Best Toys for Ridgeback: Kong Knots

Ok, so anyone who has a Rhodesian Ridgeback knows how difficult it is to keep toys around the house. They live for destroying toys. In my experience anything with a squeaker is dead in a couple of hours. Emma doesn't have much interest in hard toys, but if it's soft and squeaks then she's all over it. 

I have been amazed at her ability to find a squeaker or component in a toy that squeaks, and destroy it. She takes it almost as a personal challenge. 

This article is going to focus on one toy in particular that I have found which Emma loves, and actually lasts more than a day. 

Ok, let's talk about this toy, it's made by Kong and called Knots. Kong is a major dog toy company with headquarters here in Golden Colorado. I have found their products to be hit or miss. Sometimes they are tough and sometimes they aren't. This toy called Kong Knots comes in different sizes. I always get the large one because Rhodesian Ridgebacks are large dogs. They come in all kinds of different animals, Emma has a flamingo right now, but she has had the bear, a robin, and santa, in the past. 

There are a couple of things that make these toys great. Firstly they are soft and bendable like any stuffed toy; there is a squeaker in the front chest (Emma's favorite part) and the toys have have thick rope running through them. 

This achieves two things which make the toy better. Firstly, the ropes make the toy stronger. When the dog steps on it and pulls with those teeth the ropes hold the toy together so it tears less readily. 

Second, there is significantly less stuffing inside these toys because the ropes take up most of the space. When Emma tears a hole in a stuffed toy her next objective is finding the squeaker and killing it. Directly after that she moves on to pull all of the stuffing out of the toy, every last fiber until she has made a complete mess. 

One other thing that makes these toys great is that after the outer toy has been ripped and torn up by the dog, the rope inside becomes a second toy. We have these ropes laying all over the house now because Emma pulls them out and carries them around. Sometimes I tie the ropes together for a tug-of-war game. 

Don't buy one of these expecting it to last forever, because like most toys with our ridgebacks it will not last forever, but it might last a week. In my books as far as toys go that is pretty good, and she loves playing them and carries them all around the house with her. Expect it to get destroyed, just not right away. 

I recommend this product for your ridgeback. They cost $17.49 on PetSmart. And if you buy two of them you get one free (that's what I do, then I put to away for later). 

Emma's latest Kong Knots toy after 2 weeks (a bit dirty but still alive)

Emma playing withKong Knots Robin 

Emma Playing with ropes found inside the Kong Knots Robin toy

Surprising Foods for Ridgebacks

Let's spend a moment and talk about what is important... FOOD. I have heard claims that ridgebacks will eat anything, because they are part of the hound family and hounds will eat anything. 

Knowing this, I set out to raise Emma without letting her have "people food". There was also the concern I had about an 80lb dog begging for food from family or visitors. Heck, the truth was if she decided she liked something she could walk up and take it from a lot of people, which seemed like a bad idea to me. 

So from day one the plan was no "people food" for the dog. As we can guess, that didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. Though in the end I have learned a few things from this and had some successes. Emma does not beg for food as a rule, occasionally she will steal it from a counter or stove top if given the opportunity, but she doesn't beg like some dogs do, with their pouty sad eyes. I know the look well because as soon as anyone sat down at the dinner table, my previous dog would put on the pouty sad eyes and rub up on you until she got a bite herself. It was extremely annoying when she did it to guests. 

I never feed Emma from the table, ever. I strongly encourage never feeding dogs from the table. If Emma is going to get a leftover bone from a steak for example, she gets it the following day after everyone has finished eating and the dishes have been cleaned. This way she doesn't associate people eating with a treat or food. 

The other thing I decided was that my if I got a ridgeback, she wouldn't get fat. I think fat dogs are largely the result of too much "people food" rather than consumption of too much dog food or not enough exercise. Feeding dogs "people food" makes them fat. 

But, despite my best efforts, the little devil, still managed to get treats from me. Yep, I give her "people food". But you won't believe what kind. See I thought I was being smart, I thought if I tried giving her something I didn't like to eat when she was young, she might learn that the food I ate tasted yucky, I thought it tasted yucky. I happened to be eating raw snap peas. So as I sat crunching some snap peas in my mouth I decided to give one to my 2 month old puppy. I was sure she wouldn't eat it. I knew I didn't want to eat it. 

I was totally wrong. That dog chewed on the snap pea and swallowed it without a thought. I was shocked, so I handed her another pea... Again she ate it, and now she was wagging her tail and looking at me expectantly. 

I expect most dogs to ravenously enjoy foods like meat, chocolate (despite being poisonous), potatoes chips, you know, things that are savory, sweet, or salty. I do not expect a typical dog to ravenously chomp down and wag their tail for vegetables. 

Over the next couple of years I learned a thing or two about the ridgeback palate. It is a fallacy that because Rhodesian Ridgebacks are in the hound family they will eat anything. I have found Emma to be extremely picky. I have been through dozens of different types of dog foods trying to find one that doesn't use her stomach causing her to vomit or have deadly (to my nose) gas. Seriously, terrorists knew how potent that gas was... I have repeatedly been shocked by the things this dog will not touch and the things she loves to eat. 

Here is a list of her favorite foods that I think are odd for a dog:

1. Snap peas, every time I get these out she expects to get some.

2. Carrots, she loves carrots as much as she does snap peas, maybe more. I use baby carrots for training

3. Grapes and raisins - she ate an entire container of raisins once by accident when she broke into a closet and discovered them. (WARNING: Raisins and grapes are toxic to dogs - If your dog ingests raisins or grapes please seek medical attention)

4. Celery, not as much as carrots or snap peas, but she will eat a stalk of celery 

5. Ice cubes, she loves ice cubes 

6. Apples, one time I stepped into the bathroom for a minute and when I came back my apple core was missing, she had of course eaten it. She loves apples 

7. Peppers, when she was a pup she got pieces of bell pepper which she loved. Recently she broke into the garden and stole one of the growing bell peppers off of the plant. 

At this point I would also like to mention that she has been trained to eat the following terrors:

Spiders

Flies

Bees/Wasps

Other bugs

All I have to do is point out the moving target and she either squishes it with her paw or eats it. This has come in handy a number of times. I highly recommend "bug training" your dog if you haven't already. It makes dealing with those little surprises very easy. 

She also found and caught two skunks by the time she was six months old (in the city) which I believe was payback for all the spiders I make her kill. 

Is that a Ridgeback?

The question I get asked most often by people when I am out and about, "Is that a ridgeback?". Yes it is I enthusiastically reply.

This question is always followed up with a garage of questions about the breed. Sometimes people have read a bit about them or seen something on TV. Most people know that these dogs were used to hunt lions. I definitely get asked that a lot.

Without fail, the question people ask most is if Rhodesian Ridgebacks are like labs. Every time they ask this I try not to chuckle. It's kind of a ridiculous question in the first place. "No they are nothing like labs" I always reply. These dogs are way better than labs. But I don't tell people that.

I don't tell them how much better ridgebacks are than labradors because quite simply, this amazing creature is not for everyone. And if your dog of choice is a labrador, then a ridgeback might not be best for you. 

Now there are a hundred of websites and forums where this has been stated but none of them say why. What makes the breed out of Africa so different from a lab? Ok here it is in one word, attachment. 

My dog Emma goes everywhere with me. In a given month there are only a handful of days when she isn't by my side. If I go out to a restaurant I usually sit outside with my dog. If I go for a vacation, she goes with me. We are inseparable, and this isn't just because I'm a crazy dog nut. Emma is so attached to me that she has panic attacks when I leave. If I go on a vacation for a a week she gets depressed and will hardly go outside. From talking to vets and other ridgeback owners I have discerned that this isn't something wrong with my dog, it's just how the Rhodesian Ridgebacks are. They attach to their owner in a way that is very unique to the breed. 

If I'm gone for more than an hour she acts as though I have been gone for years, greeting me by nearly knocking me over and licking with affection. She then quite decidedly follows me around the house. 

If I am watching TV and I get up to get a drink she wakes up from her nearby slumber to follow me. Moving to another room, she's moving with me. Wherever I go she follows instinctually. I take her to the dog park frequently, sometimes I hide behind a tree or something. Within minutes of loosing sight of me, Emma panics and begins searching frantically for me. These are not trained habits, they are breed traits. 

The odd thing is, after two years I have come to love my little shadow. If she doesn't follow me somewhere around the house I start to wonder where she is. Not having her with me out and about leaves me feeling kind of alone. 

As I write this and think about it, it sounds kind of crazy nuts to me. But if you have ever owned one of these creatures you will know exactly what I am thinking about. Please add your comments below. 

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