“HOW OUR DOG(S) ENTERED OUR LIFES”

Ch’ami came into our lives to safe Chica’s life (our beloved cat). Her brother Jordi suddenly died 3 weeks shy of his 8th birthday. The two of them were very, very close. Jordi protected his sister against “enemies” in the neighborhood while the little coward was hiding under the couch. He also spoiled her rotten by washing her thoroughly every night, holding her tight in his arms. There was this special “brand” of mice Chica loved a lot, so being the gentlemen he was Jordi regularly went out and brought her home one, making a special sound to alert her. When she was outside herself, he just left the mouse –dead or alive- on the kitchen rug, thinking she would find it later. ….

We gave Chica the opportunity to say her last goodbye to her beloved brother, but she was in total denial. The following days, weeks she wouldn’t eat. We brought all her favorite food in little portions to her, without success. She lost a lot of weight. Chica developed a nervous tic. She licked her belly as if she wanted to lick the grief away. This resulted in her having a bald belly.

We fought very hard to get her out of her depression, but she seemed to have lost interest in life. Kees and I understood she needed a companion, but she was hostile against other cats. We thought of a dog, but had no clue as yet about a breed that would fit us all. Then we came across this poster in a magazine with drawings of some special breeds and we immediately noticed the Basenji, wanting to get to know more. In our search on the internet we found the Apu page with the Basenji test. I was ROTFL when I read that. So I guessed I passed that test. The quote on top of this page, “The basenji is one half cat & three quarters monkey”- by Nicholas Marsicano, made us shout out “yes, this must be our breed”!!

We visited several breeders and one dog show. The 1st Basenji pack we met in person made us fall in love with the breed. Then we were on the waiting list for a puppy. I was over the moon when I was invited to witness the birth and cried when Ch’ami was born. It was decided that a male puppy would increase the chances that Chica would also fell in love with a basenji.

The preparations began. Every puppy visit we brought smelly stuff from Chica over to the puppies and took some smelly puppy stuff back home to present it to Chica. She kept it close to her, it got her interested. We bought all the dog stuff very early, and one thing at a time was put in its place to let Chica get used to it. In the end she was as excited as we were, she understood that “something” was coming to live with us. She had no clue as yet what that “something” was. The night before we could pick up our puppy I wasn’t able to sleep, being very nervous and worrying sick what to do when things wouldn’t work out between the 2 of them.

I needn’t to have worried. We had named our puppy Chamchela (hurricane) and decided for his call name Ch’ami. “Ch” is from Chica, and “ami” is French for friend. Chica’s friend. And that he was!!! The first days after Ch’ami entered our home Chica was afraid to walk on the floor. She would pick a safe place somewhere high up with a good puppy view, enjoying everything Ch’ami did. She could stare at him for minutes when he was asleep, creeping towards him to be able to smell him.

Within days they fell in love. And Chica felt good, she gained weight again, stopped the nervous licking and her hair grew back. She showed him what a cat is capable of doing, and he loved it, and tried to copy everything. That’s probably why he likes to jump on the dinner table.

Ch’ami saved Chica’s life. They were bestest-friends-ever!! He took over Jordi’s roll of being her body guard. Together with him she dared to go outside again, knowing he would be there for her. When Dana came to live with us a year later, they became close sister-friends and often slept together on the couch. And 3 more years later when Moyo came to live with us, she had the most fun ever. Chica had met so many visiting basenji’s by then, and trained so many dogs in “how to live with a cat without getting killed” that she was now fearless of dogs. Again she made sure to have the best puppy view, watching all his silly tricks, purring, enjoying. To return the favour Chica showed off by climbing the trees, which skill Moyo is still trying to copy.

It was a sad day when it was time to let 14 year old Chica cross the rainbow bridge. We are so grateful to have had her and her brother live with us. We like to think Jordi and Chica gave us a beautiful goodbye present by guiding us to the basenji breed. They are such a loving breed, bringing laughter and joy into our lives, we couldn’t live without them anymore.