A Brave, Clever Dog

The rhodesian ridgeback is an intelligent, faithful and fearless dog, says shane brody.

- Shane Brody

A reader recently emailed me to ask why I had not included the Rhodesian ridge back in a piece I wrote on popular guard dogs. I explained that my suggestions had been partly based on the fact that the other breeds are more prevalent.

This said, the ridge back is indeed a very faithful, bold animal that makes a good guard dog, and I’d like to take a closer look at the breed this week.

BIRTH OF THE BREED

It is generally believed that a portion of the seed stock of Rhodesian ridge backs dates back to the hunting dogs used by the Khoikhoi, who inhabited the Cape Colony in the 17th century. These had a ridge running down the back where the hairs lay in the opposite direction to the rest of the pelt.

The Dutch settlers immediately took to the lean, muscular dogs, which stood about 46cm high at the withers. They quickly realised that the animals were fearless in guarding the homesteads and protecting livestock from lions and other predators.