Awesome answers.
I was hoping for some good information but you guys are wonderfull.
I love each of your answers.
EEEEEFARM - Thanks for your answer
The previous familly was not really good for Lady. The mother was a university student and she had a full time night job at the same time so she didnt have time to take care of the dog.
The father was working all day.
And there were 2 kids, a 4 year old boy and a 6 year old girl.
The dog was in a cage from 7:30 AM to 17:30 PM. And then again from 21:00 PM to 6:30 AM. Thats not good.
The father told me that he had a golden retriever before and he was expecting Lady to have the same behavior (what a dumb person)
But they wanted a special kind of dog and they paid big money for Lady from a very good dog breeder.
The only thing he was doing with the dog was to watch tv with her…..
I asked if he took her for walks sometimes and he told me that the roads were too dangerous for that.... What an excuse, i guess that his beer and tv were more important.
So the only person playing with the dog was the 2 young kids. They were yonger when they got the puppy, they had her for a year and a haft before they sold her.
The only toys she owned when i got her was : An old shoe, an old glove, a towel, and a freakin piece of wood.
I love your idea to swap the thing that she takes and trade it for one of the toys she now own. I bought her loads of toys. The has about 10 different toys that i bought at the pet shop, she plays with them but she prefers the stuff shes used to : shoes, gloves, socks..... So steels these items and loves to run away with them. As somebody said, she probably dont even know its bad because the previous owner didnt teach her anything, i have to keep that in mind.
Also, when she puts her hands on my arm at the table and i move her away (very gently) and i say NO, i understand now that i shouldnt give up because as you said, its rewarding for her to have persistency because i start playing with her or taking care of her.
I quote ''but I am also very sensitive to the retching that precedes vomiting'' I didnt know how to explain that in english but my dog does exactly that. Unfortunatly sometimes im sleeping with she starts the ''retching'' so i wake up to see my dog vomiting on the bed ahahah
I do not blame her at all, because when i feel sick , i dont feel like jumping on the floor either :p But still, when you wake up and you have to go to work, you have to clean up the entire bed, its not very nice :p But this doesnt really bother me, it does bother my girlfriend because none of her previous dogs did that.
I quote '' When she is not bothering you (even for a minute}, that is the time to say "good girl" and go play with her.'' ill definitly try that, thats sounds really good to me , thanks.
kjdonkers - Thanks for your answer.
I quote ""It's wonderful you took in a dog that her previous owner could't keep.''
Sadly its not that they couldnt keep her, its because she wasnt behaving the way they wanted and they gave up on her. Fortunatly they were smart enough to sell the dog at a costly price to make sure that she was going to a good familly. And fortunately they decided to sell her because they knew they were not treating her right.
She doesnt walk enough, understood. She will walk even more, but sadly its winter here in quebec /canada and there is lots of snow. It doesnt seem to bother Lady very much, but im affraid she will get cold (especially her feet). Shes got a tiny jacket to keep her warm but would it be a good idea to get some slippers as well?
I dont know if Basenjis are supposed to like the cold or not. Lady seems to enjoy the snow.
Shes not alone very long, because im with her from midnight to 15:30 and my girlfriend comes back from work at 16:30
I dont know how my girlfriend treats my dog when im not at home though. Because yes, Lady is MY dog. She was supposed to be OUR dog, but when my girlfriend saw that it was an energetic and sometimes miss-behaved dog, she also gave up on Lady.
Believe me or not, after 1 month of poo and pee on the floors and bed and damaged doors trims and items, she wanted to get RID of Lady.
I said to her : Are you serious that you took this poor dog away from her familly and that you want to get RID of it like if it was a bad car or something ? I said, if you have a baby one day and hes blind of hes not as intelligent, will you get rid of him/her? I said, well from now on , Lady is part of my family, so YOU will walk out of that door before Lady leave, let me tell you that.
She said that if i wanted to keep the dog, i had to pay my part because we had split the 600$ price.
So i took Lady, walked with her to the bank which is about 5 minutes away from my house, took 300$ and went home. Dropped the 300$ on the table and didnt say a word.
Feed her twice a day, got it.
stay CALM when she transgresses, got it. Im always very smooth with her. Im probably very stupid but in my mind, if shes happy im happy, when i take something away from her , i do say NO, but 3 seconds later i'm petting her ...
I do spend lots of time with her, i love to play with her and it might sound wierd but Lady is my best friend. so i dont like stopping her from doing things because i like when shes happy. Its like if a parent want to be the friend of their child , it will never work. Ive got to learn that.
She is indeed very intelligent, i know that because she does things that amazes me. Sometimes she almost look human-like.
For exemple if im petting her and i stop, she will usually sigh to say like : ohhh , why are you going away.. :p
For the vets, i thrust my vet and he loves Lady because Basenji are rare here.
I go for visits to make sure everything is okay regularly. I also trust the owner of one of the big pet shops here who also love Lady because she's special and beautifull. He gives me some good advices on the toys that are good for her and the food also.
dropit - Thanks for your answer.
Im obligated to make sure that she cant grab anything because otherwise she WILL grab anything she can reach.
The cover on the couch is a very good idea and i will try that for SURE.
I quote '' her previous owner who was obviously stupid and not a dog lover. If you are persistent you will continue to make slow improvement''
I agree thanks for your encouragement.
DebraDownSouth - Thanks for your answer.
agilebasenji - Thanks for your answer.
thanks for your encouragement, im happy i got that much usefull answers.
i quote '' she knows when she's done wrong. Well, maybe, but maybe not.'' I agree, sometimes I take for granted that shes intelligent like a human because shes sometimes sooo smart. BUT ive got to understand, perhaps she doesnt have the sense of logic i think she has and i always take for granted that she can use logic... Perhaps the dog is more clever than the owner, oh well, she loves me anyway ahaha :p
I quote '' go get a tasty treat and offer a trade for the not-for-basenji item'' i love that idea, ill try that for sure.
Thanks for the books author , im going to look for them at my local book stores 
I do love to read and i love the PDF you provided, im going to read that tonight.
I quote ''I use a down instead of a sit, but either way, it will teach your dog to relax and chill, while you do things like answer the door, eat dinner, or whatever you need. ''
I love that idea, Lady does sit when i ask her to, (and she looks gorgous when she sits and stares at me , I love her)
So im gonna use that to my adventage and even use some treats to help me.
I quote ''PS, Your English is lovely. I've always admired people who were good with languages''
Thanks a lot, it takes me lots of time to write these posts with my dictionary to make sure that the words are written correctly so that you can barely understand what i mean.
Try to find ways to reward good behaviour and to avoid rewarding bad behaviour. That may mean confining her when you can't keep an eye on her, or perhaps leaving a leash or long line on her that you can grab so that she can't play that game of running off with something she shouldn't have.
