Hunting the Sprinkler

Everyone knows that basenijis hate water, and most basenjis will buck and squeal if confronted with the possibility of a dip or a squirt.  However, what happens when the basenji love of hunting things that move, conflicts with their fear of water?   Well, let my BRAT boy, Biko, demonstrate that for you:

Just to give you some perspective on this, when I adopted Biko five years ago, he had been a stray before coming to BRAT, and was fearful of everything that moved - especially people.  Ironically, he also had severe separation anxiety, and a tendency to escape from crates, yards, harnesses, etc.  Pretty much your standard "rescue dog with major issues."  It has taken years and patience, and above all a solid household routine that Biko can rely on so he knows we're always coming back, but today he is the most affectionate and loving dog that there ever was, does not try to escape at all, can be left home uncrated during the day as long as he's got his basenji sister, Reef, with him, and he's the most confident little hunter I've ever seen!  He's still not always confident when it comes to meeting other dogs and often reverts to protective mode (growling and acting like Cujo to protect his own pack), but he's still growing in confidence and security every day, so I'm sure we'll get there. Every time I look at my little Biko boy, it makes me glad that I adopted a rescue -- it wasn't easy with him at first, but with the help of the BRAT community and once we got the routine down, he just started growing and has become more affectionate and more loyal than any basenji I've ever seen!  He's been worth the extra effort 100 times over :-)