Success Story: Nola & Gombo

We were looking for a Basenji when we lived in Oregon and could not find one anywhere! We searched the web and found out about BRAT and filled out the application stating we would take up to 2 dogs. During the screen process time we met a woman through a friend who showed Basenjis and bred her male. Turns out she was "retiring" her male and we thought we should get him from her (he lived in their home with their family not in a breeding facility) and then get a rescue from BRAT and they would live happily ever after. Since we passed the screen process with BRAT but there were no rescues in Oregon we let BRAT know we were doing a road trip from New Orleans to St Louis for our 1st anniversary and would happily take a rescue that needed a hope anywhere along that route and fly it home with us.

Well... as luck would have it BRAT had a bonded pair in Missouri that needed a home. After seeing their picture we changed our mind on getting buying the retired show/breeder dog and decided to take the bonded pair. Although it was tough acclimating 2 6-month old Basenjis who had lived their lives in a puppy mill (we had NO Basenji experience) they have made our lives fuller! We know they are happy, too, to have been rescued from that puppy mill but still have the chance to live together.

In homage to the road trip during which we got them, we named the girl NOLA after our launching point for the road trip (New Orleans) and the boy Gombo which is the African word for "okra" and the base of the word Gumbo. Nearly 3 1/2 years later we all couldn't be happier! As you can see on the photos, they LOVE being together! As a bonus for them, we moved from rainy Oregon to sunny San Diego two + years ago and they LOVE basking in the sun all day!

Amoreena and Scott

NOLA and Gombo