It is with great sadness that we announce the passing this week of Ray Eckart, California's District Coordinator. Ray died at age 58 from the combined effects of diabetes and cancer. His family's wish for a swift and peaceful passing was answered in part because he knew "his boy" Kai would be cared for by the BRAT family.

Ray had owned Basenjis since 1981 and had been a devoted BRAT volunteer since 2001. During the 11 years he worked with BRAT, Ray helped countless dogs find their way to forever homes. He supported both the dogs and his fellow volunteers, always working with enthusiasm, kindness, and care. Those who worked closely with Ray enjoyed his calm and even-tempered manner, exhibited even in difficult rescue situations.

I can't imagine a more cool-headed guy when working with very difficult humans. Ray and I saw the humor (occasionally dark) in even the most dramatic or frustrating situations with the most uncooperative people. Through example, he inspired me to be a nicer person in these scenarios, and taught me how to handle emotion-charged rescue situations.

Ray had his priorities straight; always at the top of the list was what was best for the dogs in his charge. And it's true, as people have said, that he just wouldn't give up on a dog. Dedication could have been his middle name.

Another quality I admired in Ray is that he wasn't afraid to ask for opinions and get a second set of eyes on a situation. There were times when he would call or e-mail me and ask, "What do you think?”"

In the last few days, Ray's death has inspired many BRAT adopters to write expressing condolences, appreciation, and admiration for his knowledge, professionalism, and compassion during the sometimes stressful adoption process.

Ray was an exemplary volunteer, a good friend to many, and a great asset to BRAT. He will be greatly missed. 

Jackie Kuhwarth, BRAT California

Happy Heart Day

In celebration of the love basenjis share with their lucky humans, this is a Valentine to our basenji children: to Reno and Leo, our basenji angels, and to Ivan and Dasa our little Munchkins. We are so grateful for all the magic, the mischief, and the feelings of great good fortune that blossom at every snuggle, baroo, tail wag, and heartbreaking yet lovely memory.

Happy Heart Day

http://tinyurl.com/alxuzqz

The Case of the Missing Water Bowl

Everyone knows that basenjis are mischievous, but sometimes they still manage to surprise us.  Case in point:  Last Friday, my husband and I came home from work to find our basenjis' water and food bowls missing from the kitchen.  No big deal, we thought, they've done this before.  Often when the weather is bad and the dogs can't spend the day sitting outside (they have a dog door from the kitchen to our securely-fenced backyard), they get antsy in the house and start to make trouble.  There's not much inside the house that they have access to get into, because we know better through experience, but that doesn't mean that they won't still open the kitchen cupboards and pull out all the pots and pans, or dump their water and food bowls in the kitchen and carry the bowls upstairs, tracking wet paw prints as they go. 

We've tried to curtail this behavior by putting child locks on the cabinets and purchasing a heavy ceramic water bowl with no lip on it, but to no avail - they still manage to get into the cabinets and carry their water bowl around. A few times we've even found that the dogs have gotten so inventive during the day that they have miraculously managed to pull things in/out of their dog door, such as when we've found their dog bowls outside in the yard, or huge tree branches in the kitchen, or the day that we actually found a live tortoise in the living room when we got home from work (see "An Unexpected Guest"). So when we saw that the bowls were missing, we were amused but not alarmed, and we figured we'd just look around inside and outside and find them sitting in the yard somewhere.   

An hour later, after scouring both the dog areas of the house and the entire backyard, we had found the two metal food bowls, but the heavy ceramic water bowl still remained MIA.  It was quickly getting dark, so we gave up the hunt and resumed in the morning.  Another 30 minutes of searching in the morning still turned up nothing.  Where on earth could a heavy ceramic water bowl have gone?  It's not like they could fit it under the fence (the fenceline is secured by chicken wire dug into the ground), and it's not like they could have tossed it over the 6-ft tall stockade fence.  We don't have animals in our yard because the dogs have hunted everything that moves to within an inch of its life, and the ground is too frozen to dig in.  So where on earth was the bowl?? 

Finally, by Saturday afternoon, I had an idea.  I went out to the far corners of the yard, where sometimes leaves tend to accumulate between the fence and the evergreen pointy-top (arborvitae) bush.  I dug around in the leaves some more, and as I was digging around, I spotted a hint of tan ceramic peeking at me from the middle of the bush.  Triumphantly, I extracted the water bowl from the inside of the bush -- not from the leaves, as I had expected, but from about 2 feet off the ground, hidden inside the evergreen foliage! 

As I trotted back to the house, water bowl in hand, I was very pleased with myself -- those little basenjis thought they had me fooled this time, but I showed them - I guessed their trick!  And then I thought about how it had taken me, a fairly intelligent human, just a little more than 2 hours' time to figure out how to outsmart a dog (albeit two very smart basenjis), and the realization dawned on me that the dogs had, in fact, still won.  Sigh. 

Thank You, Brat Coordinators!

I am proud to announce that BRAT Coordinators completed 230 adoptions during 2012.  This number represents many hours of volunteer labor lovingly completed by dedicated BRAT volunteers.  From the first notification of a basenji needing a new home to his or her eventual placement, a team of volunteers makes certain that each rescued basenji has all of his needs met.   The Regional Coordinators send the Rescue form to the District Coordinators.  The DC either coordinates the placement or assigns another coordinator.  The next step in the placement process is an evaluation of the basenji, usually done by a volunteer who is closest in proximity.  If accepted, the basenji is typically moved to a foster home and the real work begins.  Working together, the Coordinator and Foster volunteers make certain that each dog is fully vetted and in optimum health before going to an adopter.  Prior to any placement the adopter must have a passing vet reference and a home visit unless they have previously adopted from BRAT.  Once the adopter is chosen the Coordinator must plan the transport to the new home, frequently done by the Basenji Underground Railroad (BUR).  Post placement tasks done by the Coordinator include post adoption counseling, completion of paperwork and recording of important data. 

For organizational purposes BRAT divides the USA into three Regions and has three Regional Coordinators, Roberta Kosek in the East, Liz Newton in Central, and Oren Will in the West.  The Regional Coordinators are typically the first to receive notices that a basenji needs a new home.  Of the 230 basenjis placed in 2012 seventy-five* were from the Eastern Region, one hundred and thirty* were from the Central Region and twenty-five* were from the Western Region.  Texas is by far the busiest state.

*figures may be slightly inaccurate due to basenjis being moved between districts

I want to recognize and thank each of the many District Coordinators and Coordinators but special recognition is deserved by Rick Reinhold who placed thirty-five basenjis and Suzanne Sarlls-Hartwell who placed thirty-one basenjis in new homes.  Like many other dedicated District Coordinators, they also fostered many of the basenjis they coordinated.

Below is a complete list of the volunteers who coordinated in 2012.

COORDINATORS

Alicia Vig	Jacque Holdaway	Lindy Ireland	Ray Eckart
Ann Ketcherside	Jarod Johnson	Liz Newton	Rick Reinhold
Barbara Narehood	Jeanetta Brown	Lori Stowe	Roberta Kosek
Beth Schmidt	Joe Carlson	Melody Townsend	Robin Nuspl
Chris Miles	Judy Murray	Michelle Martinis	Sabina Trumble
Debbi Johnson	Judy Stahl	Oren Will	Sarah Zuncs
Diana Martin	Kate Moore	Pam Hamilton	Sonya McCully
Dyan Baughan	Keith Lewis	Pat Dukes	Suzanne Sarlls-Hartwell
J. R. Key	Kristen Ayres	Pat Petersen	Tonya Ahrens
Jack Austin	Linda Webb-Hilliard	Paula Nikonow	Wendy Rogers-Morris
Jackie Kuhwarth

Happiness Is a Warm Bed

 

Beds are high on Ivan and Dasa’s list of favorite things, so we try to provide lots of beds for their comfort and enjoyment. They really like those little donut beds, especially when several are stacked together on the couch or people bed.

 

 

We have dog beds on couches, under desks, and on our bed. There’s a futon bed in my office so they can nap in comfort while they’re helping me work. Only people who like Ivan and Dasa and appreciate their many fine qualities are invited to our home, so they realize the sacrifice the munchkins are making when we move their beds to the floor so guests can sit on the couch. Ivan climbs onto the guests, using them as a substitute bed, or burrows into his bed on the floor, sighing dramatically. 

 

 

When we scrub the kitchen floor and move Ivan’s bed from under the kitchen desk into the piano room, he lies in his displaced bed and gazes at us with mournful indignation while we clean. I assure him this is just temporary. Occasionally, I mention the beds on the couch, loveseat, and ottoman, and the dog beds nestled into the big beds upstairs. He dismisses this with a toss of his head. He doesn’t want those beds, and although he wasn’t using this one, we moved it, so now he has to have it.  As soon as the floor is dry we restore his stack of beds to its rightful place and he busies himself digging at them and rearranging them just so, because we Ruined his beds when we moved them.

Dasa’s favorite spot is her kitty bed on the big bed that she shares with us. She loves her spot on the big bed. When I change sheets, I have to deposit her on the floor, turn to pull off blankets and sheets, put her back on the floor, pull blankets off the bed, remove her from the bed, pull sheets off the bed, deposit her on the floor.  I have to immediately put clean sheets on the bed and that process is also interrupted by the necessity of removing a small dog multiple times. Each layer means she has to be removed again, because she cannot understand why I would keep her from her bed and why it’s taking me so long to get her bed ready. From time to time during this process, she snuggles in her kitty bed ON THE FLOOR and looks very waiflike.

 

I hasten to assure the reader that that our tiny girl is not forced to keep her kitty bed on the floor for more than a few minutes. She’s soon ensconced back on the big bed, and all’s right with the world.