They will also do fine in a suburban area if you are able to run them good and hard for a couple miles each day.
So if you are physically fit and active and can run, you'll be good.
- Thread starter Jon Lester
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They will also do fine in a suburban area if you are able to run them good and hard for a couple miles each day.
So if you are physically fit and active and can run, you'll be good.
I'm going add just on the topic of Rhodesian Ridgebacks. A friend acquired two Rhodesian Ridgebacks puppies. The male grew up to 101#, the female 90#. Owner ran them, exercised appropriately etc. Loyal to a fault, smart and obedient. Introduced and socialized to from the get-go to family's dogs, but there was an incident where after taking BS from a relatives Cocker Spaniel for over two years (smaller dog syndrome), the male snapped and destroyed it in extremely violent fashion. Like every dog, they need supervision, (and the smaller dog was a little sh*t). Cats, as well as rabbits, that would venture within perimeter also did not fair well. The male also developed lymphoma at around age 8; but many breeds have that issue.
I have raised two females, from pups thru end of life, great dogs, when trained properly, you need to be the Alpha of the pack. Destroys you when they reach end of life.
Mine essentially treat pretty much any other animals as dinner, it doesn't help that a few neighborhood dogs got loose over the years and attacked us on our walks, or people's barking tiny dogs pull away from their owner's control and race over to my dogs to try to bite them and I'm trying to keep my dogs from devouring them.
I'm there trying to keep 200 pounds of dog from going while some poor other folk can't hang on to the leash with their maybe 10 pound at most dog who pulls away, runs across the street and wants to attack.
The Rhodesians have a very high prey drive and it's best to only have them around other large dogs that they grew up with or are familiar with.
I'd say it's just asking for trouble to have them hanging around with small yippy dogs or cats.
Part of it is they are also VERY protective of their owners and if a little yippy dog comes running up barking at you, well the Rhodesian speaks dog and when little dog says I'm going to bite that human and tear them apart, the Rhodesian says, over your dead body and is prepared to cash that check then and there.
Generally it's grab the animal and shake it violently until it stops squeaking then drop and repeat the process again several times. At least with rabbits and squirrels. There was this one aggressive male squirrel that decided to jump onto my dog's face and attack him. That pretty much was like watching a bruce lee movie when the bad guy makes a scratch on bruce lee and then he goes all insane.
There was one incident where they got seriously into it with a pair of little yippy dogs and their owner went hands in the middle of the snapping teeth to separate them while I was pulling the big dogs back because the little dogs kept coming on and wouldn't back away or stay still as I moved the big dogs back, & I guess she didn't know how to use her leash to pull them back. I mean if you are pulling your big dogs backwards and the little dogs keep running right into their mouths no matter how far you keep pulling your dogs back...
The owner of the little dogs wound up with several bites on her hands and arms, BUT... NONE of them were from my dogs, all the bites she got were from her own dogs, oh and then her dogs tripped her while they were walking away and she fell face first on top of them. To avoid a court thing, I paid the vet bills for the little dogs even though I'm guessing a fair bit of their injuries were caused by their owner falling on top of them... Apparently in a fight everybody blames the big dogs even if the little dogs are the all in on it ones. The owner couldn't say anything about being hurt by my dogs as the bite marks were undeniably the size of her dog's mouths.
That is why I'm a big fan of them because even the middle of a fight they are smart enough not to bite the human's hands.
Which was also a help when the female would decide to get really bitchy and decide to show the male who's the boss with teeth, I could settle them down without worrying about getting bitten.
You might think the big male that is like 50% heavier than the female and muscular as all get out would easily dominate the female, you'd be so wrong, the only thing the big male feared in the whole wide world was the female when she got pissy at him (and smoke detectors). Saying No with teeth is a bit impressive to watch.
The biggest issue is that all these little dog owners would like just walk right into you and the dog while their dog is barking like mad and the big dog is crouched in attack position, and this is after you like crossed the street and went the other way trying to avoid them. The little dog owners are like, well my dog wants to pull me over towards your dogs and I don't know I'm just like whatever my dog wants to do.
It's like the little dogs are the "didn't do nothings" of the dog world and their owners get insanely mad when their little darlings fuck around and find out. But for some reason think the little dogs should be free to go attack anyone without consequence because they are "tiny and cute".
It's why I carry a reverse opening umbrella on a shoulder rig when walking the dogs, for when some other dogs get loose and head over to attack.
That is just something to keep in mind if you have Rhodesian Ridgebacks in a more urban setting, you have to be careful of their prey drive specifically because other folks are idiots that don't understand if their dog and your dog are both saying let's get it on, Don't march your dog right up to the fight when the other guy is trying to go the opposite direction.
On the good side, a pack of two or three Rhodesian Ridgebacks will keep you safe from most any animals that tries to attack you. Some of the bigger loose dogs that attacked us on our walks were pretty vicious but my dogs were very much of the mind that the other dog wasn't getting to their owner no matter what. Fortunately on all those attacks they were able to eventually get the other bigger dogs to decide to back off without needing any trips to the vet. We did run across a coyote on our walk, but that one was smart and beat feet when it saw the size of the mouths it was up against.
There was one unfortunate incident where a vicious loose dog attacked my dogs and they sent it running, but then it ran across the park and attacked some kid, but that was out of my control, that dog was looking to attack people and my dogs made sure it wasn't me.
Ridgebacks are working dogs. They need a job to do. They are very active and need lots of exercise. You must socialize them around people and other dogs, early and frequently, or they will be very aggressive around humans and other dogs and small animals. They eat a lot and crap more. They make great pets, if they get the attention they demand. They'll try to be the boss of you, so you must be a strong, assertive personality. I've never owned one, but had a friend, who had four. The large, alpha male was 150lbs and solid. The dogs were farm dogs, so they kept other strays and coyotes away, or killed them. Mossai was the alpha's name and he always make me uneasy. I never turned my back on that one, even though he was not known to attack people. He would prevent visitors from getting out of their vehicles, if his owner was not around. Be sure you and the dog are right for each other and know what you're getting into with a Ridgeback.
