Everyone needs to talk about a spay/neuter... while in Europe it is not the "norm" to do so... however in the US it is.... that said waiting till the pup is mature is the best... but in the US we have issues with puppymills and Backyard breeders that breed/sell pups for profit... My contracts say that the pup needs to be spayed/neutered... and we talk about the age. Again, I will say that my puppy people are "Vetted" before getting a puppy, but many Puppymiller puppies and/or Backyard Breeders could not care if those pups were bred or not... nor are they health tested... so as they say "buyer beware". Responsible breeders stay in touch with the pups they place... the others... NOT... could not care less... OK I said my 2cents... And many in the US are not ready to keep a female that is in season... a short story about a friend that had 2 German Shepards... Male/Female in tact.... female came in season, so they locked to male in the backyard, female in their garage... the male "ate down the door to the garage to get to the female..".... puppies happened... no health testing either... IT HAPPENS... DO NOT THINK THAT IT WILL NOT! And I can tell you stories about males coming through windows in the home to get to a bitch in season....years ago we had a 12yr in-tact male lab 3 blocks over, he knew exactly when my Basenji bitches were in season... thankfully we had 12ft fences... but he was there every single day... not so for many homes that have fences this big... and if this boy was younger... I can bet he would have found a way over the fence
The birds and the B's
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Thought I would share some experience with basenji's and birds. We have 2 basenjis, 2 & 3 yrs old. We also have 6 birds, mostly rescued or needed a good home. All but one of the birds was here before the dogs came. As pups they were very curious about those caged things. The dogs have been trained to leave the birds alone. Blessedly our dogs have never associated the birds they flush outside as being the same things thats inside. We also know that natural instincts are alive and well in the basenjis of today, so they are never all out together. The wonderful thing that has happened is the birds have each selected a dog to be their own. Since the birds talk, they call them, talk to them and have a love affair going with their dog. Our cockatoo has adopted our littlest basenji. He calls her mournfully when he cant see her, at night when she has gone to bed you have to tell the bird she has gone nite nite or he won't settle down. Those two will go nose to nose while the cockatoo is caged. No bites he just loves her. Our best talker a quaker parrot calls them for supper, tells them outside and when our elder elkie is getting into trouble this bird tattles on him. All of this inner action totally amazes us and it was something we could never have taught them
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How cute!! I used to have a bare eyed peach headed cockatoo that would just love to torment the dogs. He would run over to them, nip them on teh butt and run to the other end of the couch laughing all the way!!
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What an awesome story! I wish you could get that on video and share it with us!! How cute!
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that's too funny!
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Love your story and love your title, too!!