Rhodesian Ridgeback
History
Originating in South Africa hundreds of years ago, the Rhodesian Ridgeback is often called the "African Lion Hound" due to their abilities to hunt down lions in large packs. This breed is believed to be made up of local Ridgeback bloodlines, native to South Africa, and possibly mixed with the Great Dane and Mastiff bloodlines later on. This breed was used as protection and to hunt large, wild game.
Appearance
The Rhodesian Ridgeback is a large breed dog with males and females measuring 24-27 inches in height and weighing 65-85 pounds in weight. This breed has a medium sized, wedge shaped head that is flat and broad between their two, large, triangular shaped ears that are folded down firmly. Their muzzle is rectangular in shape. Their nose can be black, brown or liver depending on the shade of their coat. Their general body build is long, tall and lean; very active in appearance. Their tail is long, thicker near the body and tapering down to a thin point. Their single layer, short hair coat is harsh to the touch and available in light tan to red in color and all shade variations of these two. This breed has a unique line on their back where their hair can go the opposite way, also included in their breed name. Their eyes are medium in size and are almond in shape, available from a light hazel to dark brown in color.
Temperament
The Rhodesian Ridgeback is best suited for adult homes, or homes with older children, due to their personality and energy level. This breed can be an aggressive hunter, however they are able to be loving, quiet and smart companions. This breed needs a firm and confident owner who is educated about the Rhodesian Ridgeback and is able to remain pack leader at all times. This breed needs a properly fenced in area to run, romp and play within outdoors daily. This breed easily becomes over protected of their owners; due to this we recommend early obedience and socialization classes to ensure a properly, well behaved dog. Best suited for country environment homes without other pets. This breed needs to have a consistent, patient owner who can always remind this breed of the rules and boundaries to follow. When trained properly, exercised both mentally and physically daily, this breed can be loving, affectionate and calm indoors.
Grooming
This breed does shed. Daily brushing and bathing when needed.
Special Notes
This breed isn't suited for everyone. Please fully research the Rhodesian Ridgeback prior to adding one to your home to ensure you are able to provide life long physical and financial care to your new family member. This breed requires a properly fenced in area while outdoors. This breed is prone to tumors, sinus issues and cysts.
All dogs originate from wolves (Canis Lupus). Each breed of dog was originally created by mixing different breeds together in an effort to bring forth certain characteristics. Once a breeder has created acceptable “breed characteristics” within their bloodline and these “breed characteristics” have shown to be reliably reproduced in the offspring for three (3) generations, the bloodline may be upgraded from the category of “foundation stock” to “pure-bred”.
The same “pure-bred” breed standards vary from different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders. Dog DNA testing companies can have accurate results for a specific bloodline of a small colony of dogs. However, there are tens of thousands of different bloodlines in the world which have not yet been tested for marker baseline results by Dog DNA testing companies as of 2017. For this reason Dog DNA testing companies do not guarantee the 100% accuracy of their breed lineage results and will also show different marker results for the same pure-bred breed in different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.