Obedience training can demonstrate a Ridgeback's willingness, capabilities and enjoyment of working very closely with its human and the pair can establish a close working relationship and socially fun environment. Obedience skills demonstrate the usefulness and enthusiasm of all dogs. We believe that all Rhodesian Ridgebacks in addition to all dogs in general, need lots of successful obedience lessons and classes. This training, as well all proper hound dog training, takes many hours of training and is a most definitely rewarding experience for all family members including your Ridgeback.

For more information on obedience competition, check out the AKC's website.

A properly trained and cared for Ridgeback can become a faithful family dog whose life will be devoted to your care and protection. The very young Rhodesian Ridgeback can be very inquisitive, exuberant, boisterous and definitely fun loving. They are also a very intelligent breed of dog and learn quite fast. They will grow into a large dog and are considered a large breed, so training should always be given a top priority with your Ridgeback sweetheart. It is a good idea to begin to teach your Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy lessons of basic obedience as early as 7 weeks. Lessons learned at a very young age are seldom forgotten.

Your Ridgeback will not stay that small puppy-sized little pooch for very long; at 6 months they will already be big enough to knock over a primary school child by accident. Even that big, happily swinging tail can unintentionally smack a two year old in the face, which is not the most exciting experience for the child. One should exercise great care with children and young Rhodesian Ridgeback puppies, and never leave them unattended for even short periods of time. Given the right amount of supervision, care, attention, training, and education to both Ridgeback puppies and human children, the two can form a most happy and forever loving relationship based on mutual respect for one another.

Rhodesian Ridgebacks have a short coat and are pretty much odor free, but they do shed some in spring and autumn. Many Ridgebacks can keep their nails trimmed by regular paved-road running and walking, but some of these guys do the regular, paved-road running and walking and still need their nails trimmed or dremeled or both. Most of our Ridgebacks are not picky eaters, but care must be taken not to over-feed them. Rhodesian Ridgebacks are generally considered 'Food-Driven', so free feeding usually does not work and is not advised for many reasons. The 2 best reasons being: they could become unhealthily overweight, and the other being that you lose your meaningful meal-time training advantage. Ridgebacks have a plethora of uncanny and unique abilities – one rather exceptional performance is that they can be master ‘counter surfers’, so training early to avoid this sport of finding unclaimed food on your kitchen counters is an important part of raising your new Ridgeback buddy!

All Ridgebacks first and foremost, should live as a dignified companion and be a part of your family activities, as they are very much ‘people-dogs’. This does mean that your living-room sofa or your bed is territory waiting for your Rhodesian Ridgeback to claim and can become their favorite place, so decide early if this an acceptable behavior and train your ridgeback puppy accordingly at a very early age. Ridgebacks are easy to house train as long as you stick with them and have consistency. At about 3 years old, or as adults, they can have a free run of the house without any problems. After we have been gone for a while, when we return home, our Ridgebacks are typically laying in the same spot on their beds in the living-room as they were when we left. We believe they hold the world's record for laying around and sleeping the longest by woodstoves, heater vents and fire places.

There is no doubt in our minds that the ownership of a Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy can be a challenge, but as he or she grows, is properly trained and loved, this Ridgeback puppy or dog will unquestionably bring an extra dimension of joy into your life and at some point can become that dynamic dog of your dreams. Let's face it, Ridgebacks are as cool as it gets...