@Vanessa626:
Hi Melissa,
Welcome to the forums. I too live in the Bay Area. Cupertino to be ecact. I too have had a hard time trying to find a vet who knows about Basenji's. A friend told me about a Dr. Freeman at All About Pets in Fremont. He has treated many Basenji's. I dont mind the drive if I know they know about Basenjis.
~Vanessa
Welcome, Melissa. And what a darling little puppy you are expecting. I just wanted to chime in on picking a vet. Dr. Freeman took care of my two dogs (one basenji, one not) for many years (I live in Hayward in the Bay Area–not too far from you and Vanessa). He hadn't taken care of that many basenjis before. But what was most important to me was that he listened to me, he had many years of experience, he really cared about my dogs, he put up with me being an overprotective mom and did not make me feel bad about it, he would do his best to accommodate any request I had and would go out of his way to suggest special accomodations he could make that would help my dogs be more comfortable if they had to have any procedures done--those were the kinds of things that were important to me. Finding a good vet was really trial and error for awhile. I was with one practice for many years, but I felt like my dogs were just numbers there and didn't really get enough individual attention. As they got older and needed veterinary care more often, I decided to try to find a better place to go. When I started looking for a new vet, any time anything came up with one of my dogs--I would try a new vet. I went through about 4 or 5 before I found Dr. Freeman. I have to say--I was much more particular about my dogs' vets than my own doctors
Caren