocol and is more than willing to work with vets.

As far as the supplements, if you join the Yahoo Fanconi Dog group, a whole host of pill hiding ideas that have been successful with picky eaters is available. And you can always pill by hand or using a pill popper (available at Petco and PetSmart). What worked best for us was liver sausage or braunsweiger (sp??). It has a sticky consistency which makes it hard for them to eat off without swallowing the pill. We did 1 ball without pill, one with, then a couple more without, then another one with a pill, etc. Also, if you give her pills in the presence of the other dogs, sometimes the competition will encourage her to take the pilled treats.

Terry

I hear you, Michelle. And I know how hard it is, although I was fortunate not to have a baby in the house, I did have 3 with Fanconi at one point, so we definitely had the revolving door at night - just when we would doze back off from taking one out, another would need to go… And while we generally managed to get everyone's pills in without fear/argument, we did have that problem when we were doing sub q fluids. We couldn't bring out the bag until we had her secure or we wouldn't catch her.

Note to all, excellent suggestions about crushing pills, but the primary medication that needs to be given 2 or 3 times a day is the sodium bicarb, which can not be crushed, must be given whole.

Have you tried the Pill Popper? Quicker and less traumatic for us than prying mouth open, attempting to stuff treat/pill and then holding mouth closed.

Terry

We never gave lepto when we lived in CA, but we do here in TX. It is much more of a problem here. Plus, we live in a rural area with lots of wildlife and lots of streams, creeks, ponds, and lakes to help it spread.

Terry

OK, Dawn, the wheels are in motion! Several of us are willing to provide referrals to anyone we know of wanting an older B, and we're actively talking to people we know might be interested. Hope we can relieve a little of Cherry's stress; I know this is very hard for her.

Terry