I didn't choose the Basenji mix. A friend found him and took him in, but the dogs she already had in her home wouldn't accept him into the pack. I was looking for a dog, took him home to try him out with my cats and he worked just fine, so he became part of my pack.
It's probably a good thing that he ended up in my home. He has been very stubborn and difficult to train. In another home he may have been turned back out onto the streets, or taken to the local shelter, only to be returned again and again, and maybe eventually euthanized for being "troublesome," or "unadoptable." We have shown a great deal of patience and he is a much different dog than he was when we first got him. 
He was taken off the streets, and he is still off the streets. He lives comfortably (sometimes too comfortably!) in my home, and wears a sweater when he goes outside and the temperature is below 20 degrees. And when it's below zero, I put a fleece coat over the sweater! 
