Thanks everyone for your help!
The easiest dog to take care of?
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Get a load of this classified ad I found today:
"AKC Barkless Hypoallergenic Basenji Puppies For Sale"
"My Beautiful AKC registered male and female basenjis just had eight tri-color puppies. Basenjis are a barkless breed of dog that are indiginous to the African Congo. They are completely odorless and they groom themselves like cats. Basenjis can't bark due to a difference in their vocal chords and are completely silent 99% of the time. They are the easiest dog to take care of, are fully grown at around 20lbs, and make ideal indoor companions. They are sixteen weeks old and are ready to find new homes."
While my current B, Samantha, has probably been the lowest maintenance B I've ever had (of course, I've been far more diligent in getting her, and me, the exercise she needs than I was with the other two!), I don't think I could ever bring myself to make a statement like "They are the easiest dog to take care of", let alone some of the other misleading statements they are making!
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"Ideal indoor companions"?
Okay… but only if you want to spend plenty of time outdoors exercising them.
I can see someone buying a Basenji thinking it's the kind of dog that will be content living in an apartment and being walked for a few minutes only when it needs to potty.They are not completely odorless -- what about the Frito smell when they've been sleeping?
That "completely silent 99% of the time" is going to get a lot of apartment and condo dwellers too.
Very deceptive ad.
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Medjai definitely isn't silent 99% of the time, and does get that 'frito' smell EVERY day (ick). but he can get by without outdoor exercise all year round. Most of the time, he gets outside, but in the winter, we just have to play chase around and around inside 'till he's won the B-500 with as many laps as he can run.
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Medjai definitely isn't silent 99% of the time, and does get that 'frito' smell EVERY day (ick). but he can get by without outdoor exercise all year round. Most of the time, he gets outside, but in the winter, we just have to play chase around and around inside 'till he's won the B-500 with as many laps as he can run.
I think that B-500 may disqualify the Basenji for many people as the "ideal indoor companion".
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Nah, it gets you some good laughs, and maybe even gets you up and moving some to keep it going to tire them out.
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That is why we have so many in rescue (or at least one of the reasons), people that sell puppies and put that kind of information out there… then people get these dogs and find out .... opps they shed... opps they are most certainly NOT mute!!!!
You should email that "breeder" and tell her that really she should be putting out correct information... and also ask if the sire and dam were DNA'ed for Fanconi
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Just out of curiousity I cut and pasted the above ad in google and it took me to a site where this breeder {I think the name is Garret} has the ad posted.
He started the ad a couple of weeks ago with the pups listed for $650 OBO, now he's down to $500 OBO. -
It is people like this that lead to calls like I got yesterday. A woman from the So. Cal area called…. started off the conversation with.. I had a beautiful female 1 1/2 old Basenji... but will she ever stop destroying things? So, my first question was, have you talked to the breeder?... answer... nope... can't even find the breeder now.... Next question.. do you give her enough to do?.. Nope... she is locked out in the yard (and this is a stay at home Mom with kids in school)... She then asks, is there a reason mine is so noisy? Aren't they supposed to be mute?... Nope... 3rd question.. did you do your research before you got her? Nope.. husband found her and just bought her.. and the "breeder" told him no shedding and mute... NOT!!! When I went on to say that dogs of any breed need to be a part of the family or they will do things to make the family members take notice of them... she answered with "we should have gotten a Lab"....
Sigh....
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That's just sad.. And people are so stupid and compulsive when buying a dog!
A couple of months ago I was on a kind of Dutch ebay.. and there were red/white basenji pups being sold as TRI!! (the photo was from just born pups, the dark colour)
I emailed this 'breeder' and within a small amount of time the ad was removed. Weird..
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Nope, not weird. Just stupid. The person will probably just fix the ad so you won't question them, and relist it (still with incorrect info) so that they can sell the puppies. (probably to the wrong people)
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The thing that upsets me the most is I don't think any dog should be listed as easy to care for. If you want a pet that's easy to care for get a beta fish. Otherwise you shouldn't have a pet. It makes me mad to see all of the basenji rescues available on BRAT (plus lord knows how many in pounds across the country that haven't made their way to BRAT), but it also makes me mad that there are a zillion stray cats at our apartment complex. There is an entire feral colony of cats in the woods now.
I used to have a theory that people should be required to get a license before they could have children because of all the parents that let their children run wild & unsupervised to get hurt or hurt others. Now I think people should be required to have a license before they get pets, too. -
Oh, I agree that folks need a license to get pets and or have kids, but then, some group would find that violated someone "rights" sigh.
These pups are probably going to end up in rescue…
I don't know what can be done, unless someone contacts the seller and offers to "take" the dogs off his hands for rescue.
Course, there is no $$ in it for the owners, so that will probably not work. -
I have been trying to place that smell since we got Jack! You are right it is the frito smell! While it isn't the normal doggie odor, it is an odor.
The hypoallergenic claim drives me absolutely up the wall. Everyone's allergies are different, and they will have different reactions to different dander…..I have very little reaction to Jack, but I can't be in the same house as a beagle.
No dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs are "hypoallergenic."
The other thing is that, with a price of $500 OBO, I am sure that he didn't have much testing done, if any at all.
Grrrrrr......
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When folks call me about the Hypoallergenic basenjis, I tell them to bring an old t shirt along with the visit.
When they are here, I rub the t shirt all over the b's.
Then I tell them to take it home and sleep with the t shirt in their bed, close to their pillow.
This will give them a pretty good idea if there are going to be issues or not.
It does seem to work, they either can live with a b or not…
But at least they know before they get one. -
Silent 99% of the time….HAHAHAHAHA.
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A basenji that is unhappy will surely make you aware of it.
Altho the neighbors won't be sure of the "sounds" they are hearing…they will know it's bad news! -
A basenji that is unhappy will surely make you aware of it.
Altho the neighbors won't be sure of the "sounds" they are hearing…they will know it's bad news!Exactly and will not guess it is your Basenji…. will think you are beating someone within an inch of their lives.....
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Before i got Kaycee i didn't know anything about the breed. All i can say to people out there that were like me is Research-Research_Research.From as many different resources as possible.
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While I understand this ad is WAY off the mark, it seems that my Shango is silent 99% of the time (I hope that's because he's happy and well-taken care of.) I also know that he's an ideal indoor companion (but that's because I take him for TONS of walks, runs, and visits to the dog park.) He doesn't cause my friends allergies to act up and he's easy to take care of (when he's not following me around the house or sleeping in my bed :))
This ad is off the mark. It's so sad that people compulsively buy puppies because they are cute without any consideration for the work that goes along with it
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While I understand this ad is WAY off the mark, it seems that my Shango is silent 99% of the time (I hope that's because he's happy and well-taken care of.) I also know that he's an ideal indoor companion (but that's because I take him for TONS of walks, runs, and visits to the dog park.) He doesn't cause my friends allergies to act up and he's easy to take care of (when he's not following me around the house or sleeping in my bed :))
This ad is off the mark. It's so sad that people compulsively buy puppies because they are cute without any consideration for the work that goes along with it
Trust me, a lot….A LOT ..... of very happy well-taken care of dogs make noise, and plenty of it!
The thing is, you cannot make general statements. I have two Basenjis, both healthy, happy dogs. They even share a bloodline {Keoki's Dam is Jazzy's Grand-dam}, and have both been raised in the same home environment since they were teeny pups.
Jazzy is totally laid-back; she could easily live in an apartment with a single person who works all day. She would be quiet, non-destructive, content...the ideal indoor dog, although as I've said before the Basenji-500 would disqualify the Basenji for being the "ideal indoor dog" for a lot of people
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Keoki is totally opposite -- he makes A LOT of noise when he's left home alone {with no people;he's never home w/no other dogs}, he is the Captain of the Home Destruction Team {chews clothes, chair rungs, wall trim..you name it}.If someone reads that ad and gets a Jazzy, they may well be satisified.
If someone reads that ad and gets a Keoki, who I think is a bit more typical Basenji personality, that pup is destined for a shelter.The whole ad just burns me. :mad:
