Success Story: BeeJee (Tykhe)

I just want to thank you - We have adopted a basenji mix from your rescue emails a couple of weeks ago. I think she was named Bee Jee on your site, she is now Tykhe (tie key) the Greek goddess of luck. She is 18 months old and at our request was brought up to San Francisco, CA from Bakersfield, CA, sight unseen by these amazing transport volunteers, after several phone calls about how wonderful she was at the shelter. I took her for a walk immediately after her 8 hour drive and within 10 mins she was perfect and heeling on the leash. Brought her into the house and she was amazing with our 3 kids, especially our littlest at 4 years old. My husband fell in love immediately.

She almost never barks and has only yodeled 3 times. She's great with other dogs on walks, has a bit of the hunter in her for squirrels, but is easily brought back to the walk / run mindset with a gentle tug.  She was a stray found on the street and has some broken teeth; our vet says this was probably from trying to chew her way out of somewhere.  She has had at least 2 litters. She is amazingly calm, gently takes treats with her mouth, is perfectly potty trained, doesn't shed or even smell much. Keep in mind she's a mix - probably has some boxer or pit in her?  But everyone who knows dogs sees the basenji in her first, even though she's 35 lbs - that telltale curly tail, red color, ridge back, and of course so silent.

I can't thank you enough for your web site; we never would have found her without you and your volunteers posting rescues. And she would have been  put down at the shelter - I can't even think of it. We're still working on the dog/cat love relationship, but they seem to be working it out a little more every day.

Anyway - just love your site and we're sending an Xmas donation from Tykhe. 
 
Best wishes,

Lisa Craig Gautier

Happy Birthday to the Boy Who Saved My Life

Yesterday, Denny Basenji turned seven. That makes for a spry 49 years in dog years. Seven years. It goes by so quick. Too quickly, I think.

It seems like just yesterday, I brought home this shivering, snuggly 6-lb bundle of love. Part of me feels ready for the sleep depravation of having a baby (if and when, God-willing, it happens! Send fertile thoughts my way! LOL) because for the first 7 months of having Denny, I was up every two hours, then every three hours. When I finally got 6 hours of sleep around 6 months, I thought the clouds had parted and the heavenly host was singing hosannas! LOL

But it was worth it. Every 4:00 a.m. snuggle session with Denny built the bond stronger between us. I used to sit on the floor of the kitchen with him shivering in my lap (it was late winter when I got him). As he insisted on climbing into my lap, I let him and petted him and snuggled him until he fell asleep.

The most amazing thing happened to my heart, then.

Remember from "The Grinch" how his heart grew six sizes in one day? Well, that's how I felt. I was amazed at the new depths of love and devotion of which I was capable of. This little creature that was completely depending on me for everything had become the most amazing little life within the shelter of my life.

I would tear up (am tearing up now, but don't tell anyone) at the thought of how much I could love another living being. Denny was only six pounds, but he filled my heart like a three-ton truck. Blessed is the person whose heart is opened by a dog.

So, I got Denny partly in thinking that he would help me recover from a kidney transplant that was coming down the road. He did, eventually, by forcing me to walk twice a day, which helped improve my recovery and kidney function after the transplant. But, during a painful divorce and far too many life changes, he has been the soft, warm, quiet, pawing-me-in-the-face-to-not-stop-petting-him presence.

When I started dating my now-husband Eric, I worried about Denny and Eric meeting each other. When Denny trotted out of his crate and over to Eric, sniffed him, sighed happily, and sat down on his feet, I knew my gut had been right. Eric was the one.

Side note: ladies - get a dog. Best judge of character you'll ever meet, and always there in the morning. Just saying.

Anyway. Denny grew. I grew. Life changed and got better, and worse, and better, and worse, and better. Eric and I were married, and we became a family with Denny. After cancer surgery, Denny was with me again, getting me walking and being my heating pad when the pain got bad. He knows when I can't sleep, and he gets into bed to snuggle me deep into forgetfulness and rest. He makes me laugh every day, and it truly is the best medicine.

Eric and I love him, and our "family snug time" consists of three spoons, in order of size. Of course, it's hard to doze and drift when the littlest spoon insists on chewing and obsessively licking his paws. But that's a basenji for you!

Hmmm. This was supposed to be a funny post. Or a poem. Or something. It's a bit soppier than I usually do. But, it's from my heart, so I guess I have to trust y'all with it.

As for Denny's tribute, he got cookies and a rubber chicken named Earl. He promptly ate Earl's head off and swallowed it before I could stop him. Luckily for us, he threw it right up. Not too different from a two-year-old, right?

Here's to seven more years of love and life with my little boy.

Happy Beginnings and Endings

This is the story of Kizzie, one of the feral Florida basenjis. 

In 2010, we adopted a feral basenji named Kizzie (the larger dog in the picture, with the darker coat and light eyes).  Kizzie was born to a pack of wild basenjis who were residing in a cow pasture in Hillsborough County, Florida.  They are very large, as only the strong and fit were able to survive. They have been described as “basenjis on steroids.”  In early 2010, Hillsborough county animal control impounded a lot of basenjis from this situation, and several had litters of pups. Thankfully, B.R.A.T. stepped in and took the dogs to socialize and place them in forever homes.

Prior to our adopting Kizzie she was in foster care for several months.  After submitting our adoption application, we were interviewed, had a home inspection, then we adopted Kizzie from B.R.A.T. on July 11, 2010.
 

Kizzie is extremely sweet and sensitive. She adjusted immediately to our older basenji, Pikachu, who is 10 years old.  Since Kizzie was not used to living in a house, many things still terrify her, such as loud noises, company, and hats.  She especially likes to play on our bed, as she feels this is her "safe zone."  Each day we make a tiny step of progress with her, which is helped by the fact that Kizzie is somewhat food motivated. 

We also have 3 cats, and as soon as she made herself at home, Kizzie immediately “adopted” Silver. It is fair to say she adjusts to animals much better than to people.  Kizzie also enjoys the dog parks, especially when there are a group of B’s for her to play with. Although, catching her when it is time to leave does present some challenges!

Overall, adopting a wild dog may not be for everyone, but it has proven to be a very rewarding challenge. We are very happy to have Kizzie in our family, and she has certainly found her forever home.

Tricia and Joe Williams 

Kiya & Dixie

Just wanted to share some pictures of the two BRAT rescues I have adopted....Kiya - back in June from fosters Matt and Jenn Davis; and Dixie in September from foster Barbara Mc Shea. I am thankful for all the hard work the fosters put in and everyone else involved so they could be the confident little troublemakers that they are today! 

-Seneca Curry

Maggie's Halloween Art

One of the things I love best about Basenjis is their predictability. There are just some behaviors you can take to the bank. Like what happens when you leave the dog in the backseat of your car and a bag of Taco Bell on the dashboard, while you run into the store for just a second. Or getting vigorously “frisked” by the nose after going out to dinner. Or how you'll find the dirty laundry you sorted and treated with Spray & Wash and left in neat piles on the laundry room floor. My Maggie has taught me that if it smells she will come - to eat, roll or play. And it’s hard to be mad at her when she succumbs to her nose. To see her wallowing in the laundry, using her nose to toss clothes high in the air, paws scattering my neat piles everywhere, a look of sheer joy on her face, is priceless. I try to remember to shut the laundry room door, but sometimes I forget. I can be a slow learner.


So back to the predictability thing. While preparing for Halloween I splattered blood red paint on a sheet and left it on the back porch to dry. This was not some fancy Ralph Lauren low odor interior paint, OH NO, this was the cheapest exterior latex paint I could find! You can guess what happened next-- Maggie followed her nose to the sheet covered in stinky paint! She happily rolled, scrubbed, dragged, danced and pranced her way through the wet paint. By the time I found her she was covered in paint.

She was so happy and proud of herself, tail wagging vigorously when I found her standing on the sheet. After I picked my jaw up off the ground, I started laughing. The whole thing was so awful - but it was funny! But then I discovered that most of the paint on Maggie was dry, and suddenly her escapade wasn't so funny anymore. Maggie REALLY hates baths, so I had to put her in the bathtub and climb in with her. The two of us soaked in a warm bubble bath for over an hour. At one point I looked up and there was a camera hanging over the tub's glass doors, because my husband was happily clicking away at the ridiculous scene below.

Eventually, the paint softened and I was able to use a shedding brush to gently strip the paint from Maggie's coat. It really was quite a mess. And of course, the whole thing was my fault! I knew she would be interested in the paint so I had thought to myself, “be sure to close the door so Maggie doesn’t get into the paint.” And yes, it was me who still somehow left the door open -- as I said, I am a slow learner!

Counting Our Blessings

Since this is November, the traditional month for giving thanks, and also because my baby girl Dasa will be 11 on November 22, I want to take a moment to reflect on how very blessed we are to share our lives with Ivan and Dasa.
When people discover the munchkins are rescues, they often say, “Oh, what lucky little dogs.” It seems inadequate to say “We’re the lucky ones.” It doesn’t seem to express how grateful we are to share our lives with these amazing, captivating, enchanting little dogs. They are the center of our home; they are joy and warmth and laughter.

Our vocabularies overflow with words of besotted praise and glowing wonderment. For any other subjects, the term “cute” would be grossly overused, but Ivan and Dasa have an endless supply of cuteness. We marvel at their soft ears, their energy, grace, and enthusiasm. We never tire of the glorious sight of basenjis sleeping, yawning, sitting, playing . . . . Every walk is exciting, a cause for great celebration, and each meal –– three times a day ––is the best thing that’s happened all week. It takes so little to make them happy, and we delight in their delight.
We’re very grateful to BRAT for entrusting us with our precious munchkins. We’re thankful for Ivan and Dasa’s foster parents, and everyone who helped with paperwork and details along the way to us.

Each year when we sit down to the beautiful Thanksgiving feast Eric cooks, we count BRAT among our blessings. We have a lot to be thankful for: health, home, family, friends, jobs, each other, and at the top of the list you’ll find two small dogs. We are very blessed indeed.

A Tribute to Topper

Many years ago, a friend of a friend rescued a 1 ½ year old basenji, so I shared my phone number, and told her to call if she had any questions. 2 weeks later, the phone rang and she said she only had one question…would I take him? I hesitated for a split-second, looked at my husband Donald who firmly said “no,” and I asked where she lived and when she would be home. When we arrived, Topper spun around and leapt into my husband’s arms, and we knew he was ours. He was a whirling dervish, a playful boy who we taught to get on the bed and couch, but when he began waking me up at 4 am to play I wondered I had made a huge mistake. We told him that we were not going to get deeply emotionally attached to him, he was going to be “just a dog.”

Topper was our first black and white basenji and at first I couldn’t really ‘see’ his eyes or expression, but soon I was able to see into the darkness and his gaze was loving and strong. I thought he was the most beautiful basenji I had ever seen. “Just a dog”…right. We were deeply in love with him within 24 hours. It was a relationship of mutual respect and love that lasted almost 14 years, from the first moment we saw him, until the very last moment.

We joined the Basenji-L chat list and BRAT, ‘back in the day,’ and made many friends in cyberspace. Donald is a photographer, so I also joined B-Pix. Topper’s photos were posted on a regular basis, and we got to know friends from all over the world. When Topper recently passed on, their messages of love and support helped us through a very rough week. I read the BRAT Blog daily and love the banner, which is a photo Donald took of Topper running with his buddies at the dog park.

Before dog parks, there was a big field where a few folks brought their dogs to play, unfenced. I trained Topper to come to a whistle so he wouldn’t run off, but he always stayed and played with his dog pals. We had a 14 year old girl named Ginger who would walk off alone, and Topper would break off his play about every 15 minutes to go and find her, exchange sniffs, and return to his play. A year later a friend found a wild, uncivilized beach and for several years we went there every afternoon to let him run free, chase rabbits and birds, and watch the sunsets.

By the time Topper was 5, fenced dog parks were opening and that wonderful beach was being made into a park, so our life of dog parks began. We added Nicky (BRAT) as a playmate for him. The next 5 years flew by, we started a group of basenjis & their owners who have been meeting every Sunday for the last 10 years. All the dogs and humans have become an extended family.
Topper was never as healthy as he looked and acted, first pneumonia, then a spine injury, more pneumonia, and 5 years ago, asthma, heart disease, and finally his plumbing. A handful of medicines twice a day kept him active and content, but we never thought he would make 15. That birthday, which came on October 1st this year, was a real milestone. Every day after was a bonus. He was normal in the morning of November 10, then went downhill over a matter of 2 hours in the late afternoon, and there was no question that it was ‘time.’ Our vet is a friend who met us at his clinic and helped our brave, sweet, handsome boy cross over. I know he is in very good company at the Rainbow Bridge with all the wonderful basenjis waiting to greet him. I like to think he is doing his silly whirly-twirls in the clouds.

-Anne MacMillan

Amber at 16!

Amber is the 3rd of our four basenjis (same parents, four litters) who joined us starting in 1993 when we lived in Boulder CO. Our two boys, Rufus and Brandy, passed on at ages 15 and 16, but Amber (just 16) and LittleBit (almost 15) are still hanging in here with us - our crew apparently came from a hearty gene pool. :-)

Nov. 14, yesterday, was Amber's 16th birthday. She is also known as "Missy Amber-Poo" (her diva, bad-girl, name). Amber has no shame - at 16 she's still...well, very full of herself. It's fun to watch her work a
crowd -- approaches anyone, everyone, with body language that says "Hi, here I am, of course you love me," and generally they do. She was the instant caretaker of our first grandchild. When Amber's brother, Brandy, died she gently licked his face, eyes, ears, mouth, and stayed by his side as long as she could. On a trip a month ago to NJ she took a running leap and flew through the air, around the "body guards," to cuddle up to our 90-year old aunt with Parkinson's who smiled (!) and said, "She's OK." On that same trip we were visiting relatives who had an outdoor swimming pool covered loosely with a canvas tarp. Suddenly Amber was in the middle of the pool, her skinny little legs going as fast as they could to propel her through the puddles of rainwater on the sagging tarp. Before any of us, yelling and screaming, could get to the side of the pool she was up and out. Missy Amber-Poo is also now known as the "Jesus dog."

She did the usual B-antics like emptying the garbage all over the house, and still is unable to leave toilet paper alone. I have the pair of brand-new eyeglasses she mangled into a wire sculpture after shattering the unbreakable lenses. She empties purses left on the floor -- and a while back chewed up a pair of expensive slacks belonging to a new dog sitter Amber clearly did not like. Heh. Then there was "Amber's Rock." She used to extract a particular rough, palm-sized rock from deep inside a large planter every night and place it in the middle of the living room floor where we'd find it the next day. This went on for months until we finally put her rock "away." She never did select another rock as "hers."

So that's Amber, still crazy after all these years. And then there's her sister, LittleBit -- that's another story. Here are some photos of her 16th birthday party yesterday:  

-Jacquelyn Schechter

O.K., I probably shouldn't do this but I am gonna be a basenji and do it anyway. ha ha :)

I just wanted to plug my business (which is named after my first basenji Miss Happy Fantastic) and let all you basenji lovers know that Happy Fantastic Designs is donating 20% of the profits from my online Etsy shop's sales to BRAT. And... I have a couple of basenji inspired items such as pins, magnets, baby onesies, and tote bags! All images come from my own drawings and are silk-screened by hand by me (often with my senji helpers Mr. Calvin Cuddles + Miss Toni Terrific right by my side).

So if you are looking for a special senji holiday or birthday present and want to help support BRAT check out my work. :)



www.happyfantastic.com
http://www.etsy.com/shop/HappyFantastic

Happy Thanksgiving! Part 2

I went out to do some errands today. As I was getting stuff out the car, which I had pulled into the garage, I could hear thunderous footsteps overhead and Flippie barking. I thought, this can't be good...

I had been gone for about an hour & half and came home to this:

note: the gate "lock" is in place

I don't know how they got into the bathroom because I made SURE the door was closed before I left.

BUT, it could have been worse...

No couch or cushion was de-stuffed, destroyed or otherwise defamated.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here, in no particular order, are things I am thankful for...

Jazzie, my first basenji

Flippie, my schipperke

A beautiful, sunny day

My three B's

My beautiful daughter, Shelley & her boyfriend, Shawn

Jazzie & Dixie

Wouldn't be Thanksgiving without some turkeys!

Help with the dishes

My home away from home

A view out my front door

Another point of view...

Could have been worse...

My beautiful daughter Bridgette and Dixie

Where I want to be at sunset...

Ellie, Part 1

We adopted Ellie in April 2010. She was rescued from an animal shelter in January and it was obvious she had been badly mistreated.  Thanks to the loving care of her foster father, Nick Russell, she was given medical attention and lots of love. She made progress, but her fear of people was remarkable.

Ellie came home to me, my husband, Guy, our Basenji, WIlder, and my daughter's large and lovable mixed breed, Miles. She found refuge in her crate and never came out if any human was in the vicinity.  She took immediately to Miles and WIlder, however, and they were a great comfort to her.

Eventually I could bribe her with a bit of chicken to come for a bite, but she immediately tucked her tail and scurried away.

The next big step was walking on a leash. It was a love/hate relationship, because she obviously liked part of it (the quiet part) but was terrified of sounds, from the recycling truck to me dropping my jacket.

Now, seven months later, she runs to the door for her leash at walk time. She comes in the morning and jumps on the bed for love and scratches on the ears.  Unfortunately, the rest of the day she still runs and hides if either my husband or I come into the room.

Some days she is afraid to come get her food and others she runs right into her crate for a meal.

I don't know what someone did to that helpless little creature. I believe she has Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. I am surprised at how long a process healing is, but I am heartened by her progress, and feel sure that she is in good hands, with a loving family of the two- and four-legged varieties.....

To be continued...

-Denise Furnish

Yoda Baloo's Story

Sometime in 2004, somebody's basenji dog got loose in Texas.  How old he is, we will never know. How pure he is, he won't tell.  Why he wasn't searched for is a shame.  He just said it didn't matter, because he didn't want the humans to get in trouble.

Thanks to BRAT, and Robin, Brenda Castle, Terriann McGlenn, and Sharron Hurrlbut in Washington State, a basenji dynasty was set up.  There was a little red and white jewel named Topaz that was wanting for a companion.  Baloo, the escaped tri colored boy from Texas, apparently needed a good home, and they met.  It was contentment at first sight.Baloo's new humans couldn't cope with the name Baloo for an African bred dog-- and the big ears that came with him!  So it was either change the name to Dumbo, because his ears were like C-130 wings, or Yoda, because he had a Yoda pout due to several earlier injuries to his mouth.  Yoda Baloo it became.

After getting to know Yoda Baloo, we eventually decided that his ears were, in fact, actual wings.  He can clear a 6 foot fence with out even touching it, and to make things worse, he can climb trees.  So if he can't jump the fence, he climbs the 9 foot hedge and goes over.  Makes perfectly good sense to him!  And if he can't go over the fence or the hedge, he climbs something to get to the roof of the house and jumps down onto the van or car tops on the other side.  Yes, we did a lot of chasing!

Then our little jewel Topaz, who is a show and lure coursing champion, came into her season, and when the time actually came for her puppies, we got the shock of our human lives--  Yoda Baloo (who is neutered) stepped in right from their birth and became the perfect Step-Dad.  He nurtured the first born, a male, finished cleaning and warmed him, and watched quietly while the other pups were born. Then he quickly checked all the girls out, made his pick, and relaxed.  Of course then the Momma in Topaz kicked in and she informed Yoda that she would dismantle his nose from his face if he came around the kids again.  That lasted about 4 weeks.  She then turned potty training over to StepDad Yoda, along with some of the discipline and socialization.

Now all of this sounds like a fairy tale, but the truth be told, it actually happened.  These are the things that we will remember when the Rainbow Bridge calls, along with: Chewing up blankets, bait bags, plastic bags, shoes, toys, balloons, levitating to the counter top and consuming the roast that was meant for dinner -- these are typical basenji antics.  Opening the Christmas gifts and lifting his leg on the artificial tree -- this was a bit much.  Getting beat up trying to prove he's the alpha dog when he's not, screaming when left alone in another room, or at a dog show when your girl is showing -- this was grounds for muzzling. Drawing and quartering a squirrel, catching live birds, snakes, mice, even cats -- well, perhaps all of these can be acceptable under certain circumstances, because he IS a basenji. But all things aside, we love our little guy.  Thank You BRAT, for giving us this buddy. 

Debbie Nelson 
Yoda-Baloo Nelson  
DC Platinum Nelson of Taji SC (Topaz) 
Platinum Onyx of Amun SC (Ajax) 
Platinum Nelson Jewel of D"Nile SC (Jade)

The Close Call - Near Death to SuperDog

When Phoenix threw up Friday i didn't think much of it. Like my previous male Cairo, he has earned the name of vomit dog...an occurance we have gotten use to dealing with every few weeks. We are pretty careful as to making sure both him and Kenya don't get into things they shouldn't but 1) they are dogs 2) they are Basenjis.

Without getting into play by play detail Phoenix started throwing up early Sunday morning (3 am). Between 3:00 am and 7:00 am he threw up 8-9 times. Then he seemed fine...back to his old self. When i went to feed him he drank a good deal of water but refused to eat. We weren't overly concerned. First he is a slow eater and not overly food motivated. We figured something had obviously upset his stomach. We had a "fun match" from Basenji Companions and since he seemed OK, decided to still go. At the match he was his usual self. He gladly ate the treats we gave him, and was pretty well behaved in the competitions we entered him in. He even won best heel! We crated him and Kenya when it was time for lunch and that's when things got scary. Out of no where he lets out with the most horrifying scream. It wasn't a get me out of the crate complaint scream. It was an "i am in pain scream" He did this 4 more time in a row than projectile vomited. We were worried and before leaving spoke to Barbara Narewood and Priscella Weeks. They said the screaming could be because he had thrown up multiple times and his stomach muscles may be sore. They checked his gums and skin and he didn't appear to be dehydrated. They said watch him and if the screaming and vomitting continued to take him to the vet Monday morning. We drove the 20 minutes back to Manchester and he was fine. We took him out for a walk and again the horrible screaming started, than he vomitted twice. We scooped him up and brought him down to the emerency vet. During our 3 1/2 hour wait he screamed and vomitted 3 more times. By the time the vet checked him out he was at a 65% dehydration level. To make a very long vet ordeal short the bottom line was he had a blockage and without surgery wouldn't be able survive. We were sick to our stomachs with the $2500 surgery sticker shock but even sicker to our stomachs over the thought of loosing our wonderful boy we had adopted 1 1/2 years ago. There was no option...surgery it would be.

The surgery went well. They removed a 2 1/2" x 1 " x 1/2 " wad of fabric he had ripped off a stuffed animal and obviously swallowed. I don't even know how he was able to get something that large down his throat. Dr's orders were to keep him from going up and down stairs, jumping on and off furniture or running. A challenging task as they have total freedom in our house. We brought him home Wednesday and you could tell how much discomfort he was in. He wimpered and moaned most of the day but was happy to be home. Wednesday was a day of rest and snuggling for him.

Thursday, his first full day home we crated him when we went to work to keep him out of trouble. Lloyd came home after 2 hours to check on him and the crate door was open and Phoenix was lying on his favorite part of the sofa.

The little bugger figured out how to open the door and let himself out. Oh, well...there goes the don't let him jump on furniture order from the vet down the drain. Lloyd tied the 2 crates together with bungie cords so the weight would make it harder for Phoenix to move the crate and secured the door so he couldn' t manuevere it open. When he came home later he was still in the crate but had started to bend the wires.

We were concerned that he would do more damage to himself stuggling to get out of the crate so we decided to put the gate back up and lock him in the living room so he can lie on the sofa.

That worked well for the rest of Thursday until Mommy came home. I went upstairs to do some work on the computer. Being a Mommy's boy, he follows me around like white on rice. I hear Lloyd yelling at him. It turns out the little bugger had started pulling himself over the gate. Lloyd stopped him and i came downstairs.

The next morning they were locked behind the gate in the living room while i was upstairs in my office. I hear a big thump and the next thing i know he had come up the stairs and is happily trotting into my office. Oh well, it looks like no matter what we did to obey Dr's orders Phoenix had another idea. We took the gate back down so he wouldn't hurt himself.

He was pretty happy to have his freedom and we are happy our beautiful boy is back to his normal goofy self.