How to approach a good breeder

[Nemo]

@EskiLovr:

We would love to come to the specialty. Is it possible to bring dogs to the event that are not being shown? I don't want to board ours if I don't have to, but it would be wonderful to see the B's!

I was planning to bring Zoni to the Chicagoland specialty, but probably won't unless I can find a place to stay who doesn't mind a screaming puppy. I asked her breeder, who is also the show secretary, and she said it shouldn't be a problem. Several other people told me to bring my puppy too so I say go ahead! They don't usually ask for your entry number at the door. I haven't been to that particular venue so I don't know how it's set up, there may not be a lot of room around the rings to hang out with your dogs. But there should be an area to crate your dogs…worse case in your car with the doors open if it's not too hot.

[nkjvcjs]

@Nemo:

That's funny, I was there too. I had one of the two b/w puppies. We might have chatted. Which dog did you have with you? If you haven't already, you should sign up to join BCOSW too.

I had Katie, my dog, she's about 45lbs, sable, kind of shepherdy looking, but with a curled tail. And we had my mom's dog, Tallulah with us as as well, a little black & white mix with spotted paws.
When Katie ran, we had a lot of people draw in their breath because she throws herself into it with such intensity, then there was a collective awwwwwwwwww as she cheated.

-Nicole

[Nemo]

@nkjvcjs:

I had Katie, my dog, she's about 45lbs, sable, kind of shepherdy looking, but with a curled tail. And we had my mom's dog, Tallulah with us as as well, a little black & white mix with spotted paws.
When Katie ran, we had a lot of people draw in their breath because she throws herself into it with such intensity, then there was a collective awwwwwwwwww as she cheated.

-Nicole

Ok, I think I remember talking to you or someone with you. I do remember Katie running and I think I remember Tallulah. (That's awful, I remember the dogs better than the people. :o) Hope to see you in the future.

Clay

[agilebasenji]

@Quercus:

Oh, and I agree that at least with Basenjis, pedigrees aren't so important when looking for a perfomance dog. I have found that in every line there are some dogs that are very human oriented, and happy to please (to the extent that Bs can do that)..and there are dogs that are so prey driven and easily stimulated that they just don't do very well in obedience/agility. A huge piece of the puzzle, as Kim said, is picking the right puppy, and doing the right kind of training. But as Lisa said, it would be very helpful to have a mentor in your breeder for the things that you are interested in.

Good luck, I can't wait to see how things unfold for you..please keep us posted!

Yes, if I were looking for an agility sheltie or golden or (heaven forbid) border collie, I'd go to a breeder that bred agility shelties, etc. And there are breeders focused on agility dogs in those breeds, just not in many other breeds.

And I do think prey drive is an important part of the equation IF it is coupled with a willingness to work with a human. My Digital has more prey drive than any dog I know BUT he's a very willing dog and he's a very task-oriented dog (I wish I knew of a way to test for that in puppies!) With your puppy, you want to channel that prey drive into fetching, tugging, chasing you and any sort of game you can think of.

dmcarty wrote: "keep in mind that the relative ability of a dog to get a title at the other end is the committment of the owner to do a couple of things - for lure coursing - letting go of the dog - I have a hard time with that - just can't do it "

This is exactly what I was trying to say earlier. My breeder also has issues with releasing her dogs on the field, so she doesn't course. The only thing I can suggest to help with this is practicing recalls. I really like Nelson's Really Reliable Recall. (booklet or video)

[nkjvcjs]

@agilebasenji:

My Digital has more prey drive than any dog I know BUT he's a very willing dog and he's a very task-oriented dog (I wish I knew of a way to test for that in puppies!) With your puppy, you want to channel that prey drive into fetching, tugging, chasing you and any sort of game you can think of.

Obviously no test can tell you everything, but what do people thing of PAWS puppy testing?
http://www.searchdogsne.org/reference/The%20PAWS%20Evaluation.pdf
(this link is a pdf)
Is it common for Basenji breeders to do PAT or PAWS testing?

-Nicole

[tanza]

@nkjvcjs:

Obviously no test can tell you everything, but what do people thing of PAWS puppy testing?
http://www.searchdogsne.org/reference/The%20PAWS%20Evaluation.pdf
(this link is a pdf)
Is it common for Basenji breeders to do PAT or PAWS testing?

-Nicole

I do temperament testing before placing any pup… I don't use the PAT or PAWS testing, as looking at the PAWS evaluation I don't see much for dominance... which I am looking for especially with a pup that is going into a family situation or into a situation with a dominate dog already there... Also.. I prefer to place a fairly laid back pup with someone that is not familar with the breed.... but then again, I would not place a "fearful" pup in a family situation either. All of this leads to why most time the breeder will pick the pup for the family... they just can't come in and say "I want that one".... sometimes you might have two the same and there could be a choice.. but not usually

[nkjvcjs]

I wanted to say thanks to everyone we met at the Specialty this Saturday. Rob and I had a ball meeting all of the B's and the people. Everyone was so nice!

We are so excited about this journey. We can't wait for next weekend's Lure coursing trial too!

-Nicole

[Nemo]

@nkjvcjs:

I wanted to say thanks to everyone we met at the Specialty this Saturday. Rob and I had a ball meeting all of the B's and the people. Everyone was so nice!

We are so excited about this journey. We can't wait for next weekend's Lure coursing trial too!

-Nicole

Cool! I'll be there with Zoni on Saturday. We're doing some table training with random people walking by. Come by and feed her some treats!

[nkjvcjs]

@Nemo:

Cool! I'll be there with Zoni on Saturday. We're doing some table training with random people walking by. Come by and feed her some treats!

Sorry we didn't see you yesterday.
It was a ball though. I loved seeing all of the dogs run.
Katie got to do a practice run, which was great!
I am so sunburned, but I can't wait to go to another trial!

-Nicole

[Nemo]

@nkjvcjs:

Sorry we didn't see you yesterday.
It was a ball though. I loved seeing all of the dogs run.
Katie got to do a practice run, which was great!
I am so sunburned, but I can't wait to go to another trial!

-Nicole

I didn't set up the table until the end of the day until most of the people left because they needed me to be paddock master. I even skipped doing a puppy practice run with Zoni because I was so sunburned…even after putting SPF 55 on 4 times! It was still fun though.

There are probably other trials in the IL area if you check the afsa and akc sites. The MidWest Coursing Club usually holds either an afsa or akc trial each year, last year it was at the Greater Racine Kennel Club, which is not too far from IL. http://midwestcoursing.homestead.com/index.html

The BCOSW will have a fun day in July 11th in Rockford, and I think they will have the lure equipment there for some fun runs.