Hi Hoot,
Welcome to the forum. I wanted to introduce myself to you because I too adopted a dog for the same reasons. I wanted a companion for my Golden Retriever who is also my service dog. He had gained a lot of weight during a period where I was sick with my MS. I decided to go to our local shelter and found my baby Taz. He had a great personality and got along well with my Golden "Levi" . I too did not know what kind of dog he was until my BF figured it out. All we knew was that he was hound/terrier mixed. Little did I know he was Basenji or even what a Basenji was. I learned quickly. lol.. He too likes to chew a lot and we have to put everything out of his reach, especially cell phones (from experience) He won't mess with the remote control though. He does like to table surf and will take anything from gloves to mail to cellphones off the tables. He is a very loveable dog though. He loves to be in my lap and is a leaner. You will probably find she is very cat like as it is a trait of basenji's. My Taz likes to lean up against me when i am getting ready in the bathroom or when I am standing around. He is very partial to me though he loves my BF (not sure why) but he doesn't sit with him unless I am out of the room. I have to put baby gates up to keep him from going into the kitchen or from going upstairs to table surf in the bathroom or bedrooms or keep the doors shut. You will find baby gates very helpful. Also you will find that keeping lots and lots of chew toys around will be very helpful to keep her attention off of things she shouldn't chew. We use Nylabones for powerful chewers and they love pigs ears and will take them a while to chew them. Kongs are great as well because they can chew them and not destroy them as they tend to do to other softer plastic toys. I have also found he loves tennis balls and won't destroy them as well. He is fully crate trained but will sleep in the bed with me when my BF is not here. They are very playful as well. Females do tend to try to be more dominant but being a dominant person can offset that problem. Here are some pics of my Taz and you can see they look very much alike. Taz's tail is curled but not nearly as much as a full Basenji. His ears also tip more like a terrier as well. He sheds very little though when I brought him home he was shedding very bad and I don't know if it was stress related to him being at the shelter or if it was just his diet. I feed him purina pro plan sensitve stomach and skin formula which consist of salmon, brewers rice and oatmeal which are very healty for them and keeps their fur shiney and their skin healthy as well as their stomachs. You will find though the longer you have her you will fall in love with Basenjis. I hope you enjoy her and have lots of fun.
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Hi my Basenji, Delle and I have just joined the forum
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Hello everyone. I've had 4 Basenji's over the past 25 years but just found this forum.
My dog who is 10 seems to be undergoing some personality/separation(??) issues after eating a Swifter duster in early June. She'd developed some vomiting issues about 2 weeks prior to the swifter but we thought she was on the road back to health. Lately she's become destructive in her closed in area (the kitchen),bitting through the baby gates barring the doorway and chewing the living room rug at the doorway. I moved her back to her crate (she was a show dog and was very used to crating but we've not used it in about 5 years) and she got in willingly enough with a treat. Each day since she has become more destructive, screaming and screeching in her crate when I leave and return and chewing through the carpeting on the crate floor. The screaming and screeching now also occurs when she is riding with me in the car (and she has always loved car rides) so maybe it's not separation anxiety. She's quiet for the most part when we are home together and she is not in her crate. Last trip to the vet - did a complete chem screen and showed nothing abnormal but I will take her into see the vet again tomorrow. Taking her to my part-time job is not an option and neither is doggy care (which she used to love) as I'm retired and on an unbelieveably tight budget.
If anyone has in behavioral insight into what's going on I would love to hear from you. Since I need to keep her safe in the interim, I'd also be interested in knowing what type of crates you guys recommend (I have a Kennel-aire 154 but I need to replace the tray - preferably with a metal item because she all know how Basenji's can chew plastic trays).
Thanks for your help and I hope to be an active member of this site for a long time to come.