If you were to read only one book about dogs as they were and are naturally, please do read "Dogs: a New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behaviour, and Evolution" by Raymond and Lorna Coppinger. Here is a link to the Amazon page: http://tinyurl.com/dogs-coppinger.
Here are a few pictures taken this very morning:
I think these could be dam and pup. They live in the same compound and I saw this bitch much more rotund than now a few months ago. I think the puppy may be 4-5 months old.
The picture was taken from my bedroom window, and the dogs were about 70 yards from my house. The red and white colours are by far the most frequently occurring colours in local dogs. There are black and whites and tricolour dogs too, but I would be surprised if they were more than 10% of the total population. Until a few weeks ago, I had never seen a brindle Avuvi. I saw one recently, but I'm so surprised I did, after many travels in and to the region over more than 30 years, that I wonder if this specific one could have had a non-Avuvi ancestor.
Avuvis don't have a tightly curled tail like the Western fabrication called Basenji. Their tails can be moderately curled, or not. They can be quite long, but I've also seen tail-less puppies (obviously not cropped) and medium-length tails (about 8in long).
2 comments:
I get the impression you do not think to highly of what basenji fanciers have done to the breed in the Western world. :O) Going back to the native "basenji" - do you feel they (native avuvi and native basenji) are two distinct variations of native type?
Sorry, Anonymous, I've been away from my blogs for quite a long time. No, I'm not too fond of what modern, Western breed makers do to nature, but that's too deep a philosophical stance to discuss it in a few lines. I think all land races are fully adapted to their habitat, and while most dogs in a given habitat will look similar, there are a few non-determining differences (that won't influence the survival of one sub-type rather than another) that shouldn't be ironed out in the western standards. Then again, assuming breeds aim at bearing witness of how wonderful and diverse nature is, as opposed to recreating an "ideal" type/animal that would be so much better than God/evolution would make it.
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