Hi from Orlando!

[TMartin]

So I've been lurking on here since I found this site however long ago, just researching the breed and deciding if a basenji would be the right fit for our family. Figured it was probably overdue for me to actually come here and introduce myself! Anyways, I'm Tana and live with my fiance and his parents in Orlando, FL. I've been researching breeds for a few months now after we finally made the decision to bring in a new furry family member. We lost our Misty (rat terrier) just over a year ago, and lost Blacky (supposedly "purebred" rt, though I swear he had schipperke in him!) back in March. Both were very loved and lost quite sooner than anyone expected, so needless to say it took awhile for everyone to get to the place where they could accept a new pooch. I'm sure you can guess why I'm here…my fiance and I first saw a pair of basenjis months ago at a local farmer's market and thought they were gorgeous dogs, but didn't pay them much mind as it wasn't time yet. Lo and behold, the time finally comes, I'm browsing breeds (had to find a smaller breed, sadly no doberman for me yet :() and he asks what breed I thought those 2 dogs were at the market. I vaguely recall hearing about basenjis before and tell him that I think that was the breed. Score one for me! So I begin my research and eventually end up here and finally join after a bit. We drove up to Ocala on the 5th and met with a breeder, and I must say, though my fiance was the one who originally really liked the basenji, I think I may have found a breed that might just dethrone my beloved beagles (which he nixed because of their ears)! This has gotten quite longer than I intended, I never could do word limits...but I'd just like to thank you all for the info on this site which has been immensely useful and insightful throughout my searching.

[natertots]

Welcome! I'm sure your B will love the warm weather down there!

=Nate

[Woofless]

Welcome! I grew up in Orlando and lived there when I got my first Basenji, Jibini….it's been nearly 11 years ago now :). I grew up in the Lockhart area but lived near Winter Park off Goldenrod when I got Jibini. Several nice dog parks in Orlando as I recall!

Interestingly enough, my 2nd Basenji girl (adopted almost 4 yrs ago) is also named Tana. :o LOL, so I have to compliment you on your beautiful name!! She was rescued from a puppymill; and her original name was Tanya Ann. I didn't think that name fit her, plus I wanted her to have a new name for her new life. But amazingly enough she responded to her name even though she'd been a kennel dog all her life. So I tried to pick something that sounded like "Tanya" but with a more suitable flair for this little princess Started looking up Swahili words & definitions (my Jibini is also a Swahili word, meaning "cheese" LOL) and found the word "tanashati" which means "pretty". Shortened it to Tana; she responded to it, so the name stuck!

Such a pretty and fairly unique name....you are the first human Tana I've come across! I hope it doesn't bother you to share your name with the world's sweetest Basenji I used to try to avoid giving my dogs common "human" names mostly since I like to be weird & creative (i.e. Jibini=Cheese)....But kind of gave up on that a couple years ago when I adopted a 10 month old super smart shelter mutt named Chloe and last year bought a 14 month old fully trained hunting dog named Ellie. IMO not worth confusing the dog if they're really responsive to their given name. So I gave up having creative & unique dog names at that point.

Again welcome to the board, jump on in & join us! I love this forum; though I read more than I post. Tons of great info and great people here. I've "known" some of the folks who post here since before I got Jibini and we were all on the Basenji-L email list. Having easy access to advice & info from so many experienced people was invaluable as I was learning about the breed for the first time!

[TMartin]

Natertots- Thanks, my fiance and I eventually hope to move to Virginia, possibly North Carolina, but he's from VA and loves it up and hopes to move back sometime.

Woofless- How do you pronounce Tana? Mine's just like how you'd say it in Montana or Santana, yet anytime nearly anyone sees and tries to say it for the first time I get anything from Tonya, Tanya, Tara, or pronounced Tah-nah (I've even met some humans who spell it like mine but pronounce it like this). I've only met a handful who have the same name, but it's way more common than I'd ever thought it'd be! And no, I don't mind at all :). In fact, my beagle was named Cody and I love the name Chloe for a dog. My side of the family tends to give human names to dogs, besides those with non-human names we currently have: Claire, Jake, Gracie, Ellie, George- we even have 2 human Georges in the family but that was his name when they adopted him from rescue and it stuck :D, and Higgins who is named after the last name of a SAR trainer my aunt deeply respects and who little Higgins did some training with. We'd like to get a boy first and my fiance would like to name him Loki, seemed fitting when we read about all the trouble they get into. After he's at least 1-2, we'd like to add a second dog into the mix and if it's another basenji (which I strongly suspect she will be), if I can't find an African name I like she'll probably be Chloe.

[bewler]

Hi Tana and welcome! It sounds like you've done a lot of research, but you might also want to check out the Basenji rescue and Transport site's "reality stories" page…
http://www.basenjirescue.org/REALITY%20STORIES/default.htm
It will give you some information about potential trouble with owing a B. As someone here once said, if this doesn't scare you away then the Basenji just might be the breed for you! They really are amazing dogs, but they seem best suited to folks with a sense of humor and a lot of patience! Good luck in your quest!

[TMartin]

Bewler- Thanks for the welcome. I actually have already read those pages, in fact I began with the Ugly and worked my way back to the Good. And no, it doesn't scare me! I love Dobermans and Siberian Huskies, but in our current living situation we can't have any big dogs so I specifically looked for a small breed with a similar big dog personality. I'm already working on my fiance to not leave stuff he doesn't want destroyed in an easy to reach place, though I'd be doing that even if we planned on getting a breed which wasn't prone to "modifying" items. He's used to his dog Blacky who only ever wanted to destroy his stuffed toys and any stuffed animals within sight. I'm used to my Beagle who had the philosophy of "if I can get it, I can bury it" as well as my aunt's Bloodhound, who I've often dog-sat, who is a goat in Bloodhound skin (and she has the vet bills to prove it). My philosophy is it's just stuff and it's not like we have expensive stuff; except for this giant armoire his mother bought us…but we don't really like it anyway :p

[tanza]

You must have visited Midge? Good breeder and lovely Basenjis. Is Midge planning a litter this year?

[Moth]

Welcome to the forum…

...good luck in finding your basenji companion.

[TMartin]

Yes, we visited Midge; lovely woman and lovely dogs. Two litters actually, 1 is due right about now if they haven't already made their appearance and the 2nd is due next month. My fiance was quite taken with her tricolor girl who is due next month and I thought it was the cutest, funniest thing when her male came right up and began rubbing all over my legs. On the way home we joked that we'd have a cat-like dog and see about eventually adopting a Savannah from the Savannah Rescue so then we'd have a dog-like cat!

[tanza]

@TMartin:

Yes, we visited Midge; lovely woman and lovely dogs. Two litters actually, 1 is due right about now if they haven't already made their appearance and the 2nd is due next month. My fiance was quite taken with her tricolor girl who is due next month and I thought it was the cutest, funniest thing when her male came right up and began rubbing all over my legs. On the way home we joked that we'd have a cat-like dog and see about eventually adopting a Savannah from the Savannah Rescue so then we'd have a dog-like cat!

Is the Tri's girl name Zuri's Ti-Chardonnay At Serengeti (I forget her call name)? If so, I have known her since she was born, as she was born in California. Her breeder is/was my mentors when I started in the breed. She is a very pretty girl. And she is related to my C-Me (Ch Klassic-Tanza Color Me Tri), you can see a picture of C-Me on my website. You will find many of us are related by our Basenjis. Who did Midge breed her to, do you remember the sire's name?

And my very first Basenji, OJ, who lived to the ripe old age of 17yrs, 4 months was sired by Midge's great boy, Ch Music City Serengeti Jazzman.

[TMartin]

For the life of me I cannot remember her name or call name. Midge said she had loved her mother when she saw her at a show and knew then that she wanted one of her girls especially since the tri girl is related back to her own lines. The sire's call name I can recall off the top of my head, Potter, he was the one who promptly gave me a rub down. I'll be sure to ask Midge their registered names again when I email or call her. C-Me is beautiful. And over 17 yrs! If only we were all so lucky as to have our pets around that long.

[tanza]

Yes, Tri Girl's Mom is Zuri's Mugabe (Gabi), her Mom is Zuri's Matuko and her Mom is Zuri's Sauti who was sired by the same sire as my OJ, Ch Music City Serengeti Jazzman. Gabi will be 11 in December and Matuko will be 16 in January. Sauti I believe crossed the rainbow bridge at 15 or 16.

Tell Midge that Pat Fragassi says HI!

[bewler]

Sounds like you're doing all the right stuff! If you started with the ugly and didn't stop reading you are probably a great candidate for a Basenji! As folks here will tell you - you begin to adopt an attitude where the awful things they do are really pretty funny as opposed to horrifying! In fact, there is a kind of sense of pride that comes from surviving Basenji antics. Again, welcome - most of the people here are far more knowledgeable than I and I have learned SO much from reading these posts.

[Nemo]

If you get a Potter pup, it will be closely related to my Zoni on both the Jerlin and Serengeti sides, so we'll be related by dog too. He also sired a litter with Zoni's sister. They produced some nice dogs.

Welcome, can't wait to hear more!

[Patty]

Welcome to the forum, Tana.

[MacPack]

Hi TMartin, If you want to see a bunch of basenjis in action, you are welcome to join us at dog park in Tampa on sunday mornings. we meet up at West Park in Hillsborough county (6 acres) and have anywhere from 6 to 18 basenjis. We are very informal, some days only a few of us come, other days everyone in the very-loose-group shows up, then we have a mob of basenjis. It is great fun to see them all play and socialize and we would love to meet you, with or without your pup. If you are over this way, google Hillsborough county parks and look for West Park dog park, they have great maps and directions.

[sinbaje]

If you would like to see basenjis run agility, there will be three basenjis at the Eukanuba Invitational in Orlando Dec. 16,17&18th at the Orange County Convention Center. There will also be a meet the breed booth and there will be basenjis doing conformation too.

[TMartin]

@sinbaje:

If you would like to see basenjis run agility, there will be three basenjis at the Eukanuba Invitational in Orlando Dec. 16,17&18th at the Orange County Convention Center. There will also be a meet the breed booth and there will be basenjis doing conformation too.

I'm actually getting married on the 17th down in Ft Myers where I'm originally from and where most of my immediate family still lives. Otherwise I'd be all for stopping by and meeting some Basenjis since it's right there! I joked with my fiance that if I had looked up that info a few months ago we'd have adjusted our date a week earlier

Macpack- I may try to swing by there some Sunday. We have passes to Busch Gardens that expire in Feb so we want to go a few more times between now (or more realistically after the wedding) and then. So hopefully we'll get to meet a few semi-local Basenjis and their people soon.