I just found this on petfinder….
http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=12726953
she looks like a sweet girl - already housetrained and is more of a "lapdog"….
I hope someone can help this little one out of the shelter. I am going out of town this weekend, but if she is still there when I get back I might go spring her myself. I've already been in contact with BRAT about volunteering to do this...
She looks pretty big. Reminds me of Miles when we found him on Petfinder. Looks like she's got tags on her collar– was she a surrender? Poor thing!!
Pretty girl. I sure hope you can go get her from the shelter when you get back if no one gets her before then.
Do let us know.
Well I just called the shelter and it seems another BRAT person did call, but as of yet, the B is still there. There is a family interested that does have another dog, there have been 2 meetings so far with the other dog, both of which "didn't go great, but was not horrible either." But it seems now she is limping and so they have a vet appt scheduled for her this afternoon to see what the deal is.
It appears she was a surrender - the owner actually had 2 dogs which were surrendered together. One was this B and the other was a Pit Bull.
sigh… I told her I'd call next week and if she was still there I might come down to get her. I have never fostered before though and I am nervous about how she will be with my B's, Lenny in particular.
On the upside, the lady said that in her 13 years of working at that shelter, she is the FIRST Basenji she has ever seen come through there...
If you do get to foster her, let me know and I will send you the page we send to folks to help them bond with a rescue basenji.
I hope someone basenji smart gets her out. I think its awful when folks get a basenji thinking they are getting a ****er or a lab…lose/lose for everyone.
So, do let us know.
I found out that Penny Rose has been saved from the shelter by another BRAT volunteer! PHEW! I know she has found our forums because she sent me a message today asking for fosterting tips. Since I have never actually fostered I responded suggesting she post some threads here so those who have fostered or have lots more basenji experience can chime in. I hope she does!
Mary are you out there??? We'd love to see pics of little Penny Rose! Thank you for fostering her!
Yea, BRAT rocks!!!
Nine year old Penny Rose is with me for the past two days. She has issues for sure. She is as cute as she can be. But not housebroken at this point, not crate trained, and has almost endless circling behavior.
Don't know if I can upload a photo. I have tried to add pictures of my own 2 b's, but I must be doing something wrong.
I asked the coordinator at BRAT if anyone else can take over to foster her. I think it is too much for her to be alone all day while I am at work. I will come home at lunch, but it is four hour stretches and that is a lot for her.
This is my first post, I have only looked here for basenji stories…
Mary
Oh, I am sorry she is such a trial at this time.
Let us know how we can help you.
Thank you for taking her on… she needs someone to look out for her. Miles was a rescue, and he STILL circles. Do you have any other B's?
I have Bella, 18 months, and Buster 7 years. They are happy together, but I am keeping them separate from Penny Rose. She has enough to deal with already.
So, I am doing what I can for Penny, but I think she needs more than I can offer. At least there is some progress with housebreaking. She is learning how to eliminate outside. And I am learning to keep her attached to me so she won't go inside.
The circling is very disturbing. She is on Rimadyl for a front limb lameness, and it looks to me that the circling caused or aggravates the lameness. It is the leg on the inside of her circles.
She is great on a leash. Has not showed any signs of chewing, yet.
Does anyone know what the circling means? Is it like when you see animals at zoos circling in their cages. That always makes me really sad.
I really hope little Penny Rose can adjust soon! Did you hear back from BRAT about other fosters? I am gone from my place 8 hours/day otherwise I would try to foster her…..
My dog only circles when he's charged – either eager or anxious to go out. He was a rescue and circles like crazy around the living room furniture. Drives me nuts!
My male also occasionally paces in a circle waiting to go out. Then there is the crazy excited racing circle that I think they all do at times. Penny Rose's circling is the slower steady speed, and she rarely stops on her own; but she has only been out of the shelter for 4 days. She does a good job of exercising herself in the back yard. The excellent news is that she has been fine in a crate while I am at work for the past two days, and is house trained with plenty of oversight. Sometimes I wonder if she misses her dog housemate Pit Bull that was in the shelter with her. He is still there. Sad.
Yeh, Miles does the trotting pace around the furniture when he really needs to go out. It's like he's gotten impatient and does that to make us get up because he knows it drives us nuts.
That is sad the bully is still in the pound. 
Did the shelter give you any info on Penny Rose's history and why both dogs were surrendered? Just curious…
I know that most kennel dogs or "caged" over crated dogs circle… as that is the only thing they can do where they were kept... It is also a learned habit... like if you have a horses that paws, cribs, or circles the stall... usually from being bored... and very, very hard to cure... or so I have been told
The shelter did not supply much information. It sounded like a family moving out of a home to an apartment where they could not keep dogs. They tried to keep them somewhere else and when that did not work out they came to the shelter. But the story changed a couple time. Who knows exactly what the environment was? I don't know if three weeks in the shelter could have caused her to lose her house training and cause such ingrained circling.
As Pat says, it's partly boredom. It sounds like she had been crated for an extended length of time in a small crate. I usually saw this previously in stressed, bored dogs that had no life outside of a small environment. It is hard to cure. Try gently touching the inside of her body where she is circling and distract her by walking. It takes a long time. This, as you said, does not occur within the three weeks at the shelter, it takes much longer to ingrain it. She also could have had head trauma, which I have also seen lead to the circling. Kudos to you for trying to help her.
Hey DoubleB - we'd love to see some pics of little Penny Rose and your own two B's if you get a chance!
