[lit-ideas] Dogos, Ridgebacks & wilder creatures
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Lit-Ideas " <Lit-Ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2008 10:40:13 -0700
Eric:
I can sympathize with your situation. One of my girls could easily get into
that sort of trouble. Ginger will be 5 this coming May and exhibits none of
the characteristics the books associate with the Rhodesian Ridgeback. She
loves other dogs. When she was younger she used to ingratiate herself to
other dogs she wanted to play with by groveling - very embarrassing. She
hasn't done that in a long time because most dogs don't seriously challenge
her anymore because of her size. She looks a lot like Trooper who was a
very muscular 95 pounds in his prime, but she is nothing like him. A
dog-aggressive dog might be able to get the jump on her; however I have two
dogs and so the DA dog wouldn't be able to focus on just Ginger.
I shouldn't have gotten my second Ridgeback (Sage who will be 3 in May) from
the same breeder. She promised that Sage would be a good watchdog,
something that Ginger is not, and I guess Sage meets minimum standards; that
is, she will bark if she hears someone at the door (something Ginger won't
do), but Sage is skittish around other dogs and not suspicious of strangers.
Whenever I walk them in the neighborhood I have them on leash, but a lot of
people walk their dogs off leash so we are regularly being confronted by a
neighborhood dog, unless I walk girls late at night. Fortunately none of
our confrontations have been dogs who are dog-aggressive.
I've never used a dog park, but I did notice one down by our local Dog Pound
recently and asked about it. They asked if I was over 65 and upon learning
that I was told me the fee would be $50 a year. I then asked, "why do
people use it, to socialize their dogs?" She told me that the primary
reason was for people who lived in apartments who didn't have back yards and
weren't up to walking their dogs. There were perhaps 5 or 6 dogs in the
park and several people sitting on the benches talking to each other. That
didn't look at all appealing to me, but I thought that if I got another dog,
taking him to a dog park might be a good way to get him socialized - if I
didn't want to go to the trouble of going through a formal training class.
Any dog I have is going to be expected to do three things 1) be a watch dog,
2) be protective if necessary, 3) be capable of defending itself against
stray dogs or coyotes. Trooper satisfied all three requirements and after
I lost him (at age 12) I intended to seek out another male like Trooper but
Susan talked me into getting a female, and then when Ginger fell short and I
wanted a second shot at getting another Trooper, she talked me into Sage.
Sage fits the first requirement but may fail at 2 & 3. Ginger fails all
these requirements - probably, or perhaps I should say "perhaps." Neither
girl has been put to any sort of test in regard to being protective and
there are some who know the breed who assure me that should such a test ever
arise, they will meet it. I say "perhaps," and I don't count on it, and I
shall try harder to get another Trooper next time.
In the meantime, people we encounter at night see a 185 pound man walking
two large dogs and they veer out of our way. They don't know we are all
wimps; so we still "own the night." But if they are walking a dog off
leash, their dog may come over to check us out. And then the dog's owner,
after discovering that his dog hasn't been instantly killed, will crank up
his courage and come over to retrieve it. "Sorry," he will say, because we
do have a leash law even though no one enforces it in backwards San Jacinto.
As in the case of the Dogo Argentino, I am aware that there are some strains
of the Rhodesian Ridgeback that are not at all like my girls. This breed
has been used as a Police Dog in South Africa, and to guard the Kimberly
Diamond mines. Also, farmers had good success using these dogs to guard
their farms against hyenas, leopards and thieves. Here in the U.S. there
isn't much need of that. We only need them to look pretty at dog shows, so
I will probably have to work hard to get an American Rhodesian Ridgeback who
will meet my three requirements.
A Dogo Argentino might more readily meet them, being much newer to the U.S.
I read that since dog breeders haven't been messing with them that much that
the incidence of genetic disease is low. Deafness is the big worry with the
Dogo Argentino. But I'm not sure I would want the hassle of having a dog
everyone else thought was a giant pit bull.
The Standard for both the Ridgeback and the Dogo includes getting along well
with other dogs. They are both classified as hounds and hounds hunt in
packs. I have seen pictures of Ridgebacks hunting havalina much as Dogos
hunt boar in Argentina. Ginger would love being in a pack. Sage wouldn't.
I suspect that neither of them would do well against a havalina. Although I
might be surprised. They have the speed and agility to do well and they do
like to chase rabbits down at the river. I can imagine them darting in and
out the way I've seen pictures of Ridgebacks and Dogos do. I just can't
imagine either of them grabbing hold of a havalina or a wild boar. See the
following for an example of what I'm talking about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d3MFpWIYW4&feature=related
Here's a YouTube that purports to be a Pit Bull fighting with a Dogo, but it
looks to me like they're playing. I see scenes like this in my backyard
almost every day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=364-Zhft2gs&NR=1
Lawrence Helm
San Jacinto
>>Eric, what breed of dog did you have that was attacked by the pit bull?
German Shepherd-Doberman mix ... very gentle. Dogs are always on the leash
in NYC unless in a dog run. A rescue I had trained for several years.
The suddenness was part of the trauma. She was playing with the pit bull in
the dog run. Next second, a yelp, the pit had her by the throat. I ran
toward the locked pair. By the time I got there, my dog was silent.
Grappled pit down, locked its head, and started spear punching its temples
and nose, breaking its back leg. It seemed timeless ... horrible to be
wailing away at an animal with all one's strength to no effect.
More horrible to realize that even though I had knocked it out, it still
kept its death grip.
Started eye-gouging with thumb and index point, and the involuntary reflex
finally -- how many years had gone by? -- forced its jaws open.
Only then did I hear the other people in the dog-run screaming at the lady
who had brought the pit bull. My dog was crumpled in the wood chips for a
while panting in a whining rasp tone. I carried her home in my arms. She
never played with other dogs again.
Eric
Other related posts:
- » [lit-ideas] Dogos, Ridgebacks & wilder creatures
