Spring is the time when litters of late fall and early winter begin to disband and fat little basenji puppies go forth to conquer new hearts. Those of you who are awaiting a furry little bundle of wrinkle and razor teeth may benefit from this peek into my journal, written during the early weeks of life with our very first curly-tailed imp. Keep in mind that I had done plenty of reading and thought I knew what to expect. My sentiments and frustrations were by no means unusual, and yours will doubtless be similar. So happily fools do rush in�
Diary of a Basenji Puppy Owner
Tuesday 25 March 1997 Today was the day we had so long awaited! We arrived at the breeder�s house at 1:30 this afternoon, read and signed the contract, and exchanged a sizeable amount of cash for: a large packet containing health information, inoculation records, 6-generation pedigree, tips for raising a baby basenji, and feeding information; a brand new wire crate, a bag filled with doggie biscuits, a little fleece blanket scented with "eau de mom", a fleece alligator and some chew toys; and, of course, adorable little RUBY!
We put her in the carrier in the back seat of the car for the drive home. That lasted, oh, maybe 100 feet!!! She cried so piteously we just couldn't stand it. I brought her up front with me, expecting that she would lay down happily in my lap and go to sleep. Ha! She was like a Slinky with legs, squirming and slipping out of my grasp the whole way home. She wanted to see everything and be everywhere, including under the front seat. We were both exhausted when we arrived home at last...and then she took a nap!
I spent the entire evening running around behind her and taking her outside every little while so she wouldn't have an accident. Other than going to pick her up, I accomplished absolutely nothing today. Am I nuts?! My life was perfectly tranquil, and now it is to be dictated by the needs and whims of a dog! I have a feeling life will never be the same again. But, oh, she is so incredibly sweet! Surely it will be worth the disruption!!!
This is Ruby a few days after coming to live with us.
This is how she looked when she was not hatching an evil plan.
Thursday 27 March 1997 How can such a tiny creature make such incredibly LOUD noises??? If I didn�t know for a fact that the sounds were emanating from that little puppy, I would think there was a zoo in the living room! At different times during the night she sounded like a cat, a monkey, a bird, and a dog, each with its own particular assortment of calls and inflections. She hooted, howled, growled, grunted, groaned, whined, whimpered, wailed, screamed, shrieked, chirped, cheeped, cackled, cawed, yelped, and ki-yied. Did I sleep? Not for more than a couple of minutes at a time! When I finally gave up that silly notion, I just stifled my laughter into a pillow and waited for the sun! I wish I had a tape recorder; everybody thinks I�m just exaggerating!
We had a lovely nap on the couch this morning!
Tuesday 1 April 1997 Sunday night was the absolute worst - almost non-stop jungle effects and heart-stopping screams from 11:30 until I finally got up for good at 5 a.m. Doug stood it as long as he could, but at 4 a.m. he gathered up the comforter and went out to spend his last hour of "sleep" in the car. Ruby screams with such volume and intensity that, even though I know she doesn't need to go to the bathroom, I don't dare ignore her. I leap from fitful slumber fearing that she has caught some part of her anatomy in the bars of the crate. I must have been out of my mind to even think about getting a basenji. They're not from Africa, they're from Hell. God, I am so tired.
Sunday 6 April 1997 What a scare I had on Friday! I decided to try to get some work done outside in the garden. I tied Ruby on the long-line to the bushel basket I was throwing weeds into. It was working fine; Ruby would wander off as far as she could go, and then she'd come back to where I was working. One of the cats, Larry, suddenly appeared on the scene, and she was off like a shot after him. She pulled the basket a couple of feet away from me. Then the basket stopped moving, but she didn't! She was loose! I ran after them in a panic calling their names, but I might as well have been calling the wind. Larry usually responds when I call him, but he was having such fun being pursued that he didn't pay any attention to me, and Ruby never listens anyway. Luckily, they were running through the deep brush in the wild part of the back yard which slowed them down a little, so I was able to get close enough to pin her. I thought she must have slipped her collar, but it was still securely around her neck. Somehow the clip on the long-line had opened and released the collar�s "D" ring. I never would have believed how fast that little scamp can move!
For the rest of the day she was just naughty, naughty, naughty. In the evening she kept running behind the television. Worried that she might chew the cords, I kept pulling her out and telling her "no". The last time she growled and nipped at me! I threw her down on her back and held her there as she snapped and scratched at me. When she finally quit struggling and averted her eyes, I released her and ignored her for the next few minutes. This is an "alpha roll-over", supposedly what the "pack leader" or her mother would do. Not sure it's the right thing to do ("old school" training), but it did have the right effect. I definitely need to do some more reading on training methods.
Friday 11 April 1997 This dog is a demon. I spent most of yesterday contemplating taking her back to Jann. Doug found me in tears when he came home from work, and he laughed at me: "She's just a little puppy, for Christ's sake. How can a puppy get the best of you?!" He has no idea; maybe HE should stay home with her all day and find out!
She's naughty, stubborn, disobedient, and possibly even stupid. I can't get her to heel; all she does is pull ahead, choking herself, or else she races around behind me and gets us both tangled up. Forget about "down� and "stay" and, especially, "come"! Indoors she's just a blur, going from one thing she isn't supposed to touch to another. She won't stay out of the cats' litter box, and she throws litter all over the floor as she digs in it. She crawls under the platform rocker where I can't reach her and chews on the wooden base. She badgers poor, old, frightened Lily cat. She eats the cat food if I take my eyes off her for one minute. She digs the couch cushions. Occasionally she disappears behind the couch. I just discovered a hole back there, with a little pile of foam that she removed.
Last night I went to bed with a headache, which was worse when she woke me up at 12:30, worse still when I took her out at 2:30, and raging violently when I took her out at 3:30. I took some aspirin and refused to get up when she started in again at 4:30. My brother, erstwhile obedience trainer, insists she's just lonely and says this foolishness will stop if I just put the crate in the bedroom. Okay, I'm willing to try anything now for a full night of sleep. I moved the crate this morning.
Note the wicked gleam in Ruby's eye. This was probably
just before she chewed up the "toy box" she is in!
Saturday 12 April 1997 I'll be damned! How could it be so simple?! It appears Rick was right! I had an almost undisturbed night of sleep last night, for the first time in 3 weeks! Ruby woke me up at 4 to go out to pee, after which I put her back in the crate. She whined about an hour later and I quietly, calmly, said, "Ruby, no," and she went back to sleep. I woke up on my own at 8:30 this morning and she was just sitting in the crate looking at me. God, please don�t let it be a fluke!
Of course there is a silver lining backing all those sleepless nights: she is thoroughly housebroken! Whenever she woke me up, I marched her outside in the dark to her pee spot. In all this time she has had only one accident of each kind in the house.
Tuesday 27 May 1997 Another breakthrough! I took Ruby outside this afternoon to pee and we walked around the yard for a bit afterward. I just happened to pull her up short and said, "Ruby, heel," and (gasp!) she did! We walked all over the yard and she didn't pull ahead or veer off to sniff something or lag behind. She pranced right by my side. She did an automatic sit when we stopped. I commanded her down, and she did that, too. Astounded, I brought her in to demonstrate for Doug. I haven't worked with her in over a week because it has been so awfully discouraging. I almost concluded that she was just untrainable because she gave absolutely NO indication that she was making any connection. Now I realize that she understood what I wanted, she just didn't want to do it! I'm certain she was very amused the entire time! What a wonderfully sweet, intelligent, and beautiful little dog!
Shortly after this breakthough, it occurred to me that Ruby had blurred the distinction between the owner and the owned. As weeks turned into months, I came to the startling realization that the distinction was no longer blurred - she had succeeded, as Basenjis have done through the millennia, in turning her humans into shameless, doting basenji slaves!
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