What to Expect to Purchase When You’re Expecting (a new puppy)
I often get asked by prospective puppy buyers what they should have or purchase prior to bringing the puppy home. I’ve created this list as a suggestion of purchases along with reasons for purchasing these items. Aside from the puppy food, which is a requirement, everything else listed is an option and you must determine what will fit in best with you and your family and what will help the puppy transition from living with us to living with you. We may give links and information regarding specific products but we in no way profit from anything discussed, suggested, or recommended on this page. We are simply sharing the knowledge we’ve gained from our experiences with a multitude of dogs, basenjis, and products! If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out, we are always available for assistance!
FOOD
At Bellator we feed a high quality dog food that is low in overall protein but maintains a balanced diet for the dogs. Basenjis can be prone to bladder stones if fed a diet containing too much protein. They are also extremely susceptible to intestinal issues and tummy upsets if fed a lower quality diet. For both our puppies and our adult dogs we feed Fromm Duck A La Veg Dry Kibble. Fromm is based in the USA and has never had a food safety recall on any of their pet foods. They maintain two facilities in which the dog food is produced and have the highest standards of cleanliness and food quality. The other food we feed at Bellator is a dehydrated dog food from Honest Kitchen called Whole Grain Turkey Recipe. This is another USA based company with food made entirely from human food quality and grade ingredients. Again this company has never had a food safety recall on any of their pet foods. These two brands will not be found in your grocery stores or big box pet stores but are conveniently found at smaller retail stores and also available for purchase directly from their websites and also on amazon for convenient delivery right to your door. To find a retailer near you, go to the company’s webpage and select “Retailers/Find A Store.” Both these foods can be purchased from http://www.petflow.com as well, with free shipping over $49 and discounts sent via email or for signing up with their auto-ship program. All of our adult and puppy basenjis are fed twice a day with their meals containing a mixture of these two foods and water. We will go over those details more in person!
Don’t forget to purchase dog dishes, one for food and one for water. Standard one quart size should be sufficient and stainless steel have been found to be the best with regards to cleanliness. Do make sure your dishes are washed regularly as germs and micro-organisms love dog dishes almost as much as dogs do! High heat such as a dishwasher or boiling pot of water are sufficient to properly disinfect the dishes.
I also find it helpful and convenient to have a pet place mat under their dishes to absorb splashes or keep the floor clean from messy eaters.
Click here for Fromm’s Website Click Here for Honest Kitchen’s Website
LEASH AND COLLAR
Basenjis do best with a martingale style collar for walks. This style collar is loose around the dogs neck but tightens when the dog pulls to prevent the dog from being able to slip out of their collar on walks. This is not your traditional choker style collar which involves one loop and one point of tension, the martingale collar pulls evenly on both sides of the dogs neck, preventing them from slipping their collar. The martingale collar is NOT meant to be worn every day around the house, it is only meant for walks. The extra loops and looseness of the martingale could easily get snagged or caught on something if left on your basenji or could be chewed by either your basenji or another dog during play time.
During initial training with your new basenji I recommend a 4 foot leash. This length allows for better control and ease of training because it keeps the dog closer to you. If your situation permits, your basenji could wear an every day collar which would include an owner’s information tag, rabies tag, area dog license, or whatever is required by your community. A standard collar ranging in size from 8-12 inches should fit a 10-12 week old puppy and grow with them eventually fitting a full grown adult size basenji. We say “as your situation permits” because many times in multi-dog households daily collar wear is dangerous and could lead to strangulation or injury when two dogs are wrestling. We also recommend all collars are removed when the dog is in the crate. There are too many opportunities for the collar to get snagged in the crate which could strangle or seriously injure your dog.
One of the best companies we have found for martingale collars, regular collars, and leashes is a company called Lupine Pet. They offer a wide variety of high quality styles and colors and the best part is their product is guaranteed for life, even if the damage is your dog chewing the product. It’s really hard to beat that sort of guarantee!
If you’re looking for something a little fancier than a woven collar, we recommend a custom made/designed leather martingale collar, regular collar, and leash set. We have purchased numerous items from Master’s Pride Fine Leatherwork and never been disappointed!
Click their names below for their web sites.
CONTAINMENT/CRATES
Crate training a puppy can be a very useful tool in housebreaking and also helps ensure your puppy is safe if and when they have to be left home alone. We highly recommend crate training even if you’re going to be home with your puppy all the time.
Crates are often used at the vets office and being at the vet is already a traumatic experience for many pets; being used to a crate can at least ease that anxiety. Also often in emergency situations crating is necessary, so the more used to a crate your dog is, the easier everything will be! Crates should never be used a punishment and no dog or puppy should be left in a crate for long periods of time. Crates when used to assist with house training or crates used while puppy isn’t fully house trained should be just big enough for the pup to stand up, turn around, and lay down. Dogs naturally want to keep their “dens” clean, so this ingrained instinct will help with the house training process as long as the crate is the right size. Too big of a crate will allow the pup to potty and move away from it, thus prolonging the potty training process.
A good standard size crate to buy for your basenji is a 24 inch to 36 inch metal crate that comes with an adjustable and removable divider panel. The 24 to 36 inch crate will be big enough for an adult dog, but the divider panel will make it small enough to use for the puppy. Essentially you can keep adjusting the crate to grow with the puppy.
We also use crates for traveling in the car. Being crated in the car ensures that your basenji will not jump out of an open window or door and if you are ever in an accident, the crate provides a level of restraint and security that an otherwise entirely loose dog wouldn’t have.
You may also need baby gates, pet gates, ex-pens (exercise pens) to section off the off-limit areas, to contain the dog to a certain room or area, or to create a pen like we have for the puppy during the day when no one is home. The best gates are ones with only vertical supports. Gates with horizontal supports or horizontal and vertical supports are easily climbed by basenjis, Ex-Pens only come with vertical and horizontal supports, so the taller the better to prevent climbing out; we use 48 inch high ex pens for our adults. Also gate heights should be at least 3-4 feet with 38 inch being optimal for longer term use. Basenjis will see gates and ex-pens as a challenge and will try to climb or jump over them.
If you are going to be gone for longer than your puppy can hold their elimination (4 hour average for pups under 6 months), it’s best to section off an area for them instead of confining them in a crate. This can be done with an ex-pen. Place their crate in the area so that have their sleeping spot, but then designate a potty spot as well. Our puppies are pad trained and litter-box trained, so they can use either. This should only be used when you have to keep the puppy confined for an extended period and to prevent messing in the crate. If you are home, puppy should not have access in inside potty area, they should be housebreaking and pottying outside whenever possible.
We purchase most of our crates, gates, and ex-pens directly from Amazon, but they also sell them in a lot of pets stores and baby gates can be purchased nearly everywhere.
BEDDING AND TOYS
Basenjis love nesting style dog beds as they love to burrow into them. Also spare blankets can be used as basenjis love to be covered up! Puppy Culture has also started carrying Yak Fleece beds with zero stuffing. The beds are still soft and thick but without the enticing inner stuffing to pull out and destroy. Our dogs love them! Take care what items you put in the crate with a basenji as they are likely to be chewed, shredded, and destroyed. I use towels or old sheets cut up into smaller sections until I know and am sure whatever goes in the crate won’t be destroyed. No need to waste money on continuously buying crate pads and beds for the crate if they’re not going to last! The nesting bed are for outside the crate use only.
Basenjis also love any stuffed animals, and by love, I mean they love destuffing their stuffed animals! It’s one of their favorite past times and you will find one very happy and satisfied basenji laying in a pile of white fluff, proudly showing you they killed the toy! Keep in mind basenjis and dogs in general do not know the difference between their stuffed toys and the toys of others. If you do not want you stuffed animals or dolls chewed on, keep them well out of the basenjis reach! Other great toys are rubber balls and anything that squeaks!
Take care in purchasing items designed for dogs, meant to be chewed on, or that will not harm them if chewed on. All toys should be routinely inspected and discarded if at any time they look like they could become a choking hazard or otherwise unsafe to continue playing with or chewing on. Rope toys should be used under supervision as pieces of robe can cause intestinal injury and blockages. Be certain all toys are USA sourced as imported items may contain chemicals, paints, dyes, or additives that are harmful to pets. Toys from overseas have been the subject of many recalls, pet illnesses, and even deaths. You can also get a laser pointer as an interactive pet toy! The Basenji’s natural curiosity and cat like tendencies will have them chasing the laser pointer all over the house and even up the walls!
CLOTHING
Basenjis are native to the Congo in Africa and not well suited for snow and frigid temperatures. For this purpose, many basenji owners invest in coats for their Basenjis so they can go outside on walks and potty outdoors where you prefer. You can opt to not get a coat…but you’ll likely have a fairly reluctant basenji who suddenly forgets all house training manners! Or worse yet, you’ll get the “Basenji Guilt Stare” where you will regret ever forcing them out in the cold as they stare at you pitifully and soulfully while shivering. Neither of those options are pleasant so make sure you have some nice outerwear to keep your basenji protected from the elements! If you live somewhere where they salt the roads/sidewalks, please look into getting foot protection for your basenji as road salt can cause chemical burns on unprotected feet! Depending on the outdoor ambient temperature, you could use a barrier cream in warmer cold weather, but in truly frigid temperatures we recommend some sort of booties. Our favorite spot for basenji coats is Rai-Tei Basenji Dresses. (Pictures below!) Katrine does an amazing job and since they’re made from the measurements of your dog, they’re guaranteed to fit! She has tons of colors and patterns to choose from, be sure to check her out and mention you heard about her from Bellator Basenjis! She actually has an older relative of our 2016 litter!
TREATS
When training I use pieces of cheese, string cheese, hot dogs, steak, and unflavored cooked boneless chicken all as treats to be given to reward positive behaviors. You can also use their dry kibble as a training treat if your dog responds to it. The key is to find what works for you and your pup! Other store bought treats often contain large amounts of sugar and therefore should be used sparingly. Also please ensure ANY treats you buy are from a trusted manufacturer and are not shipped in from over seas where their testing standards do not meet those of the USA. Many pets have become sick and some have even died due to treats and foods shipped in from overseas.
Since basenjis like to chew, many people give their pets raw hides, pigs ears, and bully sticks. These can all be used in moderation and under supervision. Again make sure you’re purchasing these products from a USA based company and that the products are not coming in from over seas. You should supervise your dogs time with these types of treats because once they chew them down to smaller pieces, they may become choking hazards or become lodged and stuck in their teeth. Another danger of rawhides are the possibility of the dog swallowing it whole or swallowing a very large piece resulting in an intestinal blockage that may require surgery. This is why we stress to supervise your pets if you’re going to allow them these type of treats. One of our dogs favorite treats are raw beef marrow bones that we purchase directly from the butcher shop. These well loved treats are often given while they have to be crated so that the crate time represents something positive to them. Cooked marrow bones are sold at pet stores, but if you examine them closely you’ll often find bugs and insects within the packaging. Cooked/smoked bones are also more prone to splinter and could cause serious injury to your pet if ingested. Raw marrow bones are better purchased fresh from the butcher and frozen until given to your basenji. We generally have the butcher cut the marrow bones into 1.5-2 inch sections and keep several in the freezer for a tasty treat! It’s also a long term treat as a good raw marrow bone can last several weeks whereas raw hide or bully sticks may last a couple hours at most. Marrow bones can also large enough to not pose choking risks so they can be given without supervision. To ensure the marrow bone is big enough, make sure your dog cannot get their jaw/mandible into the center hole and become stuck. They can be messy though, so keep that in mind, and don’t let them enjoy it on your carpet! Another thing to keep in mind is that marrow bones are a very rich treat, so too much of a good thing can cause GI upset and loose stools. It’s best to work your pup up to a whole marrow bone. We start the puppies off with 15 minute sessions with a frozen marrow bone and they tend to do great! Remember frozen marrow bones last much longer and will give you dog more time for enjoyment.
If you can’t find a local source for beef marrow bones, check out The Dog Bone Guy! We have purchased from him before and really like his product! Another recently popular option are antlers for dogs to chew on. These pose risks for overly zealous chewers as they are extremely hard and could crack a tooth, but if you know your dog to not be overly zealous this is another great option for chewing. Make sure there are no sharp ends and if a sharp section occurs during chewing, be sure to remove the antler immediately so that your basenji isn’t injured. Our dogs have also gotten nylabones as chew toys. These toys also do not require immediate supervision and can last for quite some time. These are often in our toy basket and the dogs will dig them out. They are carpet and furniture safe as there’s no mess associated with them!
BOREDOM BUSTERS & MENTAL STIMULATION
Some basenjis tire easily with physical exercise but some need mental stimulation to wear out their brain and tire themselves out that way. Sometimes the weather, time, or physical circumstance doesn’t allow for a lot of physical exercise. These are times when it’s great to have some brain games and boredom busters handy to utilize with your pup! There are tons of “Do it Yourself” enrichment ideas, we recommend you joining a couple Facebook groups for Canine Enrichment or a quick google search to come up with some great ideas. Plenty of manufacturers produce dog toys that are interactive and stimulate the dog to work towards a treat goal. We have also had great success with “Lickimats” for dogs. These are available on Amazon and come as a 2-pack for around $10.00. We use canned wet dog food as the “paste” on the lickimat and then put it in the freezer so that it lasts all that much longer. We use the Fromms Duck and Pumpkin Pate because its close enough to their normal food that it doesn’t give them an upset stomach. Indoor days are great days to work on training your puppy as well. Keep the training time limited to 3-5 minutes with plenty of play time and down/rest time between training sessions. Remember with training, more time isn’t always best!
TRAINING
Our puppies are raised with the Puppy Culture Protocols which base everything on positive reinforcement, socializing, and desensitization. Basenjis respond best to positive reinforcement and positive reward training methods. They do not respond well to negative training methods, discipline, yelling, shouting, hitting, or uses of force. Negative training methods can lead to a seemingly vengeful and malicious basenji. They are highly intelligent and will act out accordingly which may include peeing on your pillow, pooping in your shoe, or even such severe behavior such as aggression and biting. They are very smart, but their intelligence isn’t gauged by how quickly they respond to robot like commands, they are smart in their intelligence of figuring things out and how to make things better for themselves. They may grasp the concept of sit right away, and be rewarded with a treat, but ask another time, and if they can see there is no treat, they may ignore you altogether. Positive, patient, and consistent training is key to a harmonious household. A give and take relationship must be established from the start or the basenji will rule the household. Training methods such as the protocols of deference are very useful in training a basenji. In these you train the dog to perform a command for you before they get what they want. An example is teaching the dog to sit/stay before opening the door so that the dog doesn’t bolt outside or inside. Using the sit/stay before mealtime can be highly effective; you don’t want them to knock the bowl out of your hand, and they want their food. They are taught they only get their food by performing the sit/stay until given the release command. This is the give and take relationship I mentioned; it’s not a formal training session to learn a command, it’s the steps necessary for a harmonious household. Protocols for deference can be researched online and there are several websites with full PDF files regarding training your dog using the protocols. An excellent book on training using positive reinforcement is the book “When Pigs Fly,” I highly recommend this purchase and for all people involved in the dogs life to read it and be on the same page for dog training. Positive, patient, consistent training is key! Another step in the Puppy Culture training process is the “Attention is the Mother of all Behaviors” training video. The idea behind this video is you can teach your dog just about anything if you can get and maintain their attention! Both these items can be purchased from the Puppy Culture Website.
RESOURCE GUARDING
Many basenjis have become “problem dogs” due to biting resulting from resource guarding. The resource can be an item, a person, or a favorite place to lay or sit. If you do no other training with your puppy, please work with them on resource guarding. The earlier you start, the better, but its never too late to work on resource guarding. Working on resource guarding is also a skill you will work on for the life of the puppy because it’s importance and need never fades. The above book “When Pigs Fly” does discuss resource guarding to some extent, but we highly recommend the book “Mine!” by Jean Donaldson. The book is relatively inexpensive, only $13.00 on Amazon.com, but it’s wealth of knowledge is invaluable. Many people may think that simply working with the dog with the dogs food dish is adequate for resource guarding…but for basenjis, it’s most definitely not.
VETERINARIANS AND TRAINING CLASSES
Before your puppy even goes home, you should have their first puppy exam scheduled. You should have an idea of when you will be picking up your pup, and ideally their first vet visit should be within 5 days of going home with you. If you don’t already have a good veterinarian, the process of finding someone convenient and that you feel comfortable with can be exhausting and time consuming! That’s why its best to take care of these matters before you have a cute puppy distracting you! I find it better to have a veterinarian private practice type Vet than the “big box” type vets such as Banfield and others. Smaller Veterinary practices often don’t have the administrative overhead telling them what pets require and can cater their care to a more case by case basis instead of a one type fits all mentality. No matter what veterinarian you choose to use, it’s best to educate yourself on all things regarding to basenji health. Many veterinarians have never seen a basenji or see them few and far between, so it’s up to you to be your pet’s advocate when it comes to their health care.
Dog trainers and training centers can be found nearly everywhere with a plethora of choices for you and your pup. We recommend starting a puppy kindergarten training course as soon as 4 months of age, provided your puppy has received at least two distemper/parvo vaccinations, the second one being 14 weeks of age or older. Finding a good trainer can be even harder than finding a good veterinarian, so the research and decision should be made again, before you have your cute puppy distracting you! We recommend contacting several in your area, seeing what they offer and what would work with your schedule, and then asking them if you can sit in on a class or two BEFORE you even get your puppy. Shadowing the class will give you a feel for the training and the environment to see if it will be good for you and your puppy. You want a good class that is under control, uses positive reward or reinforcement methods, that doesn’t use punishment, and that the student to instructor ratio isn’t too high. Some puppy kindergarten classes allow for free play/social time, if the class offers this you want to make sure it’s well managed and that pups are with like minded pups so that your puppy has a good experience and isn’t bullied or creating a negative association with other dogs.
Regardless of your skill levels as a trainer, we recommend at least one training class as a group session because group sessions teach your dog to pay attention and listen to you despite distractions. It also teaches your dog manners in that just because people and other dogs are around, it’s not always for them to go up and meet and say hello to, sometimes they just need to ignore them and listen to you.
Individual training sessions can be great we well, but some of the same rules apply. You want to ensure the trainer uses only positive reward based methods or positive reinforcement for training the puppy.
Young puppies and especially basenjis do NOT respond well to punishment or negative training methods such as shock collars. Your puppy is a baby and still learning the world around them, help your pup learn things are fun and rewards, not scary and should be avoided.
GROOMING: SHAMPOOS, COMBS, NAIL TRIMS, AND TEETH
Basenjis lack the doggie odor for the most part, but still benefit from occasional baths, combing, and grooming. We like to bathe puppies at least once a week for the first 4 months and every other week for 4-6 months and then once a month from 6 months to a year of age just to keep them acclimated and used to being bathed so that it never becomes a scary, stressful experience for the pup later on. If the pup doesn’t “need” a bath, many times these bathing sessions are just with water only, going through the motions of a bath, just without shampoo. This allows puppy to be used to the process without drying out their coats to much. For the times shampoo is needed, we like to use a mild puppy shampoo on the pups and oatmeal shampoos on the adults.
Although basenjis tend to shed minimally, they can still shed seasonally with weather changes. Basenjis will also shed in times of stress (like at the vets office) or during times of physical illness. If your basenji is shedding seasonally, we like to start off with a good bath. During the bath make sure you thoroughly scrub their bodies and really massage into their coat. Rinse and then follow up with a good conditioner. Make sure the conditioner is thoroughly rinsed out and towel dry your basenji. The scrubbing motion of the shampoo helps loosen and pull out the dead hairs that they’ve been naturally shedding; the conditioner treatment helps those dead hairs release and rinse away. Many times, this will be all that your basenji needs to help with shedding, but sometimes you will need to follow it up with a good combing. We like to use stripping combs which cut the longer guard hair and also pull out the dead hairs. These two methods together efficiently take care of shedding in a short period of time!
Basenjis (and any dogs) benefit from regular nail trims. Ideally cutting/grinding their nails once a week would help keep them at a good length, but it can be stretched to every other week. Too long in between nail trims allows the quick of the nail to grow and therefore reduces how short you can trim their nails. Dogs with nails that are too long can suffer from micro fractures in the bones of their feet from improper weight distribution throughout the foot. These micro fractures can lead to arthritis and pain when walking later in life. We prefer to use a nail grinder on out adults and older puppies but some people don’t feel comfortable with that. There are many different types of nail trimming tools, you need to find what works best for you and your pup. If you need help learning how to grind or trim your dogs nail, YouTube videos are a valuable resource!
Leading cause of bad breath in dogs is dental disease. Best way to prevent dental disease is to get in a routine of brushing your pups teeth. The commercially made pet dental treats contain large amounts of sugar, and although they mask doggie breath for a short time, they actually add to the causes of dental disease because of the increased sugar. Marrow bones and other chews can help quite a bit, but often tend to neglect the front teeth and canine teeth, so it’s best to just be in the habit of brushing your dogs teeth. You can use merely just water, or invest in a doggie toothpaste. Never use human toothpaste on your dog. They also make water additives that are supposed to help reduce tarter build up. I personally have never found these effective, but there’s plenty of studies that prove me wrong!
