GENERAL APPEARANCE
Shoulder height: 40-43cm (16”-17”).
Colour: Pure black and white; red and white or tricolour, all with white feet, chest and tail tip. White legs, blaze or collar are optional.
Coat: Short, sleek and very fine with a pliant skin. Gait: Legs should be carried straight forward with a long swift tireless swinging stride.
This lightly built fine boned dog appears slightly higher on the leg when compared with its length. The flat skull is wrinkled with a slightly shorter muzzle and the erect pointed ears are slightly hooded when viewed in profile. The head must be carried proudly on a well arched neck. The stifles are only moderately angled. The high set tail curls over the back in a single or double curl and in profile, the posterior of the rump should extend beyond the tail set.
CHARACTERISTICS AND CARE
Being an independent hunter, these hounds have the intelligence to work without human instruction. Although they do not bark, they are not mute, having in place a yodel or a chortle. When trained with affection and discipline, they are delightful clean pets and due to their aloofness with strangers, also make good watchdogs. One virtue for those who do not want to breed is that - like so many wild dogs - the bitches only come into season once a year.
HISTORY
There are 5,000 year old engravings in Egyptian tombs which depict dogs of a Basenji type. With the decline of Egypt as a world power, these dogs were thought to have disappeared, but in actual fact, for centuries they survived with the tribesmen of Zaire in central Africa although interestingly, brindle Basenjis are also found in their native country. They are valued for their guarding and hunting skills - the latter no doubt enhanced by the fact they were barkless. For centuries, they remained pure with no infusions from outside breeds. It was not until 1870, that the ’Basenji' was rediscovered and the first pair arrived in England in the latter part of the 19th century.