Silent Basenji

We recently got, Wendy, a BRaT rescue basenji, our 3rd, this past July, '17. She is very healthy, but her owners showed no affection to her and locked away in a back bedroom most of the day, due to having another dog the owners loved dearly. I took her as a foster and then adopted her, but she will not baroo - opens her mouth like she is going too, but no sound - nothing. My other 2 baroo all of the time and Wendy just stares at them--does not try to imitate or any effort toward "singing".. Any ideas to change this around?

Not all of them Baroo.... you would be surprised how many don't.... I have had a number (and raised from birth) that never Barooed.....

Our Rescue took over a year to even have life in her eyes.
She never yodelled and only made a nice once or twice.
It sounded like “ woo woo woo yeah”
She never played even though our male tried and tried.
She had 10 great years with us.

@tanza I agree. My B did not Roo until she was around 3. She did not Yodel until she was 14 years old. It was the most hilarious sound I ever heard in my life! They are the greatest pets for people who can understand them and their behaviors. I miss mine every day!

My current Support Team doesn't baroo - in fact very few of them have. As puppies, they hear me trying to yodel in correct Basenji fashion - and most of them go to new homes with at least the rudiments of the skill but even if they hear it, they don't all 'sing'. Keepurr does it once a week, to greet the arrival of Melissa, my cleaning lady. The first time he did it (he was ten when Melissa came to us and now he is 12) he was so surprised - and so was I. But I too feel like yodelling at the sight of Melissa and the thought of a clean house !

My first did all the basenji vocalizations... brrrring, yodel, screaming, just everything. The last 2... almost nothing other than the demonic noises when mad or playing. Cara does BOOF at noises. Sigh. I miss the yodeling and the "I want some" sounds my first gal made.

Mine 10 yr old male doesn’t make very little noise. Never yodels but if he’s anxious he make
a kinda growling/talking sound. If other people are around they stare at him. I tell they he’s just expressing himself.

My Piper is pretty vocal. She barks about weekly and yodels whenever either of us gets home, and the longer we are away the more energetic it is. And she always yodels with Glee when my daughter stops over with the grandkids. Then she has a lower key yodel when someone new comes to visit and she is not fully sure if they will play with her. I love all her sounds except the growl, but I am getting to understand it a bit more too.

Hello, we have an eight year old male that does a rarrrrrrrr talking noise when he wants our 5 year old female to play, just about once a day. He will also do it when we get home if we have been gone for over 4/5 hours or more. Our female is very quiet. She rarely is the one that initiates play but when she does, she will make these little noises that I really can't explain but closest thing would be little monkey talking but with a wanting voice, so I call it her little monkey noises. Other than that, she let out 4 real barks in a row once when my brother was playing and raised his arms in the air like a big bear and sort of scared her or exited her, not sure but I was amazed at the loud bark. Raising her arms in the air is actually her trade mark maneuver when playing so maybe its related to that. I say wootwoot and she stands up and wootwoots her arms in the air. So with my experience, each basenji is different in how vocal they are 🙂 Also, our male is not a tail wagger but our female wags that little tail like crazy when we get home. So maybe some are more physical and some more vocal. Maybe Wendy will show those signs when she becomes more comfortable and social. Poor thing, I can't imagine keeping and animal confined and alone, especially a basenji.

My guys are some of the most vocal basenjis that I ever had.
My Diva's kids are especially vocal,her one boy,Bolt won't shut up at
dinnertime. I have also found that my full Africans are great singers.
When they all vocalize at once it really is something to hear.
Anyone who has been to a speciality has heard what it can sound like.

I had one female that barooed, and any dog I kept that had her in their background, barooed.
I had another that made no sound, and any dog I kept that had her in their background, were also silent.
They seem to be living until 15-16, and this never changed.

She may not baroo whatever that is but the are all different. George barks sometimes but isn't suppose to. i would think she is still stressed from her previous experience. Basenji's are social animals and need interaction from their owners and other dogs. It must have been very traumatic. Give her as much time as she needs and love and cuddles, if she will let you and I'm sure she will soon be howling, grumbling and squeaking her little heart out. Well done for rescuing her.

My basenji girl never barooed, we'd play YouTube videos of basenjis and she could not have been less interested. Some beautiful b's are just made that way.

@ceecee said in Silent Basenji:

George barks sometimes but isn't suppose to. i

Some Basenjis, in some situations - like if they want to save face or are backed into a corner, give a sound not unlike a bark. But watch them. Any other breed will bark and the mouth finishes up closed. A Basenji 'bark' is open mouthed, more like a cough and is more often a single sound unlike the constant barking of other breeds. She's a lucky girl to have found a home with you- just enjoy her many other attributes !

Basenji Mix

My girl is a cross and she can't seem to bark. When she tries all I hear is a drawn out "roo-roo-roo-roo-roo!" Or a single whispering "broof"


We have an almost-ten year old rescue Basenji mix (3/4 Basenji and 1/4 Min Pin) named Izzy-Bella. She is the singularly most delightful, funniest,
smartest, intuitive dog ever. She does baroo, but not spontaneously on her own. When she is kind of excited for whatever reason, I start my humanoid version of roos, and pretty soon she joins in. We make beautiful music together (Ha!!!!). Anyway, my point is that maybe if you initiate the rooing,
your B might respond.

@izzy-bella - some times they talk, sometimes they do not... Most all of mine over the many years in the breed did NOT baroo.... period. In the breed since 1990

Izzy-Bella never initiates a genuine "roo," but she almost always responds to my
roos. And once she gets going, it is truly
sublime and quite hilarious. We should cut a record. She also more often does that "rarrrr" sound that somebody recently mentioned. It can be quite expressive and seems to be her version of communicating with The Dadster that it's time for a meal or a walk after that meal. It's pretty funny, and we know exactly what she wants. Then, after her peculiar noises, she runs laps through the house. This dog just turned ten, but acts more like a toddler than she did when she WAS a (rescued) 18-month old toddler.

Our last two- the male talked and in 10 years the female maybe made 5 sounds
