AS DonC says,"the question of whether they WANT to...". I had one that after about a mile would lay down on his side and refuse to move. More than once did I have to carry that pain the butt Basenji, on my shoulders native style, home.
Hunting with Basenji
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What's a hunting sporting dog? Is that different from a regular hunting dog, or a hound? I feel really lost as far as all these new terms. I guess I just see this dog with her long long legs and sharp little teeth, always nose to the ground, fixated on some unseen clue... She's like some kind of little prehistoric apex predator in my imagination. It makes me feel bad for her never getting a chance to do what nature made her to do. I know that might not make sense to everybody, and it might be a little delusional, but I feel like it would mean a lot to her to go out in the woods and look for trouble with me. I've never gone hunting before in my life. I don't really know anything about it. I just see my brave little dog sitting inside all day in this weather, still waiting on her 2nd round of shots, and I feel so bad for her.
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I
that you don't give up. I think the first step might be to decide how you would like Rogue to work with you in the field. What do you picture when you think about it? What kind of game are you hunting? Start there and find someone who can help you learn that. (just an idea) -
@roguecoyote I am certain what my pack does would not conform as hunters - but they run free in the woods, follow a scent (there are deer there and woe betide them if even they caught one - they wouldn't know what to do with it so luckily it is unlikely) and chase rabbits and squirrels. Mostly squirrels.
It is a lovely thing to watch them nosing around in the undergrowth, then darting off at full speed and leaping over fallen logs and other obstacles, slowing, quartering the ground and dashing off again. Elegant, graceful, speedy. Rogue would indeed love it and so would you.
But first you have to work at recall, then find woods where you are allowed to run dogs free. All the 'regular' dog people who frequent the forest know each other (at least by the name of their dogs !) and again it is great to stand and chat and see various breeds all getting along fine as they impatiently wait. On Monday at a crossing of two trails there were 2 Basenjis, 2 Spaniels - a working Cocker and a Springer, a couple of Labradors and a Whippet, all getting along fine.
During Covid so many strangers with new puppies - all on leads. Its a shame the owners appear not to bother to train them as you are doing with Rogue. Hopefully we will get the woods back soon !
Before anyone shouts, I am not in USA and things are different here ! But I can't believe that Rogue couldn't find somewhere to hunt.
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The excerpt from Susan Coe's book is on line in .pdf form, complete with pictures. Find it here Click the link on hunting.
Because few people actually hunt with their Basenjis and because the breed is not well known, it's likely that the people in that group know nothing about them. For the same reason, it will be difficult to get someone to help you with this project, and in any case the methods they use may not work well for your dog. Major Braun has outlined the basics, but there are a lot of holes because he is assuming you know how to train a conventional hunting dog.
"In order to get along with a Basenji, you have to be at least half as smart as the dog!"
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@eeeefarm That's the article from 1971 I was talking about
I'm studying how to do the things they talk about online. I just recently got myself a dog whistle, and I have a 50 foot lead on back order. There's an equation somewhere on how much distance you can walk a puppy according to age. I'll be carefully budgeting that mileage on heel training and recall training. Fortunately we have you tube, so I'll be using that mostly to learn hunt training. -
Years ago I sold a pup to a hunter that hunted every year for grouse.
Little Maya not only was a great hunter but the other hunters with Brittanies all wanted to know where he got his great little hunting dog. -
if you have a few of them they will efficiently[and fairly quietly] run neighborhood cats up trees when everyone is inside after dinner so the pack/chase instinct is there.big cats- you would be advised to follow closely with horses as self preservation in the face of quickly untreed cats bears or wild hogs might be a learned skill.
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go on the internet and find a movie Good By My Lady it was made in the 20s but that should help you understand a Basenjis hunting ability. I got mine from Paramount Picture's as I recall.
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I'm a member of FB Finnish Basenji group. I have seen grouse hunting pictures on the site previously. Just searched the member posts, and one member, Arto, said he had submitted hunting articles to Suomen Basenji (Finland), Jakt och Jägare (Sweden) and The Modern Basenji (USA) Also, a survey last year showed four members answered that they let their dog(s) run unrestrained while hunting.
Even though the first two articles are in Finnish and Swedish, if you can find them, you may get some useful tips by using a translation website. Or if it does not work, contact me. -
@sakuhn62 Good-bye, My Lady was made in 1956
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@basutytto said in Hunting with Basenji:
@sakuhn62 Good-bye, My Lady was made in 1956
"The first beer in the world was brewed by the ancient Chinese around the year 7000 BCE (known as kui). In the west, however, the process now recognized as beer brewing began in Mesopotamia at the Godin Tepe settlement now in modern-day Iran between 3500 - 3100 BCE."
Some of the best things in life are old.
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@jengosmonkey I miss beer....
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@roguecoyote Ah... beer schmeer. You got something WAY better. You have Rogue the Basenji. Love your threads. You are a passionate guy. Too me... my relationship with my dog matters more than the activity. Does the dog enjoy the activity? Does the dog show any passion for it? I find, for me, that I find my joy when my dog finds his/hers. My first goal is always the dog's happiness. Don't give up your thought of hunting with Rogue, or sent work, or anything else. The dog contract is short IMO. Find a happy place!
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@jengosmonkey Well, right now, what she loves is biting people really hard, sniffing the ground and the air, chasing leaves in the wind, and chewing on gullet sticks and pizzle sticks. She also loves greeting anyone who comes to the door, and napping in my lap when I'm wearing pajama pants.
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I know I wrote about Jeff Schettler on a different thread but he wrote a series of 9 articles for The Basenji magazine, whose web site is down. Anyway here is a link to a 2009 BCOA Bulletin about The Basenji Native Traits Preservation Project that talks about hunting Basenjis. Go to page 18 of the Bulletin to read it. There used to be a Yahoo group, but Yahoo groups no longer exist. https://www.basenji.org/Bulletin/2007BN/BN2007AMJ.pdf
Someone somewhere must have copies of the Basenji magazine articles. You can always ask here in the Forums. Here is a Forums post of Jeff Schettler's from 2011 that is interesting and has his current contact info. https://basenjiforums.com/topic/11558/working-dog-basenji-pups-waiting-list
Lynn B.
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@senjisilly - The Basenji Magazine has been out of print for many, many years....no longer in publication. You might be able to find him on FaceBook? I believe that I have seen posts from him on there. He is on FaceBook... Jeff Schettler if you want to search for him.
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Basenjis are THE ORIGINAL HUNTERS and nearly every “hunting” breed exists because of them. I think the other hunters are just jealous that you don’t need a gun. Lol
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I contacted him. I saw he's got the blue lives matter flag flying though. Makes me think he probably won't like me very much. I live in portland maine, which is a pretty progressive area, and even so, as a young man I had very different experiences as with police from my nerdy white counterparts who routinely got let off the hook for their propane powered potato guns while I could barely get out of my driveway with out seeing blue lights even though I never touched a firearm or potato gun. Its funny how people can't get their head around why someone like me, a non-land-owning, non-white non-neurotypical person who just can't get a job really doesn't have any choice but to be a radical socialist. And its all over my Facebook wall, as that's just how socialists get things done. I wish we could all just understand that there is no such thing as lazy. Its one of many mechanisms that insecure people use to convince themselves that they are superior to other people. just another form of bullying if you ask me. Anyway, maybe someone else who isn't adamantly pro-antifa could contact him on my behalf? I know its a big ask, but I have to ask, for rogue's sake.
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@roguecoyote said in Hunting with Basenji:
I contacted him. I saw he's got the blue lives matter flag flying though. Makes me think he probably won't like me very much. ...
You are interested in something he is also interested in. Which gives you common ground. Start there. You want to find out about hunting with your Basenji... she's very young and you are contacting him to get advice on how to start training her. You found out about him on the Basenji Forums and think he is the best hunting mentor you could possibly find. All of that is true. And nothing about that has anything to do with how other people have treated you in the past. Be respectful to him and he will be respectful to you. Leave politics out of the conversation.
You can do this!
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@roguecoyote - Jeff used to live in California before his divorce and move to the East Coast... and yes he is pretty set in his ways, I have met him many times and do know him... I am sure that he remembers me... now for sure we don't have the same outlook for politics... but as elbrant said, if you just approach him just about having a Basenji and interested in hunting, maybe you can get by your differences? If not, well sorry that he didn't want to help you out... but in the end, keep the politics out of it
