The Art of Catching a Basenji

Well, as I was saying – he got out on Friday and I employed another Basenji owner’s suggestion of imitating an epileptic seizure. Much to my surprise it worked! There I was desperately rattling the treat can and yelling for him as he was headed straight for a busy street. In a moment of despair I threw myself on the floor - in the middle of the street – one arm flapping, the other banging the treat can on the floor, wildly kicking and making some awful noises. Neighbors started to peek out the windows. Like a fly drawn to something stinky – he bolted towards me almost instantly! I snagged a leg, shoved a treat into his mouth and hissed, “good doggie” as I got up past my neighbors who were telling me that they were about to call the fire department! “Oh look, there’s that crazy woman who slammed into the parked car last week while trying to roller blade with her dog – now she’s having some sort of seizure!” I swear I heard one say!
I have to say that my boy Oli is a smart little booger! He learned that trick and would not fall for it again. We found out later on that afternoon when he escaped again only this time I had three neighborhood kids helping me round him up. I told them about the method I had employed earlier and how well it worked. Now there are four teen age boys and one adult sprawled out on the sidewalks, street and lawns flailing around like fish out of water and Oli running circles around us – just out of reach! He would run straight up to each one of us as if to check to make sure nothing was really wrong and stopped inches away from our arms. Once he figured out that we would reach towards his legs – he was off again running towards the next floundering mass on the road. Finally my husband drove up in the car and he jumped in for a treat and a pleasure ride. So much for that method.
We attempted to temporarily repair the fence with bricks and old metal lattice, just until the handyman comes to see us later that week when Oli escaped again. Now it’s 8:00am – peek of morning rush hour and this time our Basenji girl Jezebel ran off with him on his escape mission. She is a sweetie that never goes very far. She always heads for the same neighbor’s yard where she knows they have a plate of cat food on the stoop and is always an easy catch. My husband and I ran out to fetch them, he grabbed his car keys and the treat can, I opted for a hot dog. Just as I predicted, Jezebel was an easy catch at the neighbor’s house chowin’ down the cat food. My husband scooped her up and put her in the car. I tried to lure Oli with the epileptic seizure routine again but no success so I tore off the end of the hot dog and threw it at him. He sniffed the air and pow! That got his attention! He ran up to me and tried to snatch the hot dog from my hand so I was able to nab him. I gave him a little bit to keep him happy.
Understand that what happened next was completely unplanned and should have been videotaped to share because it was almost as if planned. Let me set the scene up for you - Oli is a big Basenji measuring about 17 inches at the shoulders and about 24 inches long and was not easy to hold on to with one arm (remember the other hand is holding a hot dog). I had him on my hip with his head and front legs in front of me and his back legs behind me and I was wearing my pj’s which consist of a tee shirt and boxer shorts. He was squirming to get the rest of the hotdog and in doing so kicked his back legs into my boxers and then tried to get a footing on the elastic waistband. Physics can only confirm what happened next – shorts go down under the weight of his legs pushing against the waistband for traction. Picture this I’m standing in the middle of the road, my left arm is stretched out holding a hot dog, my right arm is holding the dog, and my shorts are pulled down to my knees. I now have my knees pinned together to try to keep the shorts from dropping any lower and I’m yelling for my husband to hurry and help me. Do you remember what time it was? I do! It was 8:00 am and that is the time that most of my neighbors are stepping out of their front doors for the drive to work. There I stand – in the middle of the road – at 8:00 am – holding a hotdog in one hand, a squirmy dog in another and my pants are down to my knees – waiting for my husband to put come rescue me. He could barely contain his laughter.
For the moment I have two valuable lessons learned, one is that hot dogs are great for getting my Basenji’s attention and second is that a pantless woman in your front yard is better than coffee to wake you up!