Basenjiinquiry test

While it is true that basenjis don't bark, they are not mute, and they are not stuffed animals. This is an exotic, always choreographed imp of a creature that is made to be adored and respected. Basenjis are bed dogs, and, I repeat, very far from stuffed animals. A running loose basenji is most often Road Kill. Finding a well bred basenji pup, in terms of health and temperament is hard to do. I breed for health and temperament, and have been known to say that if one of my dogs happens to win in the show ring, it is a mitzvah.

How is it that you are interested in a Basenji?

If you will consider a rescue, go to the 'BRAT' site http://www.basenjirescue.org

For breeder referral go to the Basenji Club of America site.

Please make yourself acquainted with the health and temperament issues of the breed so that you can know how to ask the right questions when you interview a breeder. You do not want to, for example, get a pup from parents under the age of 24 months, as they BOTH must have their hips x-rayed (an OFA registry number,) and they should have an up- to-date CERF number (for eyes.) You do not want a pup from a litter without both parents both having these numbers. There are other issues too.

You need to be VERY CAREFUL considering a Basenji. The breed has health concerns & temperament concerns. Go to this Health page.

This is a story I often tell to folks inquiring about getting a Basenji. It was told to me 20 something years ago by a Pharaoh Hound person. It's a lovely test of sorts & goes like this:

This handler raised a Basenji puppy for a client & her husband, she
said, absolutely hated this puppy.

One of the things that made him most angry was that the pup always stole the stick of butter from the table.

So he, fiendishly, added a liberal amount of jalapeno peppers
to some butter, reshaped it into a bar, placed this bar on the table &
waited.

Sure enough, said puppy grabbed it, and got the whole bar in her mouth, bowed down on her elbows and DID NOT REACT.

She only glared at him...

Then she dropped the butter & ran up the stairs AND PEED on HIS BED! The handler told me that she didn't know who would survive the chase that followed; around and around the house. Her husband finally cornered the little devil and said, "Gotcha!" and she marched past him and peed in his bedroom slipper..

Folks who laugh at this story pass the test for future Basenji households....

Susan & the unwoofs
Apu's Basenjis since 1973

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