Bushwacker Basenjis blog

  News, Views and Who's Whos ....

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Bushwacker blogs it

Occasional meanderings through dogs, shows, and other news

Happy Birthday Sue!

Today is a special day here at Bushwacker, as our matriarch, Bushwacker Sioux City Sue, is celebrating her 17th birthday. Here she is, eating her birthday breakfast (scrambled egg, sausage, bacon, beans and some leftover macaroni from the night before - well why not!).

After which, she settled down in front of the wood stove for some Zzzzzzzzzzs, accompanied by various family members. Two are missing from the photo, the r/ws Tommy (her son) and Cherry (her granddaughter) as apparently this was a black-only gathering!

L-R, great-granddaughter Yoko, daughter Tara, grandson Donald, granddaughter Figo.

Sue is more fortunate than her mother Asha (Khufu Starkist Semjase) whose own 17th birthday fell on Christmas Day. OK, she always got a Turkey dinner every year but we sometimes forgot it was her birthday at all as there was so much else going on. Happily for Susan, 8th December is special for only one thing - her.

Visitors come and visitors go - but The Donald is forever!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUE!

Posted 485 weeks ago

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water …. Cherry, Spades, Donald and Figo take a dip in the creek.

This blog has been very quiet for a long time as we have been travelling to shows and generally being busy. More about that in a while!

It has been a hot and dry summer here in Ontario, and while Basenjis are not known to have a fondness for water, mine have always indulged in a paddle here and there. The youngest three have set sail in a rubber dinghy in the pool, and have raced around on the local beach, but until recently had shown little interest in going in the water.

That all changed when the continuing hot weather had them tentatively dipping a toe in the local creek. No harm befell them, so they waded in a little further … The following day they enthusiastically rushed into the water and Cherry went for a swim.

This video shows their next visit with everyone having a swim (except Princess Figo who just pretended).

Posted 603 weeks ago

The patter of tiny feet ...

Hot on the heels of my recent post, I received the following announcement.

It is not often I am lost for words but this could be one of those times…

So as they float in their romantic heart-shaped bubbles, let us wish Spades and Madam every joy, and I hope she forgives him for being an absent father. For information on this litter, please contact Africanadian Basenjis.

Meanwhile, Figo (Horsleys Sirurekatar) is expanding and tucking into three meals daily with great gusto. There are at least 3 weeks to go but she is becoming impressively large. Hopefully she will not mind my failure to create a romantic announcement like the one above, but as she sees herself as a Princess with a capital “P” I shall just have to keep her away from the computer.

Pass the dog biscuits!

Posted 643 weeks ago

Roll out the wood stove

It has been quite a while since my last entry, and for many different reasons. December is fast approaching, and December means .. puppies, as well as Santa, Snow and roaring fires. Here we have three litters of puppies to look forward to, two sired by Donald and one by Spades, and thankfully the patter of so many tiny feet will not be stampeding all over this house but will be spread around geographically!

We have had one fall of snow which is now melting, but that has not stopped us from lighting fires, enjoyable for all concerned, particularly the dogs who lose no time in basking by the flames. Here we have Figo and Cherry beside the roaring fire - 

Tara and Donald preferred to sprawl on the stairs which are just behind Figo, as the sun happened to be flooding in (double heat benefits).

“How beautiful it is to do nothing and then rest afterwards”

Posted 643 weeks ago

Hoosier Specialty

We recently took a trip down to Indiana to the Hoosier Basenji Club specialty and the all breeds shows surrounding it. Once again, America was kind to us and Donald and Cherry both won another 3 point major on the first day of the all breeds shows. Cherry also picked up RWB the following day and again at the Hoosier specialty itself. We spent time with some old friends and made a few new ones.

We also won a new dog bed in the Hoosier raffle - which Figo promptly appropriated. As it is black and white she is a good match. Thankfully the weather was not as hot as I had been expecting and I managed to park under a tree (the shade it offered was more psychological than actual) but the temperatures were pretty reasonable - especially at 8.00 in the morning which is when we were in the ring 3 out of the 4 days. Here are Donald and Cherry in the ring. Photos by Khur.

So Donald now has 8 points towards his American title and Cherry has 7. They each have both the majors they need and our next shows will be in Wisconsin at the two all breeds shows, plus the Basenji Club of Southeastern Wisconsin specialty - just before the National. I won’t be exhibiting at the National but look forward to sitting at ringside and watching.

Posted 656 weeks ago

Can you see it?

.. New Brunswick. Down there amongst the trees. Or perhaps New Brunswick is a province of trees with just the odd person here and there. Driving south from Quebec, mountains on both sides, we were suddenly greeted with the sight of more trees than we had ever seen in our lives. Once over the provincial border, we were reminded (via lurid road signs every few kilometres) to be careful driving at night because of moose; the area beyond the road sporting hundreds of miles of fencing to prevent motorists from close encounters of the moose kind.

We drove down, in what seemed an interminable journey to the ends of the earth, for the Basenji Club of Canada National Specialty just outside of Fredericton, in conjunction with the Fredericton KC all breeds shows. Basenjis had the highest numerical breed entry in the hound group and featured in the group placings, both adult and puppy, on just about every day of the all breeds shows. Donald was one of them (G2 on Sunday right after the Specialty).

Fittingly, our Specialty ring in New Brunswick had a tree growing in it, which exhibitors ran around, but not until the sweeps had been deferred from late Saturday afternoon to the following morning due to a monsoon of biblical dimensions. Amazingly, the grass dried out quite well overnight, so we were not required to wallow around a swamp. We were also able to abandon the Ark we had started building the day before.

Both Donald and Cherry (handled by my son, Harry) made it through to the final 6 for BOB at the Specialty, my first experience of showing a champion at a National Specialty (and yes, you need quite a lot of breath if you make it right to the end). I have handled a number of dogs for other people at the BCOA Nationals over the years, and my own in 2009 and 2010, with some success in the classes, but the rituals and mysteries of the BOB class were always observed from the ringside.

My memory of BOB in New Brunswick is mainly a whirlwind of running, interspersed with a few minutes under the tent in the shade before running around the ring again. If it wasn’t for checking to see if Harry was still in there I would have had no idea who actually was, it was such a blur of activity. BOB went to Jennie Behles’ Ch. Ahmahr Nahr’s Hallelujah Makes a Joyful Noise, who had also won BIS at the all breeds show the day before.

The next day we packed up and headed off for a couple of days in Prince Edward Island, famous for its potatoes, Anne of Green Gables, and the world’s best ice cream …

Posted 658 weeks ago

Golden Oldies

I was asked the other day if I still had the older dogs as they don’t appear on the new website. The answer is of course I do! Once the original website has been converted to pdf they will appear on it - albeit in another format.

As it has been such nice weather lately, they have all spent a lot of time sunbathing outside and so a few minutes ago I decided to take some photographs of Sue, Tara and Tommy - three of the four Basenjis that come up on the home page of the website. They are now all into double figures and retired, and enjoying the Canadian summer (at least we get one here).

Tara wanted her own photo shoot, so was first outside to pose for the camera.

And again …

Funny how she was never this cooperative when I wanted to take stacked photos of her years ago.

Amazingly, after a certain amount of waving dog biscuits, I single-handedly got all three in a row and they actually stayed there, although Tara can clearly be seen saying “On my signal, everybody run!”

L-R: Bushwacker Sioux City Sue (13), Ir. Ch. Bushwacker Sirnotar by Horsleys (10), Ir. Ch. Bushwacker Nevada Smith by Horsleys (10).

Posted 663 weeks ago

The other family pets

“Chippy”, as he is affectionately known, was out playing on the deck again today, oblivious to the Basenjis bouncing off the windows and careering around the room. Chippy plays in the flower beds, climbing up stalks and bungee-jumping down, hopping and leaping across the deck, involved in his own games and taking no notice of the dogs as they trip and collide along the window sills in their attempts to keep pace with what he is doing.

We also have a garter snake living underneath the deck which can occasionally be seen sunbathing in hot weather. I am reliably informed that although they are (barely) venomous, they would have to be chewing someone pretty hard to poison them. Hopefully he will not notice Chippy, who has grown very fat lately.

I have finally finished my website while simultaneously watching Wimbledon and catching dogs that bounce off the windows and land in my lap. Whatever will I do now the tennis is over and the website finalised?

Oh yes, the housework.

Posted 664 weeks ago

Cincinnati Basenji Club Specialty 2011

The Cincinnati Basenji Club Specialty 2011 was held in Hamilton, OH at the end of May in conjunction with the Warren County KC and Cincinnati KC all breeds shows. A blistering hot weekend, but very enjoyable. I was lucky enough to get some help from a very talented junior, Alex (alias “Peeps”) who took the crazy Spades off my hands and went a long way towards taming him in the ring. By the final day he was showing like a pro and even picked up RWD!

Donald and Cherry won 4 points each, Donald a 3 pt major plus a single point on the final day, and Cherry a 3 pt major under breed specialist Dan Harrison, and a single point on the final day when she pipped Donald to go BOW/BOS with their sire, Token, taking BOB. Quite the family occasion!

Posted 664 weeks ago

What a load of old blog

Having taken the plunge and created a new website after two years of prevarication, I decided (flushed with success) to begin a blog as well. This blog will serve as the news area of the website as it automatically updates in both locations whenever a new post is added.

I should really have a lot of news after two years’ silence but will just say that we attempted to take photos this morning, armed with a packet of ham, a show lead and some unhelpful Basenjis. With the wrong ones getting out and then refusing to go back in, the ham stolen and squabbled over, massed hordes of virulent mosquitoes dive-bombing dog, handler and photographer, and causing untold mayhem in what of course would have been perfect show poses, we ended up with lots of photos but few of them fit for public consumption.

Phew! said Tommy afterwards. Think I’ll go for a quick swim.

Posted 665 weeks ago

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