Thanks for the advice. It's definitely helped!
Female V Male
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Hi there all,
We have a female 2 1/2 year old love of our lives named Bella. We have considered getting a puppy as we would love to have two and hope she would like a furry companion. We have heard really conflicting stories about what is better male or female, some say two females is a bad choice. However, I love having a female dog and would love two.
Also, our breeder was a backyard breeder and is no longer doing it anymore.
We have perused the breeders online and have been unsuccessful in finding one near to the Los Angeles area. We firmly believe in meeting any puppy we decide to take home and essentially letting it " pick" us. Hopefully they would be agreeable to meeting Bella too.
Anyone know and breeders near to LA or surroundings…?
thanks much,
Raquel:D -
Having two females is a bad choice
No, really, in Basenjis it is often very difficult to find two girls who are compatible…it does happen....but is kind of hit and miss. Of the five bitches that have lived here...only two have formed a friendship that has lasted thru all kinds of challenges. The rest had to be separated for short or long periods, that usually ended with permanant separation. -
I think I read on here somewhere that one of the breeders said with 2 females…"it works until it doesn't." I would say, add a male.
That said...I have 3 basenjis (2 females - 1 - 6mo & 1 - 4yo, and 1 - 4yo male). I have no grand illusion that the girls will work permanently and that they will always be able to be together...I knew that long before I ever added Aaliyah. And in my case, my 2 girls are related (Aaliyah is Ruby's grand daughter). Some days when I watch Ruby take Aaliyah (6 mo) to school for some misdeed, I think that separation day may be sooner than I think.
If you go with 2 girls, you need to have a plan for what happens if it doesn't work - and for my situation, that doesn't include returning a dog or selling or giving a dog away. For me, I have another floor (and a basement that can be finished off if need be)...so one can live upstairs and one can live downstairs. If/when the day comes that the girls need to be separated, I plan on adding another boy...so each girl will have a playmate, and then I will run 2 packs.
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I'm sooo glad to read these threads because we are going to get a playmate for our 6month old female, Akeyla. So adding a male to our pack sounds like a plan.
On another note, does anyone have a 6 month old B? Just curious about how much Akeyla should weigh?
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I agree with Andrea, in most cases, opposite sex pairs work best. I also think that you will find most breeders will pick which puppy matches your household best instead of just letting you pick any pup. The breeder will have spent hours observing the pups and will have a good feel for some of the traits that aren't always apparent in the visit that you will make while the pup is growing.
There is a list of breeders on the BCOA website, http://www.basenji.org/PUBLIC/BreederDirectory.htm
If you would like you can contact me privately and I can provide you with more information. My mom is in Irvine and has 4 basenjis and is active in the basenji community in Southern California. To contact me privately, go to my profile and then to my website and use the contact us button.
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@AC~Akeyla:
I'm sooo glad to read these threads because we are going to get a playmate for our 6month old female, Akeyla. So adding a male to our pack sounds like a plan.
On another note, does anyone have a 6 month old B? Just curious about how much Akeyla should weigh?
Aaliyah just was at the vet last Friday…the day she turned 6mos. She was 15.6lbs. She is still a little smaller than her other siblings (visually, I don't know what they weigh).
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BellaJane, why do you think you'd rather a female?
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We were at the vet on 06.04.09 made Jaycee 5 months and 8 days. Jaycee weight was a little over 19 lbs by there scale. Our baby scale said 20 lbs.
Rita Jean
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Well, Akeyla is small at 13lbs (she will be 6 months on the 25th). However, the vet said today that she looks good and healthy. Akeyla has a pretty small head too.
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Having multiple females can be tricky but getting a puppy of the opposite sex is no guarantee everything will work out well either. The personalities and temperaments of both animals involved must be considered.
How does Bella respond to strange dogs when she meets them? If she has any dog aggression at all then getting another female, or a dog aggressive male, is not a good idea. If Bella meets a strange dog and is really friendly then you may be able to have a second female in the house. Beware that some dogs are friendly until they get on their own home turf. Attitudes can change then.
Finding just the right female puppy would be tough. Check out breeders carefully. Can they keep all their females together or not? If so then, in my opinion, you have a better chance of getting a puppy with that kind of temperament.
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She is small but thats ok Jaycee grew way to fast. Good luck in what ever way you go boy or girl.
Rita Jean
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You will rarely find a responsible breeder that will "let" you pick the puppy. As lvoss has noted, breeders have spend hours on end with the litter, they know the temperaments and can judge what pup would be the best fit with a family. Especially when it is a second Basenji/dog in a household. While opposites are usually the best choice, if you go to a responsible breeder and tell them you would like a puppy girl as a first choice, then they can (once you are on their reservation list) watch the pups as they grow and see if one might suit the situation. I always encourage that people bring their currect dog to meet the pups… but not till they are 7 or 8 wks old....
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@AC~Akeyla:
I'm sooo glad to read these threads because we are going to get a playmate for our 6month old female, Akeyla. So adding a male to our pack sounds like a plan.
On another note, does anyone have a 6 month old B? Just curious about how much Akeyla should weigh?
Zoni turns 6 months tomorrow and she is about 17 lbs.
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Nemo…. it would be interesting for others on the list to learn how you got Zoni... and the fact that your breeder "picked" her for you and how your interactions with your breeder came to be... ... I think it would be wonderful for others to hear about getting a pup from a responsible breeder... if you don't mind sharing...
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Nemo…. it would be interesting for others on the list to learn how you got Zoni... and the fact that your breeder "picked" her for you and how your interactions with your breeder came to be... ... I think it would be wonderful for others to hear about getting a pup from a responsible breeder... if you don't mind sharing...
Okay, hope this helps…When I was looking for a puppy I was interested in getting into lure coursing and possibly showing and didn't know anything about how to practically go about doing either of those, so I wanted to find a breeder that was somewhat local that I would be able to interact with, and who was also interested in helping me get started in one or both activities. I looked through the BCOA and WI basenji club breeder lists to find people in the area and chatted with a few by email in the August-September timeframe since I knew breeding season was really close. By coincidence I actually ran into Sue (Zoni's breeder) at a lure coursing trial and ended up chatting with her for a few hours, plus got to interact with several of her dogs including Zoni's mother. I guess you would call that conversation the interview...I told her what I was potentially interested in doing and asked her questions around what they all involved, what her dogs were like, etc. plus she asked a number of questions about where the puppy would live, did I have a fence, how long I've had a basenji, what was Nemo was like, what I was looking for in the puppy, etc. She also recommended that I get a female at the time since I already had a male. Plus, like I was hoping, she said she'd be happy to help me get started in coursing and showing if that was what I wanted to do. She hadn't made her final breeding plans at the time of the trial and I interacted with her after that by email once Penny came into season, which is where we got into the health testing discussions, etc. (I'd note too, that she initiated the discussion of health testing info herself, which I think is a sign of a responsible breeder.) Plus when I asked some follow-up questions about the stud dog, she was more than happy to help me get the info from the stud owner. I met with some other breeders in person (traveling several hours to do so) and had very similar conversations with them but I really liked Zoni's breeder and ended up putting a reservation in with her since she seemed like a good fit for what I was looking for. Luckily I was already on the forum, so I was also able to get some input from some of the breeders, since many of them know information about the dogs being bred and their pedigrees that you definitely can't find on the internet.
After the puppies were born, I went to visit them at 4 weeks (4 hours away) and talked in more detail with her about what I wanted to do with the puppy, about the conditions of the contract, and more about Nemo as well. Luckily there were 3 females to choose from (could have been zero), but Sue was keeping one of them as well, so that was also a factor. We talked about which ones I liked at the time and in subsequent email conversations when she was giving me updates over the next 6 weeks but she didn't make the final decision which puppy I was getting until about the week before I was coming down to get Zoni at about 10 weeks. Even then, I'm not sure that the decision was necessarily final because she wanted to meet Nemo in person before I took the puppy home. I got Zoni because her personality/temperment was appropriate to get along with Nemo (which was the most important factor for me) and she was also a good show prospect. I'd say Sue was right on track too, because Zoni and Nemo get along very well. If I had gotten one of the other puppies, I'm not sure that would have necessarily been the case. I'd also note that one of her other puppy people (first time basenji owner) really wanted a particular female, but he didn't get that one since it was the dominant one of the litter (probably would have been too much for him to handle).
Plus, after I've taken Zoni home, Sue has always been available by phone or email to answer any questions I have...I'm part of the "puppy family" now.
In contrast, when I got my beagle puppy about 13 years ago, it was a very different situation as I got one from a BYB and didn't really know the difference between a BYB and a responsible breeder. Even though they were nice people, that breeder did not even ask if I had another dog at the time and probably wouldn't have had any input on which puppy would have been appropriate. They were selling the puppies, and probably did not think much about them after they were gone.
Sorry that was a bit long....:eek:
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Thanks for posting that Nemo, I hope that helps people also to understand what a responsible breeder does when placing puppies…. and why we do not just let someone come in a "pick" one...
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hmmm maybe I misspoke…. We actually had much the same experience but just slightly more casual. we were not "picking" the puppy. we were allowed to see which one responded to us and chose us. clearly there are sweet family breeders that do a wonderful job as did ours in helping people find the right dog for them. we had a great experience with a loving family that made secret of the fact that they were doing it just for fun and, no show dogs no fancy titles but well selected dogs with all the testing and no inbreeding. we wanted a pet, and got the most wonderful one we could ever ask for.
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If indeed they did all the health testing and all the health testing was/is published in the OFA database, then you did find a good BYB. Disagree with the statement "fancy titles"… Breeders show and get titles on their dogs to show that they can do what they were bred to do, and while certainly it is not for everyone, it is for most breeders... not sure what you mean by "inbreeding"? There is inbreeding and "linebreeding"... and there is really nothing wrong with linebreeding to develope a line with traits that a breeder thinks is important.
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hmmm maybe I misspoke…. We actually had much the same experience but just slightly more casual. we were not "picking" the puppy. we were allowed to see which one responded to us and chose us. clearly there are sweet family breeders that do a wonderful job as did ours in helping people find the right dog for them. we had a great experience with a loving family that made secret of the fact that they were doing it just for fun and, no show dogs no fancy titles but well selected dogs with all the testing and no inbreeding. we wanted a pet, and got the most wonderful one we could ever ask for.
I'll clarify my long-winded post in that I was looking for a pet that meshed well with my human/dog family first and a show dog second. My other basenji is not a show dog and I don't view the two any differently. Unless the dog is being campaigned pretty heavily, the amount of time they spend in a show ring is extremely small compared to the amount of time they spend with you at home. I'd also say that every puppy in the litter "responded" to me, as I think most well socialized puppies probably would. Sure, I liked the personality of one puppy more than the others but that one to two hour snapshot is not necessarily a good representation of what that puppy will necessarily be like with you. If a puppy doesn't respond to you in a particular situation it doesn't mean it won't be a good fit (it could be over-tired at particular moment, etc.) When I met with the breeder and talked with her by email, I asked her quite frequently what her thoughts were of the diffferent pups in the litter so I could get a good impression myself of what she thought they were like since she lived with them for practically every hour of their life. That way I could make the most informed decision and feel more comfortable that I was bringing the right puppy home. I wasn't sure how well Nemo would take to a new puppy so I wanted as much info as I could get. Good luck in your search!
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Very well put Nemo… thanks for taking the time to share your experience
