Never Wake a Sleeping Basenji

Never Wake a Sleeping Basenji: a lesson we have all learned the hard way.

Whether you are sitting next to your basenji and you accidentally bump him or someone comes to visit during his nap time, the result is always the same: a crazy basenji.

Scenario 1: Basenji is settling onto floor, curling up, and ready to go to sleep. What do you do?
You: Invite neighbors over.
Basenji: Gets up, glares at both you and the visitors, and goes upstairs to start ripping up your bed.

Scenario 2: Basenji is sitting on couch, asleep. What do you do?
You: Plop right down next to Basenji, practically on top of him.
Basenji: Abruptly wakes up and does that scary snarrrlbitebitegrrawr thing.

Scenario 3: Basenji is sleeping peacefully on floor, right next to your TV. What do you do?
You: Crank up the volume because, "OMG! IT'S AMERICAN IDOL!"
Basenji: Wakes up, jumps over to you, and tries to steal your cookie.

I know all of these seem pretty mild, and that is because they are. I was just building you up to the ultimate Never Wake a Sleeping Basenji scenario..

Scenario 4: Your all time favorite show/movie is on TV. You just HAVE to watch it, and you need absolute silence. You are SO happy and content, and this is totally making your day. What do you do?
You: Settle onto the couch next to Basenji. You pet Basenji, and you love him SOO much.
Basenji: Falls into a light sleep.
Random Family Member: Clambers down the stairs for a Coke, and accidentally stumbles over one of Basenji's toys.
Basenji's Toy: Squeeeeak.
Basenji: His ears perk up and he quickly awakens. He jumps down from the couch, and runs over to play with his toy.
You: "Oh, no."
Random Family Member: Runs back upstairs, so that he doesn't have to deal with Basenji.
Basenji: Whips his toy around, chews on it, and tumbles around on the floor.
You: Try your best to ignore Basenji.
Basenji: Sees that you are not reacting and drops his toy. He jumps back onto the couch and launches himself into one of the pillows. He gnaws on it and knocks it onto the floor.
You: "Basenji. No." You pick up the pillow and put it back. "Now go back to sleep."
Basenji: Walks out of the room, pretending to leave you alone.
You: Sigh. At least now you get to watch the rest of--
Basenji: Flies into the room. It's time for the B500. He races around the room and then around the whole house, causing quite a ruckus. At the end of every lap, he jumps onto the couch, crashing into you at full speed.
You: In an attempt to avoid this, you get up from the couch.
Basenji: Runs up to at the end of every lap, jumps up, and nips and scratches you.
You: Have officially missed your show.
Basenji: Is proud of himself.

Because we are too busy thinking about what our basenji is doing wrong, we usually don't realise that it is our fault our basenji's are waking up "on the wrong side of the bed".
From now on, never wake a sleeping basenji, because there WILL be trouble.