ridgebacks: truth or total Bull

[smwilson]

I have been emailing with a guy in a place called three rivers, TX.  He hunts hogs around some big lake. he says he uses only Rhodesian ridge backs. He bays and shoots hogs with one dog or uses two dogs to strike an catch.  One dog will strike and catch smaller hogs, "there nose will find hogs other dogs miss" . He says he has never run into a hog that both dogs together couldn't bring down. He sells them too!  Is there someone who has some experience with ridgebacks that can say if this is accurate for the usual ridgeback hunter.

[L3Outdoors]

Truth for the most part. Any Ridgeback that bays is a cull. The dog was breed to bring down big game and was a very good breed until some idiot started selective breed for hunting Lions and changed things forever. This is my Ridgeback imported from Africa on a nice boar that would test most dogs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzsvgMcUxiU&feature=channel_page

[smwilson]

I am impressed with your dog how old of dog is it. Being from Africa is it more prey driven than a ridgeback I could get here. Are there specialty breeders for hunting ridgebacks in the US.

[WAARHEID]

Truth for the most part. Any Ridgeback that bays is a cull. The dog was breed to bring down big game and was a very good breed until some idiot started selective breed for hunting Lions and changed things forever. This is my Ridgeback imported from Africa on a nice boar that would test most dogs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzsvgMcUxiU&feature=channel_page

Hey smwilson. I've hunted over Ridgebacks in more than 10 different states in the US from Florida to Minnesota, I have also hunted over Ridgebacks in both Sweden and Germany, on game ranging from quail to moose. I've worked over Ridgebacks of American breeding, Canadian breeding, eastern European breeding, western european breeding, even dogs imported directly from Kruger Park breedings in South Africa.

Just you know, the guy L3 was talking about is Cornelious Van Rooyen. He was followed by hunters like Hubert Tremelett, Jock Flemming, Bill Masey, Furgeson Chance, Jan du Preez, and Francis Barnes, to name just a few. Far from being an idiot, he was a good friend of Selous and Upcher, and was regarded as one of the great white hunters of his day. He a developed a type of ridged cur dog that eventually would become known as the "Rhodesian Ridgeback". He bred bay dogs for a reason, and it wasn't because he was an idiot, it was because he bred the best of the survivors.

If you want to learn the real, factual and honest truth about the early hunting history of the breed, buy yourself a copy of the "Pioneers" book, by Costa.

http://www.kantara.com.au/pioneers/index.htm

Many Ridgebacks can be mindlessly gritty/catchy, a precious few are smart enough to back up and bay solid. There are other breeds out there that make better catch dogs, and other breeds that make better bay dogs. What they bring to the hunt that few others can is an impressive combination of nose and speed. So if you need a catch dog or a bay dog that has a decent nose and can cover ground lightning fast, then a Ridgeback might be a good bet if... but only if you buy from a breeder producing what you are looking for.

While you're waiting for the pioneers book to show up in the mail, check out these websites and learn the truth about this breed for yourself:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodesian_Ridgeback#Classification_conundrum

http://thehra.com/fromthefield/

http://www.rhodesianridgeback.org.za/

http://www.boardogs.com/Boardogs_Ridgebacks.htm

http://www.rrcus.org/club/breedinfo/history.htm

[Purebreedcolt]

The one and only thing that I can find wronge with a rr is that they are slow to mature when full blood.  I have one that is a year old and a couple of days and is the biggest pup you have ever seen lol but I really like everything else about them. 

[nosightsneeded]

I dont know anyone that would buy a ridgeback that bays.

[McCoy]

 I don't know about the history but I got one that will hunt find a hog catch the hog and roll out to the next ! He does find some hogs others dont because he winds really well as where a track will go flying by so I assume others can to. I have caught pigs other 300 with just him.  That's what I know about my dog I didn't train him rockin roo and rowdy had him before me. Hope it helps

[WAARHEID]

I dont know anyone that would buy a ridgeback that bays.

Well, it's hard to say nosight... I guess I would be curious if they are being hunted by rifle hunters or knife/hog-tie hunters?

Don't get me the wrong way fellas, I'm not trying to put down good catch dogs. Lord knows we need them! If your Ridgeback is catchy, and that's what you want it to do, more power to you... catch'em up son!

But from a historical perspective, a breed purist will want a bay dog. When thinking about the Ridgeback it's important to keep in the back of your mind that for almost the first 30 years that the Ridgeback was recognized by the Kennel Union of South Africa, they were classified as Gun dogs. That's how they were used... they were developed and used by rifle hunters. As rifle hunters they needed bay dogs. If you look back to the wikipedia article I mentioned above, you will find a good historical account that explains this:

Phyllis Archdale who went to Rhodesia in 1919 and bred Ridgebacks there in the 1920s, "Old timers told me that in early days most Dutch transport riders had a Ridgehound as guard to their wagons. They were used to bail up lion and wild pig. Mine did both..."

[crackerc]

I would like to find a good Ridgeback male that hunted  out some, had a good winding nose and was gritty, but not a straight out catch dog. I would breed one of my curs to him and see what I got. I had a dog a long time ago that was cur and Ridgeback. She was a decent dog but bad to fight another dog. I used her on both cattle and hogs.

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.

[nosightsneeded]

what im saying is that the people i know in TEXAS that just hunt pigs with dogs would not have a ridgeback bay dog the same goes for a Dogo that bays. Regardless the history I just dont think they would fit the bill.  If iam wrong and some one on here has a Ridgeback bay dog. explain to me why. why would you have a ridgeback or a dogo baydog. the only thing that comes to mind is cull. I may not be an expert on the subject but unless you run a true pack OF RIDGEBACKS having A RIDGEBACK BAY doesnt make sense

[BOBDOG]

Mccoy,
Are you still selling your ridgebacks?

[McCoy]

I decided to keep Bo and the rest are gone where I currently live it was just gettin to
be a problem.

[Circle C]

"there nose will find hogs other dogs miss"

If the above statement is true, then that is a perfectly good reason to have a RR that bays.

[McCoy]

u know it all comes back to each dog I had some that would bay a be rough then catch with other dog some all catch everyone I had were very fast good stanima. I ain't sayin they will always find a pig that others won't but enough to notice but that happen all the time in all breeds I had a bulldog that if a pig was within a hundred yards she'd find it. I like the ridgebacks but like every breed they have their up and downs.  And usually when someone is sellling something u will here nothing but the up.

[WAARHEID]

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.

[Circle C]

L3,

   How much does your Capstick dog weigh?

[Purebreedcolt]

Well the one thing that really led me to mine was the speed.  parents have a half ridgeback half lacy that is fast and not just fast but also quick.  she is all bay on anything larger than about 120 maybe up to 150 but other dogs have to be with her for her to catch that large.  with a little more work think she could be one of the better strike dogs out there she has struck many hogs for my dad and me both.  Mine can really reach running speed quick and has held it for a ways following the fourwheeler so if and when he turns onto hogs I hope not to get out ran like I seen two dogs get flat out ran a couple of months ago.  I am with nosights on if he does not catch he is a cull.  the one thing for people to remember is that they are slow to mature and give them time.  I will start working with mine with pigs about a year and a half.  He has been around them just not really running him with a pig yet.

[catchrcall]

I don't understand why someone would not want a ridgeback that bays.  If you wanted a bay dog, and a certain ridgeback fit the bill, then why not?  Not trying to be a wise guy here, I'm just missing something. 

[McCoy]

 Bo is 126 pds 28 inches at the shoulder he is thick but I have had taller.

[Purebreedcolt]

dont get me wronge know there are some big bay dogs out there but for the most part most peoples actually bay dogs are smaller just my two cents and how i look at it.  if it catches I want it big if it barks i want in med.