We are lucky in the UK that we have no dangerous wildlife to worry about when walking in the countryside. This is just as well, as space is at a premium. Few of us enjoy rolling acres of private property and have to make do with medium-sized gardens. Our dogs are exercised in public spaces and open country, and we have to decide how much freedom to give them. There is nothing so grand as watching a free-running Basenji. But for the owner to survive with sanity and blood pressure intact, certain things should be remembered:
Selective deafness is a trait your Basenji will certainly possess. Whether he can hear you or not, if he finds something to chase he most certainly will - and in complete defiance of your red-faced threats. Don’t give your Basenji the opportunity to do something you are likely to change your mind about! If you let him run loose, be prepared for him to rush off into the distance, but first do your homework and make sure there are no roads, livestock or inadequately fenced private property in his path.
Some people get around this little hiccup by never letting their Basenji off a lead and some breeders advise this, but I have always let my Basenjis run free so long as it is safe. I look at it this way: we have taken an African dog with a semi-wild ancestry and restricted it in ways it never would be in its original environment. In England we confine them to a house and garden except for their daily walks. Then, if we let them, they can run, chase and hunt for a while, but it is all too brief. Are we really going to deny them this too?
It is a problem for all Basenji owners but there are ways around it. Early socialisation, basic obedience training and mixing with lots of dogs will hopefully result in a friendly Basenji that doesn't dominate too much or start fights in order to dominate. If you can trust your dog not to cause trouble with others, then as long as you let him go in a large enough area (and by this, I mean LARGE - a Basenji can gallop clear across a huge field and be a dot in the distance in around 6-7 seconds) then he can run around and play safely. If walked from the outset with a reliable adult dog that comes back when called, your Basenji puppy will come back at the same time. A dog that is used to some freedom is far less likely to run off and disappear for hours than one that is restricted on a lead for years and suddenly finds itself free!
My Basenjis run free every day, and I have had five of them running loose at once. In my experience, they don’t roam too far ahead and are constantly checking back to see where I am. They have a mental idea of where I should be in relation to where they are, and if I am not there they come and look for me. I tend to walk them in open countryside away from roads, so that if they find something to chase and disappear temporarily over the horizon, they can’t end up on a road or on private property. Yes, they do suddenly shoot off at top speed after something, but they will either catch it and come back - or lose it and come back. They are rarely out of sight for more than a couple of minutes.
When I change direction, I whistle and call, “this way”. I don’t look to see if they are coming - they will be. If you plant a seed of anxiety in them from a young age they do believe you will leave them behind if they don’t pay attention. Playing hide and seek with puppies when they are very young teaches them to keep an eye on you. The worst thing you can do with a loose Basenji is trail around after it wherever it goes. You are only teaching it to take you for a walk!
If, in spite of all the above, your Basenji starts heading towards a road, don’t chase him - he will stay that distance ahead of you and end up on it. Attract his attention and move away in the opposite direction. If any of mine decide they don’t wish to be caught at the end of run, I head in a direction we haven’t been in (and always away from the car or home). An add-on to a walk they thought was over is always irresistible. If they still refuse to be caught, I change direction again. It usually only takes a couple of minutes before they get bored with this and give themselves up.
One final piece of advice - know your Basenji and act accordingly. I have one that stops dead in her tracks if I say her name, and one that comes right back to me when I call her. These two are left until last when I am catching them all at the end of a walk. The youngsters, who have more energy and are easily distracted by their surroundings, are the ones I capture first. Sometimes they come back to me immediately, sometimes I have to wait a minute while they continue to rush about looking for - well, anything, and sometimes I must zig-zag a few yards in different directions before I have them, but it rarely takes longer than 5 minutes to catch the lot. If all else fails, sit down. That usually brings them over to see what you are doing.
There are people who have said to me, “It’s OK for you to let your dogs run loose, it’s safe where you live”, but it’s no more safe where I live than anywhere else. I can’t open my front door and let my dogs go. I have to drive them to places where they can run, and I’ve spent time finding those places first. Some people tell me they don’t have the time to do that, yet they manage to find the time to drive for hours to a dog show! It takes a little thought and effort to find places where Basenjis can run, but the sheer pleasure they derive from running and chasing each other makes the effort worthwhile.