Word: basenji
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...second person in the U.S. to own a registered Belgian Malinois, whose real name, le Malinois, chien de berger a poll court fauve charbonne, is the longest in dogdom. Apartment dwellers-or at least their neighbors-will favor the Basenji, a terrier-sized hunting dog once kept by the Egyptian pharaohs that never barks. But he whines, groans and gargles, and when happy makes a noise described as "a cross between a croon and a yodel." As for burglars-packs of Basenjis are used to hunt gorillas in their native Africa...
...Even Close. Last week, as 2,569 dogs of 116 varieties descended on Manhattan's Madison Square Garden in a Babel of yips, yaps and woofs (plus a screech or two from the barkless Basenji), poodles again rated as the top contenders for Westminster's top award. The dogs were benched beneath the Garden's main floor, surrounded by dog manicurists and hairdressers, fussing owners, and concessionaires who peddled everything from breath sweeteners and "No-Mate Tablets'' to life-size dog portraits ($35 and up). On the main floor, perfumed, powdered and pomaded pooches paraded...
Africa's underslung, café-au-lait Basenjis ("bush things") are no exception. For generations they have tracked game for chiefs in the Belgian Congo, emitting only an occasional soft "groo," plaintively yodeling during the mating season, but never barking. Last week, however, in London's Trinity Hall, at the annual show of the British Basenji Club, a barkless Basenji barked. It was the end of 6,000 years of canine taciturnity. "My breath simply went," gasped Acting Club Secretary Veronica Tudor Williams. "Quite a bombshell," muttered the permanent secretary...
...tidy as house cats (they lick each other clean after a hunt), and so smart that fanciers claim that a chilly Basenji will grip a shovel in his teeth and heap coal on a dying fire, Basenjis were once favored pets at the courts of Egypt's Pharaohs. In 1936 a pair of them were brought to London. In a decade their number increased to 75 (worth about ?250 each...
...them, Chanza of Sunnyshane, was suddenly worth less last week just after he opened his mouth at the Basenji show. The hall was filled with a devastating hush, followed by hysterical female titters. "It was a most unfortunate noise," announced harassed Miss Williams, "but hardly a bark. It was a sort of woof." But TIME'S London bureau checked the question carefully with earwitnesses. Chanza, they reported, had definitely barked -"a wuffly bark," but a bark nonetheless...