Tag Archives: rhodesian ridgeback

A family photo

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The Roberts bunch – Tia (left), Themba (centre) and Tara

Dear Zak,

I have to admit that it took a fair bit of doing to get them all together. Eventually Marianne had to go the bribery route as is appropriate for Zimbabwe. It took a biscuit and you can see Themba’s response. He’s our very own King of Drool!

Tara has settled down nicely, she no longer scratches compulsively. When we go walking at Komani she and Zak go running off together hoping to put up a francolin or guinea fowl. She’s fast, almost as fast as Themba though neither are as fast as you were. Yes, she lives up to her Goromonzi Greyhound “breed” description!

Tia has become and old dog. She still enjoys a gentle run but often just watches Themba and Tara race around. We lift her in and out of the truck now as she’s hurt her back a few times jumping in and out. Marianne says she’s becoming a bit fat. I think she’s exaggerating but anyway, she’s earned the right to a bit of comfort.

Now that the rains have started we are going out to Komani airstrip more often as the ART road can be very slippery even for a 4×4. It is a bit further but makes for more free running as there are no barbed wire fences for Themba to get gashed on.

We haven’t seen any reedbuck on ART for quite some time. I did hear from the manager that they’d caught a gang of poachers with dogs trying to do a bit of hunting on the farm. Do you remember the herds of reedbuck that you used to chase? Those were the days!

That’s all my beautiful boy. Miss you as always.

Rhodesian Ridgebacks to Russia

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Dear Zak,

We met someone you’d have liked this afternoon – he loves his Ridgebacks!

Yuri is a Russian geologist who specialises in lithium and his contract has expired so he has to go back home. He has two lovely Ridgeback males that he has fallen in love with and would really like to take them home but didn’t know if it’s possible. We have got in touch with a company that specialises in moving pets around the world and they say that it certainly is but it won’t be cheap. There is also a challenge of finding an airline that will fly from Dubai to Russia because of the war with Ukraine.

The dogs are locally bred (he got them from someone else – not the breeder), brothers and inseparable. Before we came up with the plan to move them back to Russia Yuri said he wanted them adopted as a pair. Yuri comes from the south of Russia near the Caucasus mountains. He said they hunt wolves in the area. When I suggested he crossed one of his dogs with a wolf he replied “None of the locals would like me if I did that”.

When we asked Yuri when he was leaving he replied “I should have already left but I am looking for a solution for my dogs first”. We liked him. A lot.

Love you.

Bone Sunday

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Dear Zak,

Yes, it’s a traditional Sunday – a longer sleep in for us and bones for the dogs. Themba is not quite as obsessed with his bone as the others and will ask to get let back into the house before we are even fully dressed. Standards have definitely changed since your day – Marianne most certainly does NOT allow bones on the bed – so all bones must be left outside. Greeta will chew hers for a long time, Tia too but Themba is not that obsessed with his.

Everyone definitely knows that it’s Sunday and there’s often a bit of a false start when Greeta jumps up on the bed and Themba gets up to stretch. Marianne will ignore the hint and the culprits are told in no uncertain terms to go back to sleep. It only works once.

We are going away in September to the UK to see Duncan and friends and off to Italy for six days to see an old army buddy who made contact through my other blog. I have never been to Italy so am looking forward to seeing a new place – the house is in Cortona. We are hiring a dog-sitter to look after Themba, Tia and Greeta; yes he’s looked after them before and we are much happier with him than sending them out to a kennel.

It’s been a funny old winter – not very cold at all. We are still going out to ART farm early in the morning and it can be quite cold down in the vlei on the way there. On Monday it was 20C but by midday it was 28! The lands where we walk have had maize growing on them last season so the cattle have been put in to clean up the old stover. I’m not sure why they’d be interested in old, dry maize trash but they are and there’s a lot of dung around as a result. Themba and Tia love eating it! Why I cannot imagine, they get a VERY good diet at home and both Marianne and I find it infuriating. I don’t recall you ever being interested in dung but then my memory is not what it used to be which is one reason to keep going with this blog. One day I might need to rely on it and of course I’ll think of you and smile.

Love you.

A runner in the making

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Themba at the end of run – enjoying it!

Dear Zak,

Themba is becoming a runner! I don’t think he will ever have the passion for it that you did and I certainly hope he doesn’t develop your habit of running at the front of the truck when I was being too slow.

We let him and Tia out on the road where we used to let you out but Themba is more interested in sorting her out than running. Tia, poor girl, was never a runner anyway but now she’s getting old, as you can see by the colour of her muzzle. It’s not really running weather either at it’s getting quite warm even at six in the morning. Having a long coat of hair doesn’t make it any easier. We are going to let Themba run the first section by himself on Monday and see how it goes. Who knows, we might have a runner in the making.

Love you as always.

Themba and Tia after a cooling dip in the night storage dam

Themba the Protector

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Themba (right) with a protective paw on Tia

Dear Zak,

The highest priority to once we got back from the UK was to go and pick up Themba and Tia from Rose van der Ruit’s boarding setup out in Ruwa. Rose was in South Africa at the time. We got there and they were both predictably excited to see us. Rose was not there but we got loaded up and got home as fast as I could safely drive with Themba on Marianne’s lap as he refused point blank to sit behind the seats.

When asked how they’d been Rose replied that they’d been fine but she had to be careful with Themba getting over-protective of Tia with other dogs around. It’s not something we’ve noticed too much of but he does have this rather cute habit of putting a paw on my arm – I think it’s more to get my attention than being protective though.

Love you

Winter’s closing gasp

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Themba traps the warmth

Dear Zak,

I think summer might just have broken winter’s grasp. Last Friday there was ice and frost everywhere at the Wag Zone. Like any good Ridgeback Themba likes his sunny spot by the back of the garage which you also frequented.

I have been busy collecting and tidying up photos for the Rhodesian Ridgeback Centennial which is next Saturday at the Wag Zone. I didn’t have the final say in the photos chosen and the collage below is not the final by a long way but you certainly feature my handsome boy (and Jenni, Kharma, Tina, Roxy and Themba). So far we haven’t had a great response as rather a lot of people are choosing to go away in the school holidays rather than attend an important occasion like this. Odd priorities.

They are all there, the special RRs of mine!

Despite all his training Themba is not great with other Ridgeback males. Two weekends ago I took him along to the Wag Zone whilst I took photos of other dogs and got rather provocative with another male. It was all a dominance thing and no real aggression but I’m not at all sure I’ll take him along on the day, especially as all the dogs need to be on leashes. I’ll decide on the day depending on how many other dogs are there. I know you would have been beautifully behaved!

Love you as always.

Smiler Girl

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Big, gentle Roxy

Dear Zak,

There were three biscuits as usual on the sink this morning. I unlocked the back door but there was no gentle mouth by my left hand when I let it fall to my side, waiting to take the biscuit from it. Roxy was not there. My Smiler Girl is gone.

We took Roxy to the vet yesterday morning after a particularly energetic visit to the Wag Zone where I took these photos. She’d been diagnosed a month or so back with liver cancer and Marianne had to giver her chemotherapy drugs as well as a very complicated diet in light of her pancreatitis. At first she coped but recently had become very picky and was eating less and less and losing weight. The vet redid the ultrasound scan and the news was not good – the cancer had spread and was aggressive. The decision was made to stop the chemotherapy, bring her home and spoil her with whatever she really liked to eat for the few weeks she was estimated to have left.

Around 10 p.m. last night she became very distressed and was clearly bloated and in a lot of pain. We rushed her back to the vet who diagnosed gastric torsion (which saw the end of Jenni all those years ago) and Marianne made the decision to let her go. She was not even seven years old. Poor girl, she did not have good luck with her health even when she was younger.

I will miss her big, goofy smile with ears curled back that greeted me when I came home. Smiler. Run free soft girl. I stroked her soft muzzle one last time then we laid her to rest next to you my boy.

Run Smiler

Themba – the dog on a log

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A dog on the log – Themba’s training is bearing fruit

Dear Zak,

I really think all Themba’s training is starting to mean something! Yesterday I took him to work without Tia for the first time. He behaved, sort of, if one discounts peeing on my truck tyres, Fabian’s motorbike wheel (twice) and barking at people he knows. He did stay within 10 metres of me while I walked around the nursery and even went up and down the stairs all by himself. Yes, you learnt to do that while you were still a puppy but Themba is different in a very Ridgeback way. He even got into the cab of the truck without having to be bribed.

On the way out to Emerald Seedlings he sat in the back area behind the seats just like you used to do – looking out the windscreen to see what was going on. It didn’t last long but maybe in time he’ll get the idea.

Early morning walk at the Wag Zone. Marianne, Themba, Roxy and Tia rooting around in the grass.

Roxy, poor girl, is not well. The vet thinks she might have pancreatic cancer but he cannot be sure with the imaging equipment he has. Always on the chubby side now she is thin and struggling to keep the weight on. She still in good spirits though and enjoys outings to the Wag Zone twice a week. We haven’t been to ART Farm since I’ve been in hospital. One day, maybe, Themba will learn to run with the truck like you used to. I used to love watching you run.

Miss you as always…

Themba – getting possessive

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Themba (right) and Lunde get to grips Ridgeback style

Dear Zak,

It’s been a while since I last wrote; by way of excuse I’ve had lower back surgery so haven’t been doing much with Themba. He has been entertaining us though and just after I got out of hospital he did make me very proud.

Marianne had gone out shopping and hired a retired nurse to come in for an hour or two to keep an eye on me as I was not mobile at all and needed help to get to the bathroom, especially as I had a vacuum dressing device attached to my back which had to be carried around with me.

Themba was on the be next to me when the nurse came up the passage. Neither of us had met her before. Themba was not impressed and started barking even before he could see her. It wasn’t aggressive barking and fortunately she was unfazed but he was still not impressed. He even growled when she got me to stand up from the bed. Then Mike the electrician came in to fit a surge protector on the solar inverter and he barked at him too even though he has met him several times. I was so proud of him!

Feeling very pleased with himself having told-off the nurse and electrician for getting too close

I have only just started getting around in the car by myself so we haven’t been going to ART farm. Marianne has been going to the Wag Zone twice a week with the girls and Themba. They inevitably come back dirty. Tia of course cannot resist going into the ponds and now that they are low they are very muddy.

This morning I had a meeting to discuss the upcoming 100th anniversary of the local Ridgeback Club. We are known as the parent club because Rhodesia, as Zimbabwe was known then, is where Rhodesian Ridgebacks were first bred and the club was formed in Bulawayo back in 1922. A gathering is planned on 13th August at the Wag Zone where people will bring along their dogs for a photo shoot and general celebration of the “national dog”. I don’t think such a title exists anywhere in the world though curiously the South Africans like to claim the Rhodesian Ridgeback as theirs!

Pearly whites – just for show

Lunde, who is owned by the chairman, and Themba got on and played while the rest of us discussed the business. Themba has met her several times before but initially was very defensive of “his” car and took a while to get out. Fortunately Lunde is very friendly and ignored the growling and barking. Later Lunde heard something to bark at and Themba, ever the fierce lion hunter, chose to defend me from the safety of my lap!

The fierce lion-hunter shows his true colours

Ah well, discretion is the better part of valour.

Love you as always.

Themba at six months

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The half birthday

Dear Zak,

Themba has gained his half birthday! No more midday meals, he gets what the others get now. That doesn’t mean that he’s slowed down growing. I used to think he wasn’t going to be a big dog and I still don’t think he will be as tall as you but I do think he’ll get to Roxy’s size. We have no idea how heavy he is but he has long ago surpassed Tia – mind you, she is not a heavy dog.

We got a trainer in this week as we were having difficulty getting him to jump into the back of the truck, which he can do easily enough when he feels like it, when we are going somewhere. Coming home is another story; he just sits and looks uninterested. I have taken him to work on two occasions and had to get Fabian to lift him into the cab when it was time to come home. He struggled with the stairs too. Did them once and never again. Not like you – you were so pleased with yourself for working it out (actually, it was Kharma who showed you how) that you kept going up and down them until I called you off.

Now we are using the upturned crate to get him into the truck that we used for both Kharma and you when your cancer got too bad. He’s got the idea and even got into the truck at the Wag Zone on Thursday morning. We’ll see if the trend continues as the trainer said that now he’s becoming a teenager he’s likely to get difficult. A Ridgeback difficult? Never!

Actually he’s pretty good. We had two long recalls at the Wag Zone which we were impressed with. Now I just have to get him used to the idea that not everything is his!

Are you sure those are not for me?

He had his first bone this morning. There’s no real reason we waited this long. We made sure Roxy was not around and Marianne said she did her usual drama queen act; carrying her bone around the house and whining until it was taken away. I did watch Themba in the garden in case he thought of going to see what Tia was up to (she’d have given him plenty of warning to push off) but he was engrossed in his and made a good job of sorting it out. Then we did a tour of the garden where I picked some mealies that he thought he’d like too (above).

Giving his first bone the attention it deserves.

We are coming to the end of the rains although there is a bit predicted for later in the day. The fence around the muddy corner of the garden has been taken down and the trees have grown well over your grave so it’s a really shady spot now.

Miss you as always.