Top 10 facts about one of the most beautiful breed on the planet Rhodesian ridgeback

 

 

Rhodesian Ridgeback

 

 

Welcome to doggyz if you are new here then my name is Abhishek I am the founder of Doggyz and today I'm breaking down the top 10 facts about one of the most beautiful breeds on the planet Rhodesian ridgeback

 

So starting our list at number 10 is the fact that these dogs are love kids and I do mean love them they make amazing playmates and will keep kids busy for far longer than even the most hyperactive toddler can manage as adorable as a ridge's love is for their kids there's a couple of things to bear in mind with this fact the first is it because of that look to play in high energy levels play can get a little bit rambunctious there's always a good idea to monitor any playtime especially with smaller kids as it's very common for an excitable ridgey to accidentally knock over a child even if it is by accident with no malice whatsoever dogs naturally play differently to how we expect kids to play and Ridgeback will want to play with kids as if they're their litter mates which if you watch dogs play before you will know can be a little bit feisty at times so just be careful the second is that the look for their kids also makes them very protective of them so if your kids have friends over to play you need to be careful and always supervise them or confine the ridgeback especially if your kids are anything like I was when I was younger as I love nothing more than pretend that I was of the rock and that my friend was the Undertaker and we were Tombstone Piledriver each other a drop the people's elbow left right and center which fun for us can't be very easily misread by a dog as their loved ones are in physical danger and a ridge bat will not hesitate to protect them which unfortunately is where many incidences of attacks on children occur even with dogs where their owners believe them to be extremely gentle .

 

 

Our number 9 fact is all about the Ridgebacks love to chase these dogs are born and bred as hunting hounds which gives them a very strong impulse to chase anything this is one of the traits that contributes to why they're so amazing at playing with kids however like most things there are pros and cons to this one as well yes fun to play fetch with them and they make a wonderful mountain biking companion or obviously as working dogs especially for hunting purposes but it does mean that you have to be very careful with them unsupervised in your garden as you combine this need for chasing smaller animals and birds with their insane athletic capabilities then you will have a dog that will comfortably cruise over high fences and gates and will have no fear in running straight into traffic after its prey it also can make them slightly unpredictable off lead if you don't have a superb recall ingrained in them for the same reasons.

 

 

Fact  At number eight is a great one for potential owners and this is just how robust and generally healthy these dogs are as they were bred to survive in the harsh climates of Africa they've developed into tough dogs which is modern owners means that the low of that bills are many other breeds the average life expectancy for Ridgeback tends to be between 10 and 15 years which is excellent for a large breed like the regime now although they are robust healthy dogs no dog is completely immune from health issues and the ridgeback there's no exception so the health issues worth noting that do seem to affect the ridgeback more include hip and elbow dysplasia and dog dermoid sinus which is a hereditary skin issue that affects the breed down its Ridge which we will talk about later however as many puppies are born with this they are euthanized as puppies so it's imperative that you make sure breeders screen their dogs for this issue to avoid this being the case.

 

 

Moving on to our next fact is an interesting one as a breed bred for hunting with a high prey Drive and famed for its hunting skills of large cats you would think that domesticated small cats are a huge no-no around this breed however you'd be wrong ridges are known to get done extremely well with all of our animals that they're raised and familiar with which is counterintuitive and it's a behaviorist myself and someone that is fascinated by canine psychology I did have to research this a little bit more and it is indeed correct that they make excellent companions with other pets the reason for this is on a deeper level is their amazing adaptability many breeds have strong ingrained instincts for various roles but if they aren't adaptable it makes them unsuitable for anything that contradicts those instincts however an adaptable breed like the ridgeback makes them no less suitable to harness those instincts but it does mean that they can put them to one side if need be.

 

 

Our fact in the number six spot is one that I personally can understand much easier and that's a serious love for food like the Labrador these dogs are known to be bottomless pits and will eat until they're sick if you let them now again there's pros and cons to this obviously making themselves sick is a con but always makes them more prone to obesity issues and you have better not leave food on the countertops or bins around there's no matter how well trained your Ridge is they very well simply may not be able to resist that bacon sandwich that you left on the side while you pop to the toilet or you may come home to the contents of your kitchen bin lining your floors and a very guilty looking dog covered in old food wrappers however the pros to this or how easy this makes training is like a Labrador they would do almost anything for food and when you follow a routine of consistent leadership utilizing positive reinforcement methods that you guys know that I heavily promote a Ridgeback is an absolute dream to Train.

 

 

So we're at the halfway mark and this fact is a quick one and this is some of the celebrity owners of Rhodesian Ridgebacks they include the lay actor and actress Patrick Swayze and Grace Kelly who both love Ridgebacks Anthony Kiedis of the lead singer of Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Detroit Pistons star Blake Griffin as well as ice I am a staffer you know the guy with one of the most hypnotic voices in the world from the old Spurs commit Old Spice commercials yeah that guy has a Rhodesian Ridgeback.

 

 

Onto my number four fact which is another fact that makes these dogs so popular it's just how quiet they are most people agree there aren't many things more annoying than owning a dog there's an excessive Barkerand that makes the Rydia dream they very rarely bark and when they do it tends to only be if they really feel the need to which make some excellent watchdogs it's not uncommon for a Ridgeback to not even bark at the doorbell but if they send someone lurking around their garden at night they know will allow a thunderous bark and you will know something's not right.

 

So taking our bronze medal spot in today's blog is the hunting skills of these dogs it is widely believed that these dogs were brought to Rhodesia which is now Zimbabwe by two missionaries who let a big-game hunter there borrow them on one of his hunting trips and then he was so impressed by these dogs the bred a pack for himself and then he used them to accompany him on long hunts for game like lions a common myth is that these dogs went toe-to-toe with a lion which isn't quite true they were used to track down distract lions and then hold them at bay just long enough for the hunter to arrive who would then dispatches them himself often with a rifle so although the ridgeback can't take down a lion on its own they are still fearless in the face of lions and love working with hunters still to this day hunting trips in Africa would often be long trips of days and weeks covering vaster instances in the harsh conditions and the ridgeback would comfortably trot alongside their owners who are on horses all day and then still be ready to spring into action whenever the time was right and on top of all this they would then often break away to track down and bring down smaller game like an antelope to provide food for the evenings dinner talk about highly versatile super athlete of a dog.

 

Taking our silver medal spot is that not only is the ridgeback of great hunting dog but they're also superb guard and watch dogs as hunting decline the need for the ridges declines however their skills will quickly put to use for being amazing watch and guard dogs on farms in Africa they're superb athleticism and abilities to work in harsh conditions combined with fearless nature in the face of predators made them fit for this role beautifully and today these breeds are much more commonly used in this role rather than their original hunting purposes .

 

So our gold medal has to go to the ridge that gives them their name of Rhodesian Ridgeback there are one of the only three breeds that has a distinctive Ridge of hair that runs along the bac in the opposite direction from the rest of its body this Ridge is beautifully striking and combined with its beautiful coat color really sets this breed apart from all other breeds the other two breeds have the ridge like this by the way of the Thai Ridgeback from Thailand and the foo kok bridge back from Vietnam the ridge back is currently battling it out in my last dog standing tournament to be crowned as the ultimate guard dog breed.