A Heavy Heart--Hoping for a Rainbow Bridge

By Linda Grupp Boutin

It is with the heaviest of hearts that I must share with you the loss of our dancing basenji boy, Kindu. Despite all our efforts, attempts at homemade meals and pancreatic enzymes, vitamins and digestive medicines, he lost his battle with digestive disease on September 17th. We found so many foods he just loved, for a week or two, but, in the end, despite eating, his scarred intestines could no longer absorb the nutrients required to sustain him. It turned into a long, hard grind for him to simply eat or drink. 

About a week before he crossed over the rainbow bridge, a new friend, Bridget, stopped by our house. He greeted her entrance with an enthusiastic baroo and spent most of the evening trying to steal her chair which she graciously gave him. He attended our meeting quietly waiting for it to end. This was one unique dog among dogdom. Leash snapped in place, we walked her to her car with  Star and returned home after the dogs finished their business.

Comfy for the night, he stretched his long, skinny frame beside me and I ran my fingers over his prominent rib cage recalling the many conversations over the last month between Gary and me that, "Our boy is failing." I would introduce a new food, make a fresh run to Petco for another different canned food, cook up a round of chicken thighs and baked potatoes...an endless array of trying to tempt our boy to eat something, anything...



During the final month we tried all we could do to restore his strength and spirit. Trips to the dog park brought happiness, but he no longer ran and played, choosing instead to stay beside us. As always his favorite place was stretched alongside one of us in the recliner or better yet for a nap in the big bed. We settled into a daily routine including cooking, feeding him, cajoling him to eat, walking him and picking up after him. Once the food reached his tummy, we hoped for the best but too often watched him endure pain from the feeding.

I weighed him frequently watching his weight fluctuate between 20-22 pounds. No matter what I tried I could not help him regain to his thin 24 pounds or robust 27. Eventually he would no longer eat twice a day anymore, but only would eat after the heat of the day late in the evening. He no longer wanted a morning drink of water and drank less and less every day. He turned up his nose one evening to all food except a hand-fed chicken thigh sitting on the floor beside him. We knew we had reached his limit and decided that the next morning to give him his release.

His final trip in the car provided him the delight of sticking his nose out the window and letting the wind brush back his ever-alert ears. I drove and Gary held his pal and little buddy on his lap, holding onto the spirit of joy and mischief that filled our home to overflowing for just 7 short years. A normal lifespan for basenjis is 12-14 years. But we knew our boy had some special challenges with his digestion along with eye issues from too much inbreeding. We always will cherish these final 9 months when Kindu worked so hard to eat and drink to please us.

It is my dearest hope that somehow God has provided a special place across a rainbow bridge for my fur babies. I am so grateful that He placed these examples of unconditional love in my life for me to emulate. I envision all the dogs of my life running through a green meadow chasing one another in circles and shaking their heads about the silly pair of humans they have shared in their pack over all these many years.

Kindu the summer before his illness took over

From my friend Linda Conger

Solid As a Rock

By Linda Grupp Boutin

So although 2015 has brought more than its fair share of challenges, it also has brought great joy in resiliency. Our basenji boy, Kindu, has put back on 5 of the 9 pounds he lost, his coat is thickening and its reddish glow is returning thanks to the addition of coconut oil to his daily ration. And although he has hogged the majority of our attention, it turns out that our basenji girl, Star, has turned out to be the strongest member of our pack. She has watched our struggles, continued to cuddle and been the rock where we can anchor our storm-tossed ships.

Since Kindu has been more vulnerable, she has been stronger understanding better and better how vital a member of our little group she is. Star no longer cowers in her dog bed while Kindu claims the spot next to Gary while we watch TV. Instead she grabs the other side and sits proudly displaying her gorgeous profile pretending to be interested in whatever show is on.

Kindu claiming the queen-sized bed as his own

She spends the vast majority of any given day nearby me, always within easy reach of my petting which is better to her than food, although just barely. Sometimes she demands scratches and rubs wiggling in anticipation of the comfort any kind of touch brings this basenji. In the evening if I don't continue the pets long enough, she contorts her body to look backwards at me with pleading brown eyes meant to melt the soul. If that doesn't work, she pulls back her lips and shows me her teeth in a "submissive grin" which almost always makes me laugh.

Then we go through our routine, I pet her a couple times, stop, she wiggles around and grins. She will repeat this as many times as I am willing to continue playing this ridiculous game with her. Kindu doesn't like it one little bit, often wedging himself beneath my knee and growling every time Star wiggles. Sometimes Gary just looks at the three of us and shakes his head.

So like so many times in life, the challenges of this year has bonded our  small family even tighter together. We've grown to appreciate one another just that much more and to rely on our little rock in a storm, Star Baby.

Gentle, yet strong Star

Hard to Believe

By Linda Grupp Boutin

Apologies to all my readers for the interruption in posts on this blog. In rereading the post from last October, there is irony in what I wrote about at that time.

For the last 3 months, much of my time, energy and thoughts have been devoted to how to help our basenji boy, Kindu. In December he had a toothache and began not eating with his usual enthusiasm. In the midst of the holiday  rush, I didn't notice the problem until the week between Christmas and New Year.

I have battled with tooth problems in more than one of our basenjis. They don't like you messing with their mouths, much less brushing their teeth...so I have relied on a variety of chew toys, edible tooth brushes, and trying to ignore their bad teeth. I know, I know, this attitude has not added up to good oral hygiene for my furry friends. But Kindu seemed to do well enough with this hodge podge process until Star joined our basenji family.

Note to self: Start brushing any new pup's teeth at 8 weeks old, no more poor oral hygiene for my dogs!

Star does not believe in standing at the end of the line waiting patiently for feeding time. If there is food to be had, she wants it. In daily "vacuuming" around our home, she sniffs out any edible, and some not so edible, snack and heaven help anyone or any basenji who attempts to snatch it from her iron-clad jaws. Talk about a Great White Shark hiding under that curly tail and furrowed brow! And now, anytime Kindu dallied over his food (which was multiple times daily), Star happily cleaned up his plate. She kept getting wider, while Kindu withered away before my eyes!

So Kindu's problems began with this toothache. What little winter weather we had in Southern California seemed all to come in the last week of December and first week of January 2015. At the same time, much of our home life took a beating too. When my husband attempted to return to his job after Christmas, he found his bad knees gave up on him entirely. A trip to the VA emergency room and 8 hours later, we learned he would be off work for many weeks. 

We made it back home, fed the dogs and got to bed by 10 p.m. that night. The next morning, well before dawn, Gary's Mom called asking us to take her to the emergency room immediately. Another whole day spent hanging out in an emergency room, only the doctors decided she needed to be hospitalized for what turned into the next 11 days. This was just the beginning of our challenges for the New Year. And as we raced from hospital rooms to doctor's appointments, Kindu became more and more stressed out. By mid-January I took a good look at our basenji boy and realized he had lost way too much weight.

Now this wasn't the first time Kindu has been pretty sick. He has battled colitis from the time he was 6 months old. We have nursed him through several bouts of illness and I confidently went about using my usual routine of home remedies to help him feel better. Except this time it didn't work. Before much more time passed, we decided we needed the vet's advice about this bout.

So several hundred dollars and trying more remedies than I can recall, we have only succeeded in helping Kindu regain a couple of the 11 pounds he has lost this year. The tooth is out and he no longer cringes as he chews, but this time the colitis has not relented. We are still battling to help him regain his health and I must admit my normal optimism is wearing thin. I dislike his new nickname of Skinny Bones and I would give much to see a more rotund appearance on our basenji boy again...

Kindu at his normal weight

Wish us luck and if you wish say a little prayer that our boy regain his health. Hopefully I will be able to post again soon that Kindu is back to his normal ornery self and delighting us with his usual mischief. That would truly be an answer to prayer.

Daring to Totally Love Again

By Linda Grupp Boutin

Maybe you have experienced it too...giving your heart away to a special pet so fully that when that little one leaves your life you are bereft. It has happened to me at least twice, two special little basenji girls that I thought I could never leave my heart open to that kind of pain ever again. First was Ginger who walked alongside me from the time I turned 11 until I grew up, got married and started my adult life. When Ginger left my side, I lost a piece of my heart with her passing. I bound up that bleeding place so tightly it seemed nothing could penetrate the bandages protecting the deep-set scar.

                        Ginger riding in the car.

     More pets came and went over the years, then one midnight I found myself breathing life into a struggling little newborn puppy who could not breathe on her own. The bandaging dropped away while I rooted for her to take that first breath on her own. She did and my heart skipped a beat of its own. Rosie became the salve that healed over old wounds left by the loss of Ginger and all my protections disappeared. Oh yeah, she stuck to me like glue from that day forward for 14 full years. And then one night I knew it was time for me to let her go. The vet had explained that her heart was enlarged and it made it hard for her to breathe, again...and then she was gone and now my heart broke all over again.

Two week old Rosie

     Twice burned, I knew how to guard myself from abandoning myself to the love of a pet. I knew well that their lifespans are shorter than ours. I knew well the pain I had felt after these losses. I also searched for a new dog and found Noelle needed our home within a short time after losing Rosie. This new basenji girl came to us a seasoned adult, experienced in the show ring and having produced a couple of fine litters to pass along the sweetest temperament I have ever experienced in a basenji.
     Alas, we lost Noelle just 5 years after she joined us in our home. A combination of Fanconi Syndrome and contaminated kibble suddenly swept her away with no warning and in just a few days. I was so very sick at that same time, that it was hard to have the energy to breath myself, much less properly grieve this new loss. Within days of losing our little girl I found myself in the hospital in the fight for my own life for the next year and more.
     And then came the day when Pastor Brian spoke about Ecclesiastes and the time of joy and next Kindu came into our home. When I think of the parade of wagging curly tails that have graced my life, I can only give great thanks to a Lord who created such wonderful companions to brighten our human days. My dogs help me keep my footing in a world that I find so difficult to understand at times.

Kindu relaxing at home

     So tonight I found myself sandwiched between my companions for today, Star and Kindu. Both basenjis and opposite to one another in most everything except their love of cookies. And I realized that once more I have lost my heart to these two characters. Their needs overrule my own and I would be lost without their greeting my comings and goings and keeping me company in the long hours of the days when I am in pain. I have learned that the pain of loss when their days come to an end are more than compensated by the long years I enjoy having them in my life. Oh yeah, I am smitten and once again daring to totally love again.

Sleepy Star beside me

Of Velveteen and Porcupines, Critters and Ceramic Dachshunds

By Linda Grupp Boutin

Both Gary and I have been complaining about shedding of summer coats, basenjis who really need a bath, and most mysteriously why some of our kids have coats that you just want to cuddle while others have coats that make you itch. As you might expect, our basenji-girl, named Star, is smooth as silk. This is a girl who knows all about "girly girl" things including a pristine, shining, velvety fur coat.

Our basenji-boy on the other hand is nicknamed the "porcupine." His coat is rough, feels like needles against our skin, and is just the opposite of Star's. She is also much more fastidious in tending to her coat and skin than Kindu. She spends much time washing her face, checking all is in order with her tail, and looking after Kindu to keep him neat and clean as well! Much to his chagrin...

As I walked them yesterday evening, the point was brought home to me that they are indeed sight hounds as well as scent hounds. Our sidewalks are lined with rows of shrubs, that the dogs have delighted in checking

Neighborhood cat our for a stroll

out for cats and other assorted critters. Sometimes they walk right up to the shrubs and stick their noses deep inside trying to decide if an interesting animal might be hiding within. They come home covered in leaves, trimmings and cobwebs from scouting out the bushes. Much to my chagrin...  :-(

We have walked past this front door dozens of times and sometimes been greeted by the dachshund that lives inside. What Kindu never noticed before is the ceramic twin of the inhabitant that resides on the front step. Now this statue never moves, but both dogs noses told them that there was a critter nearby. Kindu spied the ceramic dog and figured that he had found his quarry.

He bounded up that step nearly pulling the leash out of my hand, then stood there stumped. His eyes told him clearly that this was another dog. And despite the short legs, this guy really stood his ground never moving a muscle when Kindu gave him a good sniff. For a full five seconds, my basenji-boy looked confused and wondered what to do next. By this point, Star stared deeply into the bushes beside the front step. Finally I understood that they both knew an animal was nearby, but couldn't see what their noses were telling them. I hustled them down the street to keep them for charging through the hedge.

Kindu relaxing after our walk

All this reminds me that sometimes I charge in not realizing that I have been duped by an optical illusion tricking me into actions that I sometimes regret. I try to keep the dogs from getting too close to unknown critters because frequently they have no idea about the consequences a fight with a cat or possum might cause them. Scratches, bites and bruises will leave my basenjis as unhappy puppies for a few days at least. This night's walk was an object lesson to me that I need to govern my passions too and keep my eyes open for the consequences of acting too fast can cause me too.

The "Forever" Teenager

By Linda Grupp Boutin

Ecclesiastes 3:4 A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance.

Kindu turns 7 years old this December. Funny how it seems like just yesterday when we drove up to Wrightwood to pick our new puppy from a litter available up there. Both Gary and I were downtrodden, depressed and defeated. We had endured 2 full years of assaults on my health, problems with jobs, losing 2 pets in less than 5 years. We had become sedentary since the death of Noelle a year earlier. We just needed some joy in our lives.

So when we went to church on Sunday and Pastor Brian read to us about the seasons of life, I became infected with the thought that we needed a season of joy in our lives. We had fallen into the doldrums with seemingly no way out of them. On the way home from church, I dared to open the subject with Gary. It was the right time of year, early February, just when basenji pups grew old enough to be adopted by families.

Snow lightly fell around us as we looked over the pups in the back of a small pick up truck. While I struggled with such an odd situation to choose a new pet from, Gary asked which was the pup we could afford from the owner. She selected a lively pup from the exuberant litter. Without a second glance, Gary tucked the little guy inside the pocket of his jacket. 

Kindu's first day with us

I objected that I wanted to see this 8-week old pup, but Gary pointed out that the short-haired basenjis were all shivering in the cold. Absolutely true! So I passed the cash to the much relieved owner along with our contact information for her to send his papers to us when they arrived. And before I knew it, we were headed down the 15 freeway south, our new basenji boy proudly standing in my lap, his forepaws on the dash, watching 18-wheelers driving past with no distress whatsoever. I contemplated how the owner had shared with me that this guy's litter name was "Truck." Hmmpphh, he certainly seemed to like big trucks and big noise.

He loved the new-found speed a car ride provided him. He had no intention of laying down and taking a nap, not this boy. He was totally into this new experience and lapping it all up, thirsty to embark on life away from his mom and litter mates. I chuckled as I kept his wobbly legs steady and sat amazed that he was so animated for a young pup. 

We didn't want to go home, so we drove over to my brother's house to introduce him to the family. Everybody welcomed our little ball of energy, especially our nephew, Alex. Kindu didn't know how to navigate the ceramic tile floors at first. But Alex got down on the floor with him and soon was laughing as Kindu grabbed various parts of this new, fun litter mate dragging him around the kitchen. Then he went to grab Alex by the hair. That's when we decided it was probably time to take this rambunctious basenji boy home for a nap.

Checking out the new scents at home

Kindu has enlivened our lives for the last many years. He makes us laugh almost every day. He also drives us to distraction with his demands daily as well. Last Saturday he gave me a particular scare when he bolted out the back gate when I opened it to bring the trash cans back inside. He disappeared in an instant and the temperature outdoors topped over 100 degrees. Star escaped as well, but after a short foray into a neighbor's open garage door, she returned to me when I called her. I secured her safely behind the gate, much to her dismay, ran inside, grabbed my purse and keys and headed straight for the car. I know my boy all too well.

The appeal of a car ride never left this boy, so I began driving slowly through the neighborhood looking for our wanderer. I had caught a glimpse of him tearing down the middle of Flora Lane. I prayed that he avoided the hazard of being hit by a car as he made his madcap run through our streets. The further I circled away from the house, the more worried I became that our boy was in trouble. Rounding a nearby corner, I spotted him greeting a passerby who seemed most amused with his antics.

I gave a shout of his name and opened the car door and before I knew it he jumped onto my lap and into the back seat. He took up his usual navigator spot, front paws resting on the armrest between the two front seats. I kept him carefully confined in the car until I had the garage door secured behind us. Amazingly he agreed to enter the kitchen door instead of giving me a merry chase around the garage. His first stop was the water bowl beside the back door. While I let Star in to join us, he drank the dish down to the bottom. Oh yeah, it had been very hot out there for running like a wild man through our area.

I noticed a bad limp on his left foreleg as he walked into the great room and plopped on the floor. Though he had seemed just fine when I picked him up, closer examination showed all four paws burned badly by the hot asphalt and an extremely sore shoulder. I doctored up his feet, trimmed off the torn skin, massaged his shoulder to ascertain nothing was broken. He was slower than normal for a few days. The pads on his feet healed quickly with a little antibiotic cream. But the whole experience shook me up quite a bit.

The hardest thing about loving dogs is their shorter lifespan than us. We are our dogs forever homes, but they are granted only 10-15 years with us (if a car doesn't get them). Kindu has always had lots of health challenges because of his headstrong nature and a weak digestive system. His madcap run reminded me that I am granted only so many days with this little friend of mine. And it reminded me to thank the Lord for my many blessings and the very special blessing of our Kindu boy who will always be our "Forever" Teenager.

About how tired he looked after his run in the sun!

Memories, Pictures, Finally Home

By Linda Grupp Boutin

Now that Star has lived in her "forever home" for over 2 years, she finally is gaining confidence and security in her new-found lifestyle. She greets visitors to our home with no shyness, usually encouraging the newcomer to spend some time rubbing her ears and petting her. She used to shy away and take her time deciding if someone new was safe or not. Now that behavior is limited to walks when strangers approach her too quickly.

Star keeping watch!

 After living outdoors her whole life, she now enjoys 2 beds just for her (not at the same time), along with lounging on the loveseat, jumping on the couch, and best of all snuggling with the pack on the big bed. Not that she ever wants to get under the covers. She roasts down there! Besides she must always keep her head out, ever vigilant for the opportunity to get petted. 


Gary calls her everything from "skin" to "carpet" because she clings so tightly to us that we cannot breathe. She loves being with her people and most especially with her Pop whom she adores. It is amazing to watch the transformation from a show/working/mother dog to a retired and relaxed house dog. This basenji girl now tears around the house at top speed, faster than Kindu when she turns her fastest of reverses. Leaving the basenji boy looking over his shoulder saying, "Where'd she go?"

Lately she has developed a new way to surprise her basenji brother. She rounds the back of the dining room table, but instead of following his normal path around the opposite end of the table, she takes a quick left turn underneath the first chair and pops out the other side, wagging her curly tell and virtually shouting, "Surprise!" I love when she steps up to greet me when I walk through the door, her cinnamon roll tail flipping from side to side. I can't help but smile and say hi to my little girl.

She is my role model for setting the challenges of the past behind and moving happily to embrace the moment. Gary and I often chuckle about the concept that dogs can only remember the past for 15 seconds. Tell that to Kindu every time we pass the bush that he once flushed the orange tabby cat from! Ha, my dogs have long memories when it comes to hunting or remembering where they left their bones.

Star Baby "eating up life" as a pup.

Yet Star has moved beyond those painful memories of her past, longing for more closeness, more time with her people, more living. Yep, my fur babies never fail to teach me the importance of life's lessons and how to live more fully, basenji-style!