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Happy Ending Story for Lola
 I have been a Basenji person
since I was a child and attended a summer camp in Connecticut that had about
500 screaming kids and one red and white Basenji named Barkus. I was always
impressed by how that dog could bob and weave and avoid being petted by
hundreds of clamoring kids. I was impressed at a young age by the breed's
look, and attitude as well as its aloof-ness (if that is a word).
Our family has had several Basenjis over the years and
unfortunately become quite familiar with health issues like Fanconi
Syndrome, brain tumors and PRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy) but we have
always had a continued affection for the breed. When our (now 8 year old)
brindle Basenji Beezley was stricken with PRA and went blind at one year of
age we struggled with the idea of possibly placing him for adoption but
thankfully decided to keep him and have never regretted that decision. (He
was 2/3 new African gene pool and came down with an entirely new version of
early-onset PRA)
In the spring of 2006 we saw a listing for "Daisy" through
the BRAT network. We weren't exactly looking for a companion Basenji at the
time but she looked like she needed a good home and we had lots of room, a
fenced yard and plenty of things to chew on. We visited "Daisy" at Barbara
Narehood's home and brought our blind Basenji Beezley and our kids for a
visit. Beezley seemed rather unaffected by the whole deal and was his
average grumpy old self. We ended up passing the audition and took "Daisy"
home with us. The only problem was that we already had a mixed breed dog by
the name of "Daisy," so on the ride home we decided to rename our new girl
Lola after hearing Copacabana on the radio and simply, because she just
looked like a Lola.
 Traditionally, most Basenji adoption candidates have
issues with young children (we have an 13 and a 8 year old), but Lola is
different, she loves everybody. Our kids have been raised with Basenjis and
are very savvy to their idiosyncrasies. They know all about "snarking,"
grumpy sleep issues and food aggression.
Lola turned out to be more of a cat than a Basenji: She
can effortlessly stroll from the tops of furniture just like a feline.
Happily she has none of the traditional Basenji bad habits. In fact she has
been the best behaved Basenji we have ever had (if you disregard the chewing
the noses off of any stuffed animal she can find, the recent gnawing of all
of the drawers of a desk my wife was in the process of restoring, or the
waking up like clockwork, 8 minutes before the alarm is set to go off no
matter what time you have it set for) She loves to snuggle and has no
snarking or grumpy issues about being awakened. In fact we think she is
somewhat narcoleptic because when she falls asleep, she is completely
unconscious till morning.
Above is a photo of Lola in action (or inaction as it may
be). She fell asleep on a blanket on the couch next to our son. After a
short while we came back in the room and found the two of them like this,
happily snoring away together.
Steve Siegel |
