General Rhodesian Ridgeback Information
Rhodesian Ridgebacks make a great family companion and are often admired for their appearance but these hounds are more than just pretty faces! Strong, confident, independent thinkers with a keen sense of sight and a good nose for scent, critters beware! It's not unusual for adult Ridgebacks to love the pursuit and develop a prey drive thus becoming hunters extraordinaire. Do your research and your homework to help make informed decisions. Learn about all the unique characteristics of the breed, understand the original purpose and analyze your lifestyle to determine if RRs are a suitable match. Not everyone suits a hound especially with the expectation that this hound is going to behave exactly like the neighbours lab or the golden retriever they had growing up. Ridgebacks need to be raised as part of the family and potential owners must be willing to make a deep commitment before making the decision to get a ridgeback.
Ridgebacks are intelligent, versatile and have the ability to excel in a multitude of areas. Our dogs are shown in Conformation usually owner handled. We also participate in Obedience, Lure coursing and Agility and are ready to take on whatever else catches the dog's interest and ours. Other things ridgeback do well in are tracking, herding and Therapy work. For more information visit the links below.
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To obtain some understanding of these magnificent animals it is firstly necessary to appreciate their multi-faceted nature, their flexibility and adaptability, their excessively affectionate and sensitive nature, their highly developed intelligence, but, most importantly, their strong adherence to pack law. This last mentioned feature results in them bonding very strongly with the pack as a whole to insure mutual survival - they are prepared to offer up their lives in defense of the pack. -When living with humans they will bond with us and behave in accordance with their nature which entails defending the family/pack unit to the fullest extent of their abilities.
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It is this bonding procedure which is fairly tricky because in their society pack -law is enforced in a manner which we could not possibly contemplate. They must, non-the-less, accept us as leaders in spite of our generally wimpish (in their terms) attitudes. Fortunately they are excessively affectionate and they find our equally affectionate response to them to be a powerful mitigating factor. They still expect strong (in fact harsh) leadership from us from time to time.
Having bonded with you (and one cannot over-emphasize the tremendous importance of this bonding experience in how they will evaluate the position) you have gained the friendship and affection of a truly loyal companion for the duration of his/her life. It is a relationship which is fully experienced by the human and it is probably this quality alone which places the Rhodesian Ridgeback in a position of awe and respect with all of us who have successfully bonded with these fine, brown colored, ever lasting friends.
However, there are good reasons for the behavioral patterns of these dogs. They were carefully and specifically bred in Rhodesia from several well-known (mainly hound) breeds of dogs to perform a specific function which was to bay lion. Now baying entails distracting the "objective" in such a way that it remains in that one location for as long as it takes to complete the exercise which, usually, entailed someone shooting the "objective" from extremely close-up, using the very ineffective rifles of those times. Hence the need for baying that "objective".
More about the Ridgeback breed: http://www.rhodesianridgeback.org.za/about/general.html
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