Customer Reviews

Basenji (Petlove S.)

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Basenjis are indeed special dogs. We got ours as a 'rescue' from a family that didn't understand her or train her well. She was two years old when we got her and it did take a lot of patience and understanding but she is now an amazing dog full of love and loyalty. I wish we had had this book in the beginning but it has provided some helpful insight even after we finally got her trained. This is not a dog for someone who expects immediate obedience! She is almost cat like in her grooming manners and independence. Graceful when she runs, spastic when she plays. She tosses her toys in the air and her food bowl if she wants more food. Extremely smart, she knows what you are saying and listens when she wants to. Now that I know these dogs, I would have another when the time comes.

Very complete book with great pictures to show off what a Basenji is to your friends :)

The advice given in the book is very helpful, including some dietary advice (feed your basenji vegetables) that has worked well for me.

However, the training advice doesn't fit well with my Basenji. They book recommends that you buy off the Basenji with treats rather than punishing him for bad behavior since he'll get angry and resist your wishes. This is standard Basenji training advice but I have found that the results are pretty much the same as what you get with trying this on a human child: a spoiled brat. Instead, if you watch how Basenji parents train their kids "in the wild", you see that they control them with nips and a firm "paw." This is also what Cesar Milan recommends: speak "dog" to your dog. I have gotten great training results by rewarding positive efforts my dog makes with praise (they're very sensitive to your emotional state) and punishing with a gentle nip or by treating him to the same behavior he treats me with: if he nips me, I nip back. If he pees on my floor, I put my urine in his kennel. Basenjis are smart enough that one one or two corrections are necessary,and then harmony is restored to the household. By the way the easiest way to nip a Basenji is to bite lightly on his sensitive ears: he gets the message and no harm done. Just remember to do it immediately when the bad behavior occurs or you'll confuse him and make him feel unloved and afraid of you.

Basenjis are exotic African dogs, long hailed as the Barkless Dogs of Africa. The basenji has a long history - they were the loved and doted upon dogs of the ancient Egyptian noble gentry. Basenjis are a part of Egyptian art - basenjis were featured in paintings; people had basenji shaped footstools and Anubis, the God of the Underworld had a basenji head. (Egyptologists maintain Anubis had a jackal head as a jackal was a scavanger. In looking at the drawings of Anubis, he does indeed have the head of a basenji).

These beautiful dogs with the double curl in their tails are indeed distinctive - they laugh, cry and make a yodeling sound. Females come into season once every year. Basenjis don't shed or smell and they clean themselves the way cats do. These exotic dogs move gracefully and are known for their loyalty to their owners. Readers will come away with a wealth of information about this exotic dog and the breeding standards and care these curly tailed dogs require.