Problem I have seen with Ridgebacks in the US is, most are too big for what I want (most males are over 100 lbs) and are bred for the show ring, so I don't know about their hunting ability.
I like a 50-60 lb dog myself.
Yepper do crackerrc!!! The early rhodesians in the northern provinces (the ones that were actually hunting their dogs) almost always bred their dogs towards the bottom of the standard size, some even below what is now standard size. (25" or less for dogs) As the show breeders have held more and more sway, slowly but surely the dogs have gotten bigger and bigger, especially here in the U.S
Here is a picture of some green dogs in South Carolina after we had worked them in the bay pen for the first time on hogs and bear a few days before:
The dog bred from working stock in South Africa was also the smallest in the bunch... smaller than the American and canadian dogs around him, even the females. It may or may not be coincedental that he had the best and most natural instictive repsonse to the hogs. In this breed, bigger is definately not always better.
I would also agree with Purebreed and Mccoy... Ridgebacks do tend to be really slow maturing dogs. And I've never seen a perfect dog in any breed. If someone claims to have perfect Ridgebacks, run away as fast as you can... they are trying to sell you puppies, not trying to help you learn about whether or not the breed is right for you and your style of hunting.
