Good Morning!

[benji's mom]

Meet Benjamin! We got Ben when he was 3 months old from a couple who had a breeding pair, rather than a breeder.

His antics still crack us up on a daily basis:)

The pic shows him with a chew, not a cigar by the way…

Thanks!
Stephanie

[sharronhurlbut]

Stephanie, welcome.
Make sure you go to the health site on this forum and get your b fanconi checked.
Unless the couple had their dogs tested, this is important for you to do, so you will know
what is going to happen in the future.
Can I ask the name of the couple? or the area you got your b. I am pretty aware of folks in Wa who have b's.

[benji's mom]

Hmm, I'll have to dig through my papers and find their names. They were a goth couple who did conventions as vampires as I remember. Very nice people, seriously:)

They had a black and white and one like benji, did you call his color a fanconi? They hadn't intended on breeding but decided to try it. We got their name from our neighbor who'd picked up a female from the same litter.

They lived in the Redmond area as I recall and were moving. They had all their dogs with Banfield for first shots and dewclaws; we continue to take Benji there regularly.

Not sure what you mean by 'happen in the future?'

Thanks much!

[benji's mom]

Sorry, did a little googling. I will definitely have him in for a work up and keep a weather eye. I had no idea!
thanks so much…again.

[Patty]

Welcom to the forum to Benji and his mum.

[sharronhurlbut]

I do need you to know that any b who is going to be used for breeding, the sire/dam need to have more tests besides fanconi.
There are many breeders on this list. They can give you an idea of what a responsible breeder should do.
As I do rescue, I do hope you will reconsider breeding a litter. Unless your working to improve the breed, its just more dogs…and there are so many out there already.
see www.basenjirescue.org to see how many b's from non show breeders are showing up across the us.
I am glad your here. I hope you know I am just trying to share information with you.

[pacificNWbasenji]

Sharron, I think you may has misunderstood her post. She was stating she had gotten her dog from someone who had decided to have a litter, not that she was intending on doing so.

Stephanie, Welcome to the pack!

One test that is extremely valuable to have done on basenjis not just for your dogs health but so the results can be added to the database and used in developing a better test for preventing this horrid disease, called fanconi. You can order the test, which is just a cheek swab you can do at home by rubbing the swab on your dogs cheek to collect the saliva, here:http://www.offa.org/dnatesting/ it is called 'fanconi linkage test' and is $65

You can read here and see why it is so important: http://www.basenji.org/PUBLIC/HealthInfo.htm

The disease is typically late onset and finding out early if your dog may come down with this disease can help in getting your dog on medications early and hopefully lead to a longer happier life in your family.

We hope you will share photos and stories of your life with your basenji, they are such entertaining little buggers

[sharronhurlbut]

If I misread, I am so very sorry. Its old age. Thanks Libby for setting me straight.
Hugs to you all.

[thunderbird8588]

Welcome to the forum Stephanie and Ben.
Look foward to hearing more about him, we have an eight month old Pup called Malaika.
Our first Basenji was called Benji.

[MacPack]

Welcome! I didn't see a photo, boo-hoo.

Funny to think of a goth couple with a black and white basenji, they look very "Count Dracula" in some ways, especially with puppy teeth!