Basenji of the Month

 

 

 

Echo is an energetic 3 1/2 year old Basenji, who loves to lure course and play with her best bud, JoBoo, a brindle Basenji.

 

In March of 2004 she was severely injured by a Shepherd mix.   They went very quickly from running and playing to a full-on fight. The screams of my basenji is a sound I wish never to hear again. Her best friend JoBoo was there in the park that day. He stood back and cried out loud, people told me, when Echo screamed. She was picked up off all four feet and shaken like a rag toy.  Thank God my friend Aaron was there to help.  It seemed like forever, but finally we got her loose.                         

Aaron showed me the way to the Emergency Vet. Aaron and JoBoo stayed with us while Echo was being checked out. She sustained three broken ribs, a torn muscle, and a punctured lung. She had emergency surgery that night. Her body was shaved from her front shoulders to her back hips, and the base of her tail was shaved about 2 inches, for a pain patch. The Vet laughingly called this hair cut a "Poodle Cut".

  For a month my little girl could not run, play, or jump.  And as most of you know, this is almost impossible for a basenji.  All my basenji friends gave me words of encouragement.

Her wounds have healed. Dr. Beeley in Upland did a great job, and the scars are minimal.  It took three months for her hair to grow back in. 

I was told that basenjis are very resilient and bounce right back. Anne told me that Echo is a tough little cookie, and it is so true.

My beautiful little girl just had her first lure course since her ordeal. She took back to coursing like nothing had ever happened, and behaved herself with the other basenjis she was racing with.  No ribbons or points were taken, but I'm so proud of her, just the same. We don't go to the dog park anymore,  but we do go to the puppy park.  No more big dogs for us!

Echo loves to run 2 miles a day, next to me on the bike.  And she still likes to lounge in the sun next to the pool.

 

Echo is not my whole life, but she makes my life whole.

 

                      Connie and Echo