Hey Meandi,

I just hopped onto this discussion. My mom was considering breeding her chihuahua with one of her friend's dogs, just to make some extra money and to have puppies (everyone loves puppies!) and I sent her to this website which helped to change her mind (her dog is now altered, yay!). It's from a labrador breeder, but the idea behind it is still spot-on.

http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/breeding/breeder2.html

Here is another one (not quite as snarky!) which I believe is from a Shiba Inu breeder

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/1867/breeding.html

This has a spot close to my heart, because the dog that we are fostering is from a backyard breeder (she was used as a puppy-maker). I know that if you were to breed you would treat your dog better than that, so please don't take offense. If you truly want to breed your dog, please research your dog's heritage, and find a responsible basenji breeder that could be your mentor. Learn, learn, learn as much as you can from them.

I hope this all doesn't sound mean but please be so careful. Are you ready to be there for all of the puppies you produce from cradle to grave? A responsible breeder is there for the owners throughout the lifetime of the puppies they produce. Many are willing to help train and show the puppies as well, free of charge. Those of us in rescue see so many purebred dogs coming through… It's just so sad. In my opinion (take it or leave it!) only the very best of the best dogs ought to be bred. As for all of the other dogs, there are so many dogs out there needing good homes, why add to the problem?

Just wanted to let you know that we put Harley's crate in our bedroom last night, and she stayed quiet until i got up around 8:00 this morning (it's Saturday, so of course that is much later than usual)! Yay! We'll see if it stays that way, but maybe she really was just lonely. Thanks for the advice guys!

Thanks guys. Snorky, that's really interesting! We'll wait and see what happens. She really has come out of her shell quite nicely, and actually just hopped up on the couch next to me to take a nap! She has started following me around, especially in the kitchen (hhhmmmmm why could that be???? ).

Hello,

We are fostering our first Basenji, Harley. She has been here only a few days. She went to the vet and checked out okay except that she needs her vaccinations which she is getting one at a time and needs to be spayed.

Anyway. She is soooo talky. Every morning about 5-6 a.m. she walks up and howls (is that what you call it or is there a different name for it?). We let her out to go to the bathroom. Then, even after she has gone to the bathroom both ways and has her breakfast, she still howls and whimpers.

Is she still just adjusting to us? I wonder if she gets kind of lonely. She came from a home that had more than 12 dogs (and at least 7 other basenjis), so coming to a home with only one other dog is quite a bit different I'm sure. I guess I just want to make sure that we aren't doing anything wrong and that we should just wait it out. Also, any suggestions on things we can try to keep her quiet until we get up? Of course I know she still has to go to the bathroom but it would be nice to be able to go back to bed afterwards and not have to stay up after 5 am every morning!

Well this morning Harley stole a bag of treats off of the coffee table and took them into her crate, where she opened the bag and ate them!! The first of many capers to come I'm sure. Luckily there weren't many treats left in the bag and it doesn't like she actually ate any of the bag. I hope she doesn't get an upset tummy!

Hello all,

I am the girl fostering Harley. Thanks for the information about the hernia - the vet didn't make it sound serious, they just said she shouldn't have been bred and that they can take care of the hernia during the spay.

Harley is just getting so much better every day. She is still pretty shy, but right now she is laying on our couch taking a nap (first time she has slept anywhere besides her crate!). She has a knack for finding the coziest places in the house. This morning she tried out our dog Shiba's crate and bed and decided she liked it better than her own, so we put a different bed in her crate and hopefully she likes that.

She walks pretty well on a leash and she loves treats! Shiba has tried very hard to get Harley to play but so far she hasn't felt like it. She just seems so tired. She is sort of curious about our cats but so far they haven't even been worth getting up for - she just keeps an eye on them when they walk by her.

One of my friends, Melissa, came over to visit Harley tonight. Since we met her and her husband several months ago they had said that they wanted a Basenji, so they might be interested in adopting Harley when the time comes, which would be great. Melissa also just signed up to be a volunteer at the humane society in town which is cool too.

Anyway thanks for all of the information, and I will keep you updated on Harley's progress!