Searching for the breeder of my Basenji


  • Please help me solve this mystery!

    I have an eight-year-old rescue named Houdini (though I doubt this is his his registered name) from the Portland, Oregon area, said to be born 07/17/2014. Though there are other records that say he was born 12/30/2016.

    He's a deep red and white with no dewclaws, which tells me he's from a good breeder. He has an exceptional temperament, has an extremely (fused) curly tail and a heart marking on his left leg.

    He came to us with no papers but we would very much like to find out who his breeder is.

    Can you all give me any advice for tracking down his breeder with so little information?

    Thank you all, in advance!

    Jackie Kuhwarth
    Florence, Oregon


  • @JackieK - Go to www.basenji.org and you can search for breeders by state. Maybe by contacting those breeders in the Pacific Northwest you might be able to get some information. However he could have been born anywhere and just wound up in OR. Good luck


  • Circulating a picture with your inquiry may help as well, especially with such specific markings.


  • @elbrant - Only by sending that picture to breeders will they be able to ID markings. Note that things like white change from puppies to adults and get smaller, not bigger.


  • @tanza yes, but the (left leg) heart mark would still be a heart, wouldn't it? Certainly a breeder would have noted (or remember) a marking like that.


  • @elbrant - Disagree, might look like a heart now, but as a puppy, nope... the white changes as the puppy grows, it doesn't stay the same. Change as the other coat color grows that might make it look like a heart with age.


  • Hmmm… seems like we need a 23andMe solution for our pups. How bout we call it K9andme. I can remember most of my pups markings and have 100s of pics to refer to. That said they do change pretty fast. Our pup D’Otto was a split head with a nice dot right in white. It started as a dot and it’s still there! But it’s a bit more of an oval these days.

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