To understand the future of the Ridgeback one must understand its past. The Ridgeback was crafted by a desire to hunt the world’s most dangerous social predator, the lion. It was that desire that forged the breed. Every quality that the Ridgeback holds sprung from that desire. It is that task and only that task which defined the breed. Every other task that the African setters could have wanted a dog for they already had in their European hunting dogs. They had dogs for home protection. They had dogs that could hunt every other type of game. The Ridgeback was not bred to be a companion; it was not bred to protect the home; it was not bred to hunt other game. The fact that a Ridgeback will do all of those things despite not being bred for them, is just the fallout of being a good lion dog. In other words, just because one could breed a dog to be a companion, a watch dog, and a good hunter would not mean one would end up with a dog that could hunt lion. On the other hand, breeding a dog that could hunt lion did result in a dog that excelled strongly in all those other areas. Certainly, a classic example of form following function.
Understanding that fact is key to understanding the future of the Ridgeback. Today the Ridgeback is seldom bred for lion hunting and it is readily obvious that as the function disappears so does the form that made the breed legendary. Without the Lion as a yardstick and breeding guide, at best, the breed’s decline can only be slowed down. Unfortunately, most of the breeding world’s efforts only hasten to demise the capabilities of the Ridgeback. To fully understand how and why this is happening one must understand the types of breeding stocks that are currently available. Today there are really only three breeding pools of Ridgebacks. Probably the largest and most damaging pool is the show breeding pool. The second largest pool is the “quick profit” and commercial breeder pool. The smallest pool is the “working” pool.
The Show dog pool, breeds for “looks” and a “pleasing” demeanor in the show ring. Unfortunately breeding for the show ring is in direct odds with what makes a good lion dog and as a result it damages all the other good traits that made the Ridgeback Legendary. Breeding for show, results in exaggerated traits, like skulls that are too flat, shoulders that are too straight and ridges that are barely there. On the personality side, the dogs must be “on” in the show ring, they have to allow themselves to be “handled” by judges without out sounding a warning or complaint. The result is a “hyper” dog that will not warn you when he feels uncomfortable or threatened. There is nothing more dangerous than a dog that does not warn. Such dogs will go from the appearance of being sweet to attack, with no middle ground. The other real danger of show breeding is that genetic diversity is quickly destroyed. Typically only a very few dogs sow their seed very widely. Fortunately, the Ridgeback is a new and rare enough breed that it is only starting down the path of destruction in the show world. It is yet to be damaged as severely as the German Shepard, the Rottweiler or any number of hunting dogs.
The second largest breeding pool includes small-scale “quick profit” breeders and long term licensed Commercial breeders. This group is probably the most maligned and despised group of breeders. At the same time, they actually do much less damage to the breed as a total than the show breeders. Typically the gene pools in this group are much broader than the show group. These groups of breeders do not really have a specific breeding agenda, instead they breed for broad characteristics that are marketable to the public. They sell their dogs either directly, or via pet stores or via so called “rescues” that buy dogs at commercial auction. The show and commercial pools however are not always completely separate. Show lines can and do enter into the “quick profit” and the commercial breeding pools. On the other hand, the commercial lines very seldom ever go back into the show world. Of course, that fact does not keep the show breeders from scapegoating every self created problem and fault that their dogs develop onto commercial breeders. That said, if there is a benefit to the dogs in the commercial pool it is that they have a wider gene pool. In that vain, taken as a broad spectrum, the commercial group is less damaging to the breed than the show group.
Finally we have the smallest pool of breeders/dogs and that is the “working” group.
In other dog breeds, where the dog can still take part in its original purpose, the working breeders try to stay as far away from the show breeders as possible. These breeder will often form their own breed groups and ban any dog that takes part in show. Sometimes such breeders will change their dogs just enough to keep the show breeders away. They may add a coat color that can not be shown in the ring, thereby protecting the dogs. Unfortunately, such an organization does not exist in the Ridgeback world. In the Ridgeback world, the “working group” is defined as breeders who are breeding Ridgebacks for something thing other than just looks, and for an end other than just selling dogs. However, that fact alone should not be taken to mean that this group is not also damaging the breed as a whole. For example, there are people who breed for lure coursing, these breeders are typically still heavily associated with show breeders. If one breeds a dog for “lure coursing” the end result is not a lion dog, but rather a dog that chases things. In fact, the dog’s drive and body style may end up being very different from a dog that can hunt lions, goodness knows the world is full of dogs that chase things. There are also people who breed and use their Ridgebacks as birddogs. In the same vain as the others, breeding a bird dog, a boar dog, or even a bear dog is not the same as a lion dog, if it were the African settlers would not have had a need for the Ridgeback. Trying to change a Ridgeback into a bird, coon, boar or bear dog still damages the breed but at least it is not as damaging show breeding. The same can be said for those who breed for family dogs or watch dogs. In all these cases, when a dog is bred for a different function a different form follows
Fortunately there is a small subset of Ridgeback breeders in Africa who still breed for the original purpose or at least something akin to the original purpose, namely dogs that are lion savvy. The bad news is that such breeders and their dogs are under severe pressure and are quickly disappearing. There are multiple factors responsible for that fact, but key among them the are insane hip grading restrictions in place in Africa designed to address a mostly non-existent problem. It is surely a case of the cure being worse than the disease. The other issues are geo political, such as the greed and envy which has embraced Zimbabwe and which is actively supported by the left wing, socialist, totalitarian government. The result has been a devastated economy and a devastated environment that does not support man or beast. In that world, there is no room for lion hunting, there is only habitat devastation. These same forces are now actively at work in South Africa and are just waiting for the right moment to act, many have suggested that the passing of Nelson Mandela will signal that moment.
So how can we save the Ridgeback? The answer is easier said than done. To save the Ridgeback, you must save the lion in the wild. The only way to save the lion in the wild is to promote it as commercial renewable resource that benefits those individuals that live in Lion country. And finally the only way to do that is to promote individual liberty and freedom in a land that is so far removed from it.
