Our Finnigan is half Basenji. He is such an interesting dog and has many of the Basenji traits. He has the funniest sounding bark you've ever heard and can jump straight up in the air from a stand still position to over 4 feet and does it over and over. Basenji's are great escape artists and can climb just about anything and jump alot. They are also chewers! Finnie chewed just about everything for his first two years, including his bedding so we bought him a Kuranda Bed which is 'chew-proof'. He doesn't chew anymore which is wonderful but he sucks on his bedding until it gets all soggy. From what I understand though, Basenjis tend to chew stuff, often into and through adulthood so kong toys and other chewy things have to be available so your stuff doesn't get ruined.
I was reading in the other posts about Basenjis being aloof. Finnigan is all about being with us and getting attention and he's overly attached to our other dog Muddy but he is the most stubborn dog I've ever had. When training him he often didn't want to do what I wanted but ultimately he did do it (i.e. learning to sit, stay etc..) even if it took twice as long as it did with our other dog. I've read that Basenji's are a dominant breed and can be stubborn. This is definitely the case with him! LOL
Another Basenji trait is that they love the sun. Finnie can always be found in the brighest patch of the yard just sunning himself, while our other dog prefers the shade. It's as if he can't get enough sunshine!
I couldn't tell you what it's like to have a 100% Basenji but our 50% Basenji is a pretty neat guy.This is Finnie below: (he has the white blaze up the nose and his tail is super curly).
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