We have a few
observations about the so-called "off-type" dogs - which in reality are
probably just a reflection of the natural, genetic variation in coat
color. On a trip back country to the Ganta Mission 
in 1960, we saw 2 variants at the
Mission’s Leper Colony. Two men offered to sell us some very
young puppies (at 50 cents a piece). They were no more than a few days
old because their eyes were still not open. One of them was a solid
gray; another was brown with black stripes. While they looked like
Basenjis, at that age, it is hard to tell, and we weren’t
sure enough to buy them. The brown and black color, I believe, has now
been introduced into the US as a brindle.
Our
second tale about off-types came to us second-hand from some old
Firestone friends, the Scanlons. They told us that one of the planters
at Firestone liked a very small, slight, Basenji type that was
sometimes seen. They were about half the size of the others and
reminded one of a large Chihuahua. The man went to the expense of
bringing 3 of them back to the States with him only to have them
decline and die within a short while. His vet determined that the cause
of death was cancer. It was strange that out of the entire gene-pool of
Liberian dogs, he had selected for disease.