Thanks from Medfly 2 2014

& MORE Dear Rip Van Wrinkle Basenji Club.

Proud dad and the gorgeous ones.

So the youngsters got an absolutely wonderful home and once again, Lady Luck showed up in the form of a couple who were Basenji trained and wanted a more mature pair of basenjis. Boy, did we have the kidlets for them.

Bonnie and Trina with their new people. Trina loves her dad and Bonnie is a mommy’s girl.

We spotted a little guy who looked like a young Basenji and out Chuck went on a long drive to retrieve Ulysses. He was adorable, not a baby Basenji, but a very shy rat terrier who needed some help finding a way to relate to people. We had a wonderful time helping this charming little guy get ready to show off his cuteness to the right person.

Ulysses, looking, if you ignore the tail, like a small Basenji, is with his new mom. His mom is a dog whisperer and arrived with three other dogs, all rescues and all superbly well trained. Within a few minutes she had Ulysses touching one hand to get a treat from the other hand. And she knew exactly what he and the rest of her crew would do when they met. She even knew that Ulysses’ new brother would take advantage of the water bowl.

We received a call from a shelter asking if we would pick up an unadoptable Basenji they had. Apologizing profusely, we called a family that was scheduled to come meet some of our crew on their way home from Tucson in a large motor home and told them we had an emergency and would be late. It is always scary to hear a Basenji is unadoptable and in a shelter as in the past some were quickly put down, so this little guy became our priority. Chuck and I both went down since sometimes they have been abused by women and hold it against all women but most of the time the damage has been done by men. As we name alphabetically, this red boy should have had a name starting with “V”, but that never happened.

“V”, hereafter referred to by his new name “Jengo”, was found one morning at the shelter, tied to the front gate and with multiple bite wounds on him. Although there is no way of ever knowing his story, we do wonder if he was used as a bait dog and then simply discarded. Chuck took him to a meeting area and gently checked to see if we had a dog in a defensive or aggressive mode. Nope. All we had was a big red gentleman who didn’t jump around asking for someone to adopt him. He just stood there in that Basenji royal mode looking at people. Jengo was such a great gentleman, he offered Chuck no grumbles when Chuck picked him up and carried him to the car. We quickly called the family we had canceled to tell them we were on the way home and see if they wanted to come by that evening. Since they had already parked in an RV park, Chuck drove down to bring them to meet kidlets. Naturally they wanted to see the guy who had rearranged the schedule for all of us, so out came our new guy, complete with his wounds still very obvious. What a love story. Our new guy passed all the tests and was quickly adopted and named “Jengo”. He plays ball with their son and his friends and is an absolute delight when he sings along with the son as he tries to practice piano.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfQlzzMjgf8

Jengo, from a wounded and abandoned boy, to an out-doorman very much loved by his doting new family.

We had another of those perfect timing/perfect placements but this time with a Basenji mix whose name quickly became “Jack”. There are always so many mixes out there and so many times we have to say no but there are some that we cannot pass on helping.

Jack

A volunteer in a shelter had fallen in love with Jack and had been sending out emails pleas for someone to save this gorgeous guy. With all the dogs there, she was going to bail him out and board him until she could find him a home. This guy had to be very special to elicit such attention and who could resist this George Clooney of the dogs? Once again Chuck hit the road and when he returned, I think he was already in love. This was on a Tuesday and on Thursday…of the same week, mind you…. we got a call from a couple who wanted something like a Basenji but a bit bigger, someone who got along with other dogs, and amazingly they wanted a black dog! Tailor-made!!! We had planned on letting our big beautiful guy settle a bit before the trip to the vet, but he now had a home to go to so we rushed along the process. Our new vets are incredible and have an extremely well equipped clinic with ultra sound, cold laser treatment for pain, surgical procedures done by laser, and a venous blood gas tester (such a blessing for those of us who have a Fanconi kidlet but also great for other diagnostic needs. More about that later.) Laser surgery helps a dog heal faster than earlier surgical incisions so Jack was able to heal quickly and go off to delight his new family.

Cooper, now renamed Roger, is a beautiful red boy who was slightly confused over exactly why he ended up with us. He thought he had a wonderful home with his mom and a little girl of his own. Supposedly he became destructive when his mom got pregnant with a new baby. Perhaps there were stresses caused by the new marriage. The outcome was that Cooper got displaced and needed to feel loved and be loved. Once again we had a great couple come to meet Cooper and they have reported that Roger (ex- Cooper) has settled in terrifically and can’t get enough love.

This tidy little guy arrived in time for the letter “E” in our alphabetical naming process and there was a perfect name waiting for him…Elfu. He is a very elfish little guy and was able to find a great home with another Basenji who needed a friend.

Even as we had the sadness of a dear friend’s failing health and the need to take care of her beloved Basenjis for her, we had a great year with the joy of sharing many funny moments with our kidlets as well as many learning moments. We have a Fanconi boy here who was the first customer to use our vet’s brand new venous blood gas test machine, which is now called Eddie’s machine. Eddie is doing well with his regimen and the food he likes, this after many kinds were tried and refused. And then we have Charlotte who would eat anything but can’t as she has a genetic skin condition that we can now almost control. Life with Charlotte has been very educational as well as baffling. One day she looks great and the next she can be a total disaster, but have we learned about dog food and supplements and shampoos and skin sprays and vitamins and oils and how different her food and supplements have to be!!!

Thanks again for all your support for all of the kidlets…..way tooo many for them to be able to thank you personally.

Baroos to all from all of us.