Basenjis are perpetual two year olds. If your attention is on anything that is not them, they feel the need to bring you back to "reality". A Basenji considers himself/herself the center of your universe and expects to be treated accordingly, the exception being when they are getting into mischief and don't want you to know about it. Otherwise your undivided attention is expected, and demanded, especially if it is obvious that something else is foremost in your thoughts. As the nominal owner (otherwise known as "staff") of a Basenji, you are expected to know that! 😉
Typical Basenji or just my special boy?
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Just wondering if this was a typical basenji thing that other B's do also or just my funny boy….when we are at the farm (where we go for off leash time & play with other dogs) Sonny definately loves people more then other dogs. He will play with some of his favorite dog friends but prefers to mingle with the humans...each visit he picks out who his favorite human will be that day and keep in mind it can be someone he's never met before and he goes right up to them and backs his butt up towards their feet and sits down right ontop of them. :p He's content to sit right there and watch all the other dogs play...he never does this to me however :rolleyes:
anyone else's B do this type of thing?
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LOL! Well, I know Cody doesn't do that. If he's outside off-leash with any of his dog-friends, he is all about playing with them, running, and occasionally zooming straight at the humans only to sharply turn at the last second to miss us. Apparently, messing with us is entertaining.
Inside the house is another story though. If we have a group of people over, he'll usually pick one person (and like Sonny, it may be someone he has never met before, although he does have his favorites) and stick close to them, usually looking up at them so pitifully that they just have to pet him (those wrinkles come in handy at this point).
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Have both a people oriented and a dog oriented. Depends on the dog.
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I'm still wondering if Kipawa will be a people or dog fan. Out on our walk yesterday, he had a little bit of shaking (apprehension, anxiety) when meeting some dogs. But he loves my sister's Chow. We start puppy classes at the end of this month, so he will have more opportunities for socialization.
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Abbey's more a people dog. She's very selective about making friends with other dogs. She gets along well with my son's Rottweiler and black lab and my mother's Pekingese but that's it. Likes all the neighbors, likes the mailman and total strangers who come to fix the plumbing!
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Shaye is definitely not like that. She is a dog's dog, i.e., she loves most other dogs and will try to make every dog in the park play/chase her, sometimes to their great annoyance, but she feels no need to have the humans bother with her at all. At home, she mostly plays with Gemma, our B mix, and when she becomes tired, THEN she curls up on, next to, behind, or tries to get under, one of us. She's not likely to run up to strangers who come to the house, either, although she does eventually smell them out, and will gladly put up with a little petting.
