Mar 17, 1996
Basenjis aren't for everyone. I can't emphasize this enough.
Neither are poodles or chihuahuas or spaniels or greyhounds.
But if Basenjis are meant for an exclusive club, then it is a club made up of
people who love the breed. What is wrong with being careful about making a
fifteen year commitment?
Please try and understand the gauntlet the basenji owner is running. Consider
how many dogs have found death in a dog pound because of some careless,
unexpected personality mismatch all the more tragic because it could have
been avoided with a little bit of research. Consider the legions of
abandoned dogs who have been victims of relentless fence-jumping, of chewing,
or wanderlust, victims of a misleading Jeckyl and Hyde cuteness. Consider
that without knowledge you could be heartbroken in a year by the death of
pitiable, unsound puppy-mill progeny doomed to die of HA or Fanconi or
diabetes.
Is it better to get a pup easily, and then find yourself perhaps
over your head with the walking, the chewing, the independence, the amazing
havoc they can wreck?
If you find the attitude machiavellian, just
what till you find out what a basenji can do.
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