The Lion Hunter Who Became a Family Dog
by Stig G. Carlson

“The number of lions in Rhodesia is rapidly decreasing, and with them the number of lion hunters. It would be a real pity if this magnificent breed of dog (the Rhodesian Lion Dog) were allowed to become extinct. There are still many uses for which this dog is suitable, although it cannot be considered likely that it will become very common.”
(Farmer’s Weekly, February 7, 1923, Southern Rhodesia: article by Senior Veterinary Surgeon C.H. Edmonds)

The Rhodesian Ridgeback is the only officially recognized dog breed that has a comb of forward-facing hair along its back. This “ridge”, sometimes called “ás” in Swedish-language literature, is of course the detail that the average person first notices about the breed.

But it is not the ridge, but the dog’s old name – and at one time one of its uses – that has given rise to so much interest, much speculation and also a lot of misconceptions.

Although a breed club, or at least an unassuming group, was founded in 1922 in Bulawayo, 1924 can be considered the year of birth of the breed. In 1924 the first 2 specimens of the “Rhodesian Lion Dog” were registered in the The Kennel Union of Southern Africa. And it was not until the following year, 1925, that the man behind the 1922 meeting, Mr Francis Richard Barnes, wrote a letter to the secretary of the South African Kennel Union and confirmed that a breed club had been founded.

The Ridgeback world is thus celebrating its 60th anniversary. Although there are still different opinions about whether the anniversary year should be counted from 1922, 1924 or 1925. Fortunately for the Swedish breed club, the Svenska Rhodesian Ridgebacksällskapet, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 1984, the South African club chose to celebrate its silver anniversary in the autumn of 1984, so that the Swedish delegation could celebrate the double anniversary under the Transvaal spring sun.

History is really uninteresting if it cannot be translated into lessons. The young history of the Ridgeback gives today’s dog speculator a clear indication that the Ridgeback is not a long-bred breed. On the contrary, it is young, it is original and it is hardly a beginner’s dog. Let me quote another old Rhodesian source:
“The Lion Dog is a valuable hunting dog of unknown origin. The breed had very strong character traits of its own”.

The Ridgeback has a historical background as a hunting dog, but also as a guard and certainly also a fighting dog.

The Nordens lydnadspion has been in Finland. Leni Finne-Nousiainen with the team “Simba” has made it all the way to obedience class III.

If we look at this in the light of the fact that a fairly unanimous Ridgeback world today believes that the breed’s functional idea and the history of the Boers are the most correct frame of reference, we are talking about a natural, reliable dog, which places some demands on the owner and breeder.

Today’s Ridgeback varies in practice in weight between approximately 30 and 45 kilos, with a height at the withers from just over 60 to almost 70 centimeters.
Already as a puppy, the breed shows a very high level of activity as well as a “toughness” that sometimes goes to other puppies of the same size and age group on the net. “My little monsters ‘ , as the secretary of The Parent Club in today’s Zimbabwe usually writes about his Ridgeback puppies. These words probably have a large piece of truth in them.
A Ridgeback is also a mobile dog, combining a stable bone structure with an enduring musculature. The South Africans proudly claim that “the Ridgeback is the world’s best long-distance runner among dogs”. It may be the case, however, in the marathon distance of the dog world, “a Ridgeback is a combination of strength, endurance, speed and a large portion of the most original characteristics of the genus Canis.

I am writing this at an early stage in the breed description. A Ridgeback requires insight into the dog’s instinct battery from its owner, as well as physical capabilities as well as mental willingness to offer the dog plenty of exercise. One may wonder whether the breed is particularly suitable for the central parts of urban areas, or, other than in exceptional cases, any ideal breed for children or elderly people.
“A dog can’t hunt lions”, you say.

That’s a common question for Ridgeback fans. And the doubt is justified. No Ridgeback has been used to put down, or fight, lions. On the other hand, Ridgebacks, from pairs to smaller packs, have been used systematically in lion hunting. To track, and to hold the prey until the hunter arrives with his firearm.

Anyone interested in Ridgebacks has certainly heard of big game hunters like van Royen and Selous. Folk heroes of their time, whose lives barely 100 years ago today seem like fairy tales.

Selous, who now has a zoo in Tanzania named after him, was not only a lion hunter and Ridgeback pioneer. He was the role model for Rider Haggard’s hero Alan Quatermain in “King Solomon’s Mines” and in our days for Sean Courteney in Wilbur Smith’s “When the Lion Feeds”.

Theodore Roosevelt proudly called Frederick Courtney Selous “his friend” and Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany saw him “as a role model for the youth of his country”.
The Boers, who partly systematically, partly randomly developed their dog as a mixture between their imported breeds and original African blood, have fallen into obscurity.

We do not even know what the Boers’ own predecessors to today’s Ridgebacks, called Steekbard, Maanhaar or Verkeerdehanar, looked like in more detail.

Among other things, in connection with the World Congress held in Johannesburg in October 1984, where the undersigned, together with his wife, represented the SSD and the Scandinavian breed sections, the question of today’s Ridgeback and its hunting capacity arose.

(3) photo: The Nordic spy’s first year, there was a dog in Finland. Leni F inne-Nousiainen with the team “Simba” made it all the way to obedience class III.

It is a good testimony to the originality of the breed to be able to verify that even, just a few
years ago, tested the “family Ridgeback” in a real lion hunt. With results that completely corresponded to the old big game hunters’ descriptions of the breed’s behavior. To all animal lovers, we should add that in the 1980 lion hunt, the lion was not shot, but the dogs were called in…

From New Zealand, reports come about the breed’s strength in wild boar hunting, a type of hunting where the dog itself takes down the prey. (Older stories tell that a Ridgeback goes through an even and uncertain fight against a male baboon or a leopard). From northern Sweden, stories have been heard about Ridgebacks as elk dogs, but without any details being recorded. On the other hand, we have completely fresh Swedish experiences of the breed – as a bird dog!

What then is inside this dog, whose courage was said by Negro tribes in southern Africa to be due to “a drop of lion blood found in the breed”. The encyclopedia’s description of “medium-sized brown dog weighing a little over 30 kilos (that was a long time ago), with a hairy back” does not give much meat on the bones for the interested party.
We have already stated that the Ridgeback is extremely instinctive. It is an almost arrogant, self-confident dog, which has a strong bond with its owner or owners and their immediate surroundings. The Ridgeback is not particularly open to strangers, but is controlled and tolerant. Its self-confidence and even temper make it a stable and reliable family dog. In a family environment, the dog has an almost never-ending patience with children.
(4) PHOTO The breed’s noble mark, the “Ridge”, should be sufficiently long, well symmetrical, and crowned by 2 completely symmetrically placed “crowns” and a beautiful “arch” at the top of the back. The picture shows a Danish Ridgeback with a near-perfect ridge.

When it comes to training the dog, it must be stated that the good obedience results reported from Finland, as well as more recently also from Denmark and Norway (with some occasional Swedish backing), are the exceptions that prove the rule. The Ridgeback is an independent dog, who quickly gets tired of “routines”. Training a Ridgeback to be an obedience dog requires the patience of an angel, time to work with extreme: short sessions, an acceptance of the breed’s independence – and an enormous amount of treats…

From Denmark, where fine results have been achieved in the police dog school with Ridgebacks, a lot of hilarious stories are told. Such as the problems with a Ridgeback in attack training. The dog has a certain tendency to “think for itself” – and that thinking says that it is stupid to bite a padded arm if there is an unprotected one available…

A story by one of our young, talented dog psychologists in Sweden also highlights the Ridgeback’s independent behavior. In tests where different breeds had to search for a hidden piece of meat under an upside-down bucket, among many empty buckets, the Ridgeback was the only one who took the time, tracked down the right bucket and then, to the other dogs’ bewildered, after a short “pause for thought”, resolutely kicked the bucket with his paw, took the meat and walked away “with the exalted dignity of a victor”.
(4) PHOTO 6 examples of correct ridges:

That the above-mentioned Ridgeback kicked a bucket with his paw is not unusual, the Ridgeback works a lot with its front paws, as well as with its hips to bring prey (or playmate) off balance.

A Ridgeback at full speed also shows impressive agility in its cross-throws and its seemingly aimless zigzag run. The dog has the collected, muscular paws of a runner, but with relatively long, working toes.

The tread pads are elastic and very durable in a well-trained individual. The Ridgeback’s home areas are also deserted, vast, partly very rocky, and sometimes hot, sometimes actually cold (especially in the mountainous regions of western South Africa, as well as in Kenya, for example).
Which inevitably leads us to the most important characteristics of the breed, besides temperament and general physical health. The Ridgeback is a very mobile dog, where the efficiency of the step, muscle use and the rhythmic harmony of the long, low step are a matter of all-round functionality. It is debatable whether one can be very lenient with bad angulations, uneconomically high front paw movements, cow-like hind legs, flailing front paws or other problems in any mobile dog breed. In a Ridgeback, it is almost sacrilege to look between the fingers with movement defects.
It is equally obvious that issues such as hip status come up when talking about a breed with the Ridgeback background. In Sweden, responsible breeders work according to clear, voluntary principles and the problem is under control; the breed’s HD average is as low as below 5%.

A breed-related problem, probably related to the Ridgeback formation, is the so-called dermoid sines.

PHOTO 6 examples of unacceptable ridgebacks:

(5) PHOTO
Rhodesian Ridgeback – hunting dog: the guard dog that became a family dog. The breed is relatively young and has preserved its original instincts and behavioral patterns. In the picture a young Ridgeback on a pheasant hunt in a cold Swedish climate. Far from the plains of southern Africa.

It is a canal formation between the skin and the spine. Here too we are talking about a controlled problem, but more difficult in that the inheritance of the dermoid sinus is not completely clear. (We look forward to being able to code pedigrees in the Kennel Club’s new computer facility).

Both complete outsiders and more generally knowledgeable dog people are usually struck by the relatively large spread that exists in the exterior appearance of the Ridgeback breed. There are those breeders who believe that the most consistent and most easily recognizable characteristic of a Ridgeback – besides just the ridge – is actually the temperament.
I am inclined to agree to some extent; What we see today as a breed is an evolutionary product where function has been the essential thing. It is quite unlikely that the dogs the Boers found to be best for hunting or guarding and fighting were homogeneous in appearance.

There are certainly types that are common; alongside the original African dogs that gave the ridge, the Boers brought with them small, probably carefully selected specimens of working dogs. By the standards of the time. Dogs from bloodhounds to Great Danes are mentioned as the ancestors of the ridgeback – and one should probably add a few dozen breeds.
(6)

PHOTO (6)
On the left, the most successful English ridgeback breeding of all time, Mirengos M andambo, and above, the large picture, the most successful Nordic-born ridgeback, Laustigens Douglas. On the right is South Africa’s and probably the world’s most accomplished Ridgeback, Shangara’s Checeni, alias “Paco”, shown here by the author of the article. “Paco” here won his 90th BOB, he has been South Africa’s most successful Ridgeback several times, has 5 BIS, and was recently called “My favorite Ridgeback” by Ulla Magnusson.

It may be of some interest to note that when Dutch trading companies sent their famous colonization expedition to southern Africa in the mid-17th century, they had very clear and definite plans for how the settlement would proceed. They equipped the expedition with a minimum of livestock, animals and tools – but always according to the principle that they would have the best possible opportunities to utilize these together with the resources of the new homeland.

This has come to apply to the entire lifestyle, from agriculture and livestock husbandry to the use of dogs.

That is why the Ridgeback standard today is relatively liberal. Color variations from light wheat color to very deep, reddish brown are allowed. There are also differences in appearance, while the color of the nose mirror is limited to 2. On the one hand, the usual black nose is accepted, which goes well with dark eyes. But it is also permissible to have liver-nosed dogs, then with amber-colored eyes.
White in the coat was previously common. Today, the white has been reduced to the toes and occasional spots on the chest. So far, white is completely legitimate today, even on a show Ridgeback.
In the fairly common debate about “type variation” in the Ridgeback, it should be noted again that both camps are probably right. Both those who speak for a very agile, fast and medium-sized dog, and those who want to see sufficient muscle mass and good bone structure.
There is a certain difference between a hunting and a guard dog.
Among South African breed historians, there is also a view that there should be a very clear gender pattern; It is believed, rightly or wrongly, that a dog breed with such different tasks usually has different responsibilities distributed by gender. According to this philosophy, the male dog, the strong one, would be the guard and fighting dog, while the lighter and more agile female would usually function as a hunting dog.
Anyway, the legendary Major Hawley says that he primarily seeks the agile, fast Ridgeback, while for example. The 1930s hunter and breeder Brisley spoke in favor of “maintaining sufficient mass in the dog”.
Out of curiosity, it may be good to know that, for example, in Namibia today, Ridgebacks are often mated with Bullmastiffs “to get heavier and better guard dogs”. Before we look at the Ridgeback in today’s Sweden, a few more words about the “ridge”, Just as the origin of the breed in a historical sense is very much a mystery, the ridge is also a mystery, It is likely that this particular hair formation is the most essential characteristic that the breed has taken from the native “bottom-toothed dog”.
Ridge-equipped dogs have been found in various places in the southern part of Africa, right up to the Congo region. as well as in the Far East on the isolated island of Phu Coq. These are probably dogs that have traveled with their native, or immigrant (read Portuguese and Dutch) masters in different directions.
While in the 1950s there was still a multitude of shapes and types of hair formations on the back of a “Lion Dog”, today the breed’s distinctive character is the subject of extremely careful breeding work and also strict assessment in the show rings.
The perfect ridge begins high up on the back and does not end until above the midline of the hips. The ridge is symmetrically tapered, has two and only two whorls, “crowns”, at the upper end – completely symmetrically opposite each other – and an “arch” above the crowns. A champion dog should not be allowed to have more than a few millimetres of deviation from the described ridge symmetry.

A Ridgeback set its paws on Swedish soil for the very first time in the 1930s. But these dogs were re-exported without having left any offspring. Even the short period that existed in the 1950s with a couple of exhibition appearances for the breed passed without a trace in terms of breeding.
In 1961, Flight Captain Bengt Florén imported his first Ridgeback, with a second import the following year. Bengt Florén’s litters became a star for Swedish Ridgeback breeding.
Towards the end of the 1960s, Olle Rosenqvist, among others, entered the breeding business and the breed has grown relatively steadily since then.
From the same years, one can also see a steady stream of imported material. If you look at the number of imports today in relation to the 300-350 Ridgebacks we are estimated to have in Sweden, the breed has a relatively broad import register.
From the mid-1970s, Swedish and Nordic breeders have also invested in fully qualified imports, from the Loulou & Stig Pettersson’s BOS bitch at Cruft’s in London, Janak Saara, to today’s great winner, Gunilla and Lennart Andersson’s Rooinek Jason of Janak, who took BOB at Cruft’s just before the import to Sweden.
Both in Norway and Sweden there are dogs that carry the title “Best-Winning Ridgeback in the UK”.
It is extremely difficult to judge the quality of dogs between different countries, unless you have a larger export to look at. The author of the article has studied Ridgebacks: on four continents and even exhibited in South Africa. Of course, a comparison is difficult to make, but a general feeling is that our best Swedish material holds good champion class in South Africa, England and Australia.
In the USA, they have started working towards a more “Greyhound-like”, elegant exhibition Ridgeback, which I personally, like many of my international colleagues, do not see as completely in line with the original idea of ​​the breed.
Or, as a famous Swedish judge said after Westminster in 1985: “I saw a lot of quite nice Ridgebacks – but they did not place…”
Both Denmark and Sweden have had the privilege of seeing world authorities from both South Africa and England judge the breed. If you filter out the politeness in the comments from the judges, Sweden gets approximately the assessment “Good international standard, relatively good linear symmetry, the dogs are usually in very good physical shape, consistently good mentality”.
Any extensive export has not yet started other than within the Nordic countries, but individual Swedish breedings have been exported to, among other places, the breed’s home continent. as well as to the USA. This now shows a Swedish dog with meritorious successes in the English show rings, while the show results in the Nordic countries have steadily improved even in the group finals.

Breeders such as Anita Gradin and Loulou & Stig Pettersson have won with breeding and breeder groups among all breeds and in 1984, just in time for the breed section’s anniversary, the first group victory came, through Rooinek Jason of Ianak.

In addition to the show results, the Nordic Ridgeback world can also rejoice in a rapidly increasing interest in testing the breed both on the tracking and obedience side.
Even though the “lion dog”, the Ridgeback, the national breed of the Boers and the hunting and guard dog of the subtropical areas, is not exactly a winter dog, we in Norway have examples of very promising results with Ridgebacks in pulling competitions.
The Ridgeback has come to our part of the world to stay – but not to become a large, widely spread breed. It is a breed too demanding and too special to become – and that would hardly be good for a healthy Ridgeback breed.

PHOTO The winners from the Rhodesian Ridgeback Society’s 10th anniversary in 1984. From left Bis winner Ch Rooinek Jason of Janak, owner Lennart Andersson. Judge Mrs B.I. Jackson from South Africa. Bim winner 9-year-old bitch Ch Loustigens Comba, owner Lou-Lou Pettersson and on the far right flight captain Bengt Florén who was the first to introduce the Rhodesian Ridgeback to Sweden.