When we got Dash a friend of ours came to see him and fell in love. He loved his personality and independence. He tried to find an older one to rescue but because he had never owned a B before he was turned away. We told him he could babysite Dash while we went to Chicago for the weekend. We thought he may be getting in over his head as we were learning all of Dashy's little "traits".
Dash is crated when we are not home and he was our only dog. He hated that crate. Anyway, after we left, our friend obviously thought Dash would not mind being let out after work and then put back in his crate while he went out for the evening. WRONG! Our B ate his way out of the crate. Sqeezed through the tiniest spot to escape, ripped down and destroyed his blinds and peed and pooped on the floor. I can't remember if he did anything else or not. That is all I remember.
He got home really late that night and called us in Chicago. Ernesto (my boyfriend) and I were laughing so hard. "That's our boy!, he needs your attention and exercise and if you don't give it to him he will create his own. Welcome to our world!".
Needless to say, he decided to wait on a B until he was a little more settled. He still wants one but it was a wake up call. As for our little one. We take him to the dog park as often as possible to stretch his legs and we got a second dog and that has made a huge difference with his separation anxiety. He has a large run in the basement now with his sis and they keep each other company and we have not had any problems. Over the last 2 years he has been the best dog we could ask for and he certainly keeps us on our toes.
Jennifer
That's a great story. I tell you that more and more I find myself mentioning to pple that don't know about B's (most pple don't) that our dog is not like other's. They look at me like yeah right whatever that's what we all say. So it's great to come to this forum and hear stories like this when ppl get to see for themselves that our little angels can also be little devils. We have pple come to our home all the time that think they can "tame" Champ and after 45min. thery'e like see that's all he needs, to be shown whose boss. We're like yeah then how come you're all nipped up, sweating and my B is now worn out and sleeping on your lap.
Every perspective basenji owner should "dog sit" a b for the weekend. What a great idea you had to "educate" your friend!!
Unfortunantly I wouldn't leave my B was too many ppl. Some of there advise is to beat him once with shoe, broom, whatever, and they won't do it again. Nope they will have to educated right in front of his mommy and daddy.
That is a great idea, but it should be an adolescent for sure (seems to be the most trying stage). My mom also really liked our dog (the look, the no bark, typical things most people like) and she quickly changed her ideas. We were telling her about the time we had to babysit another dog and the things she did to let us know that she did not like another dog in our house (she did some very naughty things)! My mom said 'wow she is really a manipulating dog'. I said, yeah they are definately not a breed for everyone.
