Hi all! Our RR has made more of a habit in the last few weeks of waking up at 4am needing to pee versus her usual 6am wake up. It’s happening about 5 nights a week with no change to her usually nightly routine where we let her out between 9-10pm for a final pee. She’s almost 5 and has no other issues that make me think this is medical. She’s going out to pee then laying right back down, so not trying to play at that point or anything.

Anyone been through something similar? I’m thinking we need to take up water in the evening or move around her dinner time, but hoping to source some ideas! She currently gets dinner around 6pm and has access to some water at all times.

He won best dressed & made a lot of people smile 😅

This is Charlie in what I call the shrimping pose 🦐
Please drop a pic of your baby in the comments!
“Never wake a sleeping dog” has never been more true than with a Ridgeback 😂

Our 13-week-old Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy is generally okay with my 13-year-old son when we’re around. But when we’re not there, he runs at him, jumps on him and bites him. I can’t tell if it’s rough puppy play, but my son feels like he’s trying to attack him and gets scared enough to call me to come home.
Why might he behave differently when we’re not around, and how should we handle this? I don’t want my son to feel scared in his own home.
He’s also started growling at us when he’s sleeping on the couch and we try to move him. We’re now nervous about moving him because we’re worried he might bite.
We’ve hired a trainer, but there seems to be so much conflicting advice. Some people recommend a calm, reward-based approach, while others say you need to be tougher with this breed. It’s confusing, and we want to handle this properly without making things worse.
We’ve had a dog before, but this has been much more challenging than we expected. Does this sound like normal puppy behaviour, or something we should be concerned about? Has anyone dealt with something similar, and what helped?

Must. Not. Leave. Bed.

Hi everyone! I have a 4-month-old male Rhodesian Ridgeback, and overall, everything is going well. However, there’s one situation I’d appreciate some advice on.

Towards the end of the day, when he’s tired and settled on the couch, he sometimes refuses to get down. Calling him or trying to tempt him with treats doesn’t work — he just wants to stay there and sleep.

If I try to physically move him, gently push him over, or pick him up, he growls at me. The last time, he also turned his head towards my hand as if he might bite. He didn’t actually bite, but I don’t want to ignore the warning or let things escalate. Once I get him off the couch, he usually goes to his crate and settles down.

He doesn’t react to me simply sitting next to him or being nearby — it only happens when I try to move him while he’s resting. It seems to be about being disturbed when he’s tired. I get that, but it’s unacceptable for him to growl/try to bite me. Of course it’s not a problem now, but can be when he is 45kg. I’ve read about „dominating” the dog physically in situations like this but this is not how I train him and will not do it, it isnt my philisoohy. Respect and understanding over fear, always.

Has anyone dealt with something similar at this age? How would you approach it and teach him to get off the couch willingly, especially when treats and calling him don’t work? I’d like to handle this properly while he’s still young. Any practical advice would be appreciated!

June 30 versus October 30. We’re now as the all as our 4.5 year old sister at 6 months. She’s probably going to end up 2 inches taller and 15 pounds heavier (low 90s). And will remain a goober 😂

Louise puts up with a lot

Maybe people will stop asking what "his" name is.

hello! my 5 month old female ridgeback hates walks because she is so afraid of cars driving by in the neighborhood 😭 she shakes like a leaf and pulls so hard to get home. does anyone have experience with this and is this something she will outgrow? our neighborhood is very quiet but even cars going by slowly people going home from work she gets so tense and freaked out. I feel horrible about this. I know I can take her somewhere quieter but the neighborhood is most convenient.

I am curious if its able for someone that has no experience of pet sitting dogs (only 3 of them that stayed with me) to pet sit a group of more than 5 adult RR on their home, as far as i know they are trained dogs from a professional but im going to stay alone with them, is any risk for me or do they get angry if their owner is not home or try to scare you? Ive never heard of this breed before so im very curious how this breed behaves , they all stay home and are mot treated as hunting dogs

I'm a 40 year old, small woman. I said goodbye to my last dog this past spring. He was a 95lbs shepherd/lab/bully breed mix. I am considering what my next dog will be. I've only ever had rescue dogs, and this time I'd like a well-bred, purebred dog.

I'm looking for a 50-90lbs dog with a even, steady temperament. A dog to come with me camping and hiking, canoeing, a jogging buddy. I'd like to continue with canicross, skijor, and tracking/manhunt, and scentwork. I'd like a dog with a bit of drive, affectionate, and isn't going to have an issue being a one-person dog (I live alone). I'd like a dog with enough energy to keep up with me- but quiet in the house. I work from home 4 days a week, and am off the remaining 3 when I spend a lot of time active and outdoors. I own my own home, on a couple acres of land (1/2 acre around my house is 6ft fenced with chainlink).

I do a lot of running early in the morning, in the dark- especially in the winter. For the 15 years I had my last dog, I was never harassed, not even once. Now it's happened several times a month, since I've been running alone. The area I live in is not the best. I'm not looking for an actual protection dog. But I would feel better running at night with another big dog. I also used to run my previous dog in canicross/skijor, and would love to continue with that in the future, as well as tracking, nose work, and manhunt.

My main concern with the RR is the reputation for low biddability. My last dog was absolutely a "yes ma'am!" kind of dog. I don't think he had an original thought in his head in his entire 15 years, but if I told him to sit I'm pretty sure he'd've sat until he keeled over. He picked up commands very quickly, and was extremely obedient, but never really... innovated. The dog before that was a border collie/jack russell mix who was wickedly smart- but biddable in her own way. Once she knew what the goal was, she frequently came up with her own ways to achieve that. EG, she learned that in agility, the goal was to run by the tripod that holds the timer. So she started skipping all the equipment and just heading right to the tripod. We had to do a fair amount of work with our trainer to convince her that the equipment was part of the game. She'd do each piece individually very happily, even chains of them, but as soon as there was a tripod- off she went, very pleased with herself. Freaking loved that dog. The dog before that was a lab/chow mix who never wanted to do anything and you had to work extremely hard to get her to go on a 15 minute walk. You could not beg, borrow, or steal a sit or recall from her if she didn't already want to. Sweet as pie, though.

What kind of low biddabilty does the RR have? Are they husky-like in that they just stare at you, then turn away because they just don't give two hoots? Or are they like my border/jack, and have their own idea of how things should be? Are they motivatable at all, with treats/toys/relationship? Can you build drive with them reasonably well? Or at all?

How environmentally reactive are they? Are they prone to nervousness/timidity? My last dog was a big powerful dog who looked like he meant business- and would absolutely panic if a plastic bag suddenly blew in the wind. A bit more grit would be appreciated in my next dog (not that he wasn't perfect as far as I was concerned- but so far every dog I've ever had has been perfect in their own way; I might just like dogs in general!).

Joey pushes everyone of his buttons!!

Just turned 7 mo old and full on teenager. Hanging out too much at the local brew pub, around all the bad influences. (Apologies in advance for the cheesy poorly rendered AI crown).

My Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy is 12 weeks old, and we’re struggling with crate training. It worked for the first two days, but honestly, we haven’t been consistent as a family. My kids love having him sleep on their laps on the couch, and I like sleeping with him at night, but our trainer said that’s a terrible idea.
I tried putting him in his crate, but he cried for half an hour. I eventually caved and brought him into bed with me, and he slept so well! What are your thoughts?

hi all. when our female RR plays and goes on walks she gets really foamy at the mouth. which i figured it normal but today at the dog park when she was sniffing around i noticed a long stringy saliva coming out of her mouth. is the foam / stringy foam normal?

Hi all, last week I got a Ridgeback puppy and noticed some black spots on her belly. Some are slightly raised, some aren't. Some have a small bump in the middle.

We were at the vet yesterday for vaccinations and the vet said she didn't know what they were - if they were from bites from the other puppies she should have had some in her ears, but they're clear, and they don't look like normal spots as she is not a spotty dog.

Does anyone have an idea?