Tag Archives: rhodesian ridgeback

Themba the otter

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Webbed paw and all…

Dear Zak,

We think Themba might be crossed with an otter. He even has webbed paws (actually all dogs have partially webbed paws) and has taken to swimming like, well, an otter!

We got the fence around the pool taken down a couple of weeks back as he wasn’t looking like he’d be very keen on swimming and I thought that even if he did fall in he’s big enough to easily get out at the steps, we’d just have to keep an eye on him. He was certainly interested in the fish ponds though. When Tia swam he’d dip a paw or two into the water at the steps but nothing more. Then one day he got right into the pool – all four paws. Then he was right in and he’ll swim most days after tea in the afternoon. He gets quite carried away and will swim right to the deep end and back.

You were never a fan of water and Kim hated it but would swim after me if I went into a dam. Jenni of course would run through any puddle she could find and though she’d go into the night storage dam I never actually saw her swim. Kharma was indifferent to water.

Waiting to go, anywhere will do.

Themba has also picked up on the waiting in the car tradition started by Tina. So far I have only taken him a short way into Avondale to pick up seeds from my supplier. Like you he likes to come along for the ride. This afternoon he barked at the person who came to delver the seed. I pretended to be a bit cross but was secretly quite pleased that he was feeling a bit territorial. He can get into the front of the truck easy enough and into the back if he feels like it, which is once so far!

He will be six months old in three weeks time. We haven’t weighed him recently but he’s at least as tall as Tia and I should think 25kg or so. I don’t think he will be as tall as you. He has a bark that I think will match yours and uses it a lot when playing with Tia but with Roxy he’s completely quiet.

Love you as always.

Themba – Where has the puppy gone?

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The gas machine is no longer a puppy

Dear Zak,

We haven’t weighed Themba this week – he is simply too heavy for Marianne to pick up. That makes him over 20kg, so really he’s not a puppy any more. The behaviour is still there though and he has developed an alarming affinity to steal and destroy toilet rolls which are no longer safe on their holders (or anywhere else for that matter). He’s also starting to chew furniture which reminds me of Kim, my first Ridgeback, who chewed some borrowed furniture when I was working in Chinhoyi way back in 1991. I was mortified but fortunately the owner found it funny. I suppose this is just the start of the teething process. He’s lost a few of his milk teeth but I can’t easily see any adult teeth coming through. It doesn’t help that holding him still must be a lot like holding an eel still, nearly impossible.

Since the last blog there has been a few altercations (one sided) with Roxy. I thought she wasn’t herself so we took her off to the vet and yes, she was in pain from the spondylitis in her spine and that was likely making her grouchy. So she’s been on anti-pain medication and CBD oil which helped Kharma so much in her final months. No more punch-ups. So far so good.

The training is coming on well. He can now jump up on a log on command and will leave a treat for a while at least. Not up to your record as yet but he’ll get there. His obsession with food does exceed yours though and is a bit of a problem when it comes to getting him away from the kitchen door at meal times. We are going to have to work on that one as getting past him without him barging through must be controlled. Kharma was of course the Barge Queen!

We got in a slow-feeder bowl from South Africa which has slowed his feeding down considerably but he has not learned to respect other’s food. Last week it was raining at meal time so Tia was given her bowl by the kitchen sink. Themba left his food, ran over to Tia’s, and stuck his nose into her bowl. Unfortunately she did nothing. Roxy, as you found out, would not tolerate that. We haven’t even risked giving out bones on Sundays so far but I’m going to persuade Marianne that we cannot put it off any longer.

I developed the Covid ‘flu this week. The symptoms are relatively mild but I’ve had to isolate into your bedroom. Themba was delighted as he gets to sleep on the bed with me. In the main room we have discouraged that, not least because there will be no room on the bed once he gets big but also Roxy is not keen on sharing her sleeping space. During the day it’s not a problem but night time – no! The downside for me is that he farts a lot. Marianne has been buying chicken “matumbos” i.e. guts, in an effort to reduce the meat bill which is substantial but we’ve decided to give it a break and see if that makes a difference. They smell bad enough when cooking never mind after being processed by Themba. Right now I’m thinking we should have called him BOC or HandiGas.

I was looking at the background photo on my phone this week. Of course it’s of you my boy, looking regal as ever. I wondered if I could ever change it – I certainly don’t have the courage to let you go just yet.

Love you as always.

Four-square

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Themba standing four-square and showing his potential

Dear Zak,

Themba has had a busy few weeks since I last wrote. We went back to see Fynn who was delighted to meet us again and they had a boisterous time until Themba suffered the ultimate indignity of being “beaten up” by a cantankerous old sausage dog! No contact was made but Themba yowled long and loud. How embarrassing. Well, that was the end of the play date and as it was a Friday afternoon it was time to make out way back home again.

We also had another play date with a Labrador, Ollie, of six months. He was clueless. It didn’t start well with both him and another adult Lab mobbing both of us before we’d even got out of the pickup. It took a while for things to settle down.

Ollie is not much bigger than Themba but has absolutely no idea about play etiquette and kept running straight into Themba and knocking him over. Themba eventually got fed up and told him so. Not an entirely wasted session as he has to know how to deal with dogs who are like Ollie!

Where has the little puppy gone? 16.5kg and growing…

Themba is still maintaining a weight gain of a kg per week. Now he’s 16.5kg and the little puppy of eight weeks ago is long gone. He still has that cute puppy waddle but is running more like an adult dog now – no scampering. We got him a special bowl with lumps in it to slow down his eating which I think was even faster than yours. It’s slowed him down a bit but he’s working out how to speed the gobble up again.

Roxy and Themba seem to have come to an agreement; she growls when warning and he takes notice. There haven’t been any confrontations this past week so hopefully the snap-and-yowl is mostly behind us. We are careful when food is around to keep them separate but have yet to cross the bone bridge. We’ll get to it along with swimming pool awareness training.

We took the whole pack to a newish dog park in Highlands yesterday to get a bit of exposure to meeting other dogs and for quite a while were the only ones there. I guess it was early for a Saturday. Some Beagles arrived just before we left and all was fine though Roxy seemed a bit anxious. She’ll get used to it.

A warm, hairy chin-rest in the form of Tia. Life cannot be too bad.

Training is going well though Themba has learnt to anticipate when he is going to be called by either Marianne or myself. We’ve even tried code words such as “Thursday” or, “after this command” but he even recognizes those and bolts to the next person before we’ve finished. A clever little boy. Mind you we are using very high value treats; biltong bits.

Themba – in training

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I think I’ve had enough of this leash thing

Dear Zak,

Themba is 13 weeks old today and on Friday he weighed 13 kilograms. That’s a kilogram a week that he’s put on since we got him. Yes, he loves his food just like you did and we are seriously considering getting him a special bowl just to slow him down a bit.

The training has started in earnest and we are making progress. He’s not so keen on the walking on a leash but will recall to a treat quite successfully and has learnt to sit and lie down. Fetching has never been a strong instinct for ridgebacks but Themba will give it a go if he’s fetching a treat.

There have been a few hiccups. He plays with Roxy quite nicely but she can be over-reactive and there have been a few squealing fits when she over-did her disciplining. She can also be a bit heavy-pawed in the playing and has squashed him on a couple of occasions. Cheryl said just to ignore it and let them get to know the rules but Marianne has decided to get a dog behaviourist in tomorrow to give us some tips. Themba has got a bit of a dent on top of his head from Roxy – we didn’t see what happened but it looks like there are two bite marks on her chest so maybe he got carried away. We’ll see how it goes.

Tia can get a bit excited when playing but she does give him plenty of warning when she’s had enough and we’ve never heard him yelp when playing with her.

Playing by the rules – this time

On Christmas Day we went to Jeanette’s and took along Themba to play with her Django. He’s seven months old, big and very boisterous ridgeback. I’d been over a few days earlier to make introductions and Jeanette had brought in a dog trainer who works with military dogs and mine detection dogs to give tips and advice. Django was kept under control and it was all fine on the day. Luckily he is a gentle fellow despite all his energy and with a couple of exceptions, when Django had to be reined-in, they played well.

We have started Themba on short walks on the farm now that he’s had all his vaccinations and has a tick repellent. Marianne insists on putting a harness on him for easy handling but he doesn’t like it and last week just sat down an refused to move with it on. He’ll get used to it.

Themba

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Themba

Dear Zak,
We picked Themba up from the airport a week ago. Not quite the same place that you arrived at but he’d also had a long day and was crying a lot so Marianne went to chat to him whilst I started the clearing process.

The customs official was a bit suspicious of the invoice I showed him that gave his value at $75 but he couldn’t really do much about it. The whole process took about 2 hours and this time we didn’t have to wait for their lunch break like I did for you. Luckily it wasn’t too hot and he slept on the back seat all the way home.

Marianne with Themba in his gay pride/rainbow nation harness

Tia was delighted with Themba, Roxy not. This was pretty much as we expected. Roxy wasted no time in letting him know that he was to keep his nose well clear of our bed – this was her territory. Themba was still learning the rules so there were a few tense moments and the occasional bout of yelping but no contact was made so no blood spilt.

By the end of the day he had chewed and gouged my forearm, humped it and demonstrated a bark to be noticed. My boy had arrived.

We did not get a lot of sleep the first night and Marianne got up at some silly hour to let him out for a potty break. She did it again the second night but now it’s easier to clean up in the morning. Themba has proven himself to be quite the Dump Monster but in his defence he is being fed four times a day and what goes in must eventually come out. I do recall, my boy, that you also took a while to house train and one night after a fruitless wait on the back lawn you came back into the house and left a deposit by the TV. I was unimpressed.

Roxy does play with Themba but she can be a bit rough, not like Kharma was with you. She does tend to swat him into the ground and the yelping follows.

On Sunday we were outside the back kitchen door doling out ice lolly treats of frozen chicken stock. You loved them and so did Themba. Then he went snuffling in the grass where Roxy had been eating hers. Big mistake. She made a lot of noise, Themba made a lot of noise, but once again – no blood.

Monday was not a good day. Roxy was defending her bed with formidable growls and Tia was telling him to get lost and not pull her tail. It was dreadfully hot too and I arrived home to a very tense household. I even got hold of Cheryl in South Africa and she said she’d take Themba back if we really couldn’t handle the situation. I decided to sleep on it.

The next day Roxy was playing with Themba as he tried to get onto her bed! He even snuggled onto her mattress on the floor reminiscent of you sharing Kharma’s chair with her. It’s been much easier since. Roxy plays, still a bit heavy pawed and Tia will play and Themba doesn’t go for her tail much. He’s not going back to Jo’burg.

He is a clever lad and responds to his name and my whistle when he feels like it. If there’s food in the offing he’s especially responsive. A lot like you my boy!

On the road watching the girls exercise

He came with us to the farm this morning and watched Marianne and the girls out in front on the road. He’s too small to do any decent walking but he’ll get there soon enough. Then I wonder what sort of adventures we’ll have?

One day I will be able to run fast like Zak!

The chase

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Back from the chase

Back from the chase

A good chase then, give them something to worry about did you?

Oh yes, I really had them on the hop! It’s why we Rhodesian Ridgebacks are feared the world over.

Which is why they were flicking their tails at you?

Of course, it’s a reedbuck’s way of surrendering. You know, the white flag and all that.

I think it’s more like flicking the middle finger that we humans do.

Really? Well, they need to think that they are winning.

Why?

So they won’t mind being chased again tomorrow!

Home is the hunter home from the hill

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Back home

Back home

You had me very worried there Little Boy. Running off like that for 3 hours.

Why? I was out having fun. Hunting is in my blood – that’s what I was bred to do.

Yes, that may be but it’s dangerous out there for unwary dogs. Snares, snakes and unscrupulous people. Where are your “partners-in-crime”?

I don’t know. We sort of got separated.

Well, I haven’t seen them around. I hope they are OK. Hopefully all the holes in the fence are fixed, for the time being at least.

Spoil-sport!

 

I am Zak!

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firstDay2

Wow, my first day in Zimbabwe and already I am cute AND posed!

This is me, Zak. I am 8.5 weeks old and a Rhodesian Ridgeback. Actually, I don’t have a ridge so I am not technically a Ridgeback but Ridgelessback doesn’t sound quite right and I am from a long line of very well bred Rigebacks so I don’t think it matters very much. But some breeders think it matters a lot and “put to sleep” their ridgeless siblings. Why they need to be “put to sleep” I have no idea – have you ever seen a puppy that cannot sleep by itself?

He means euthanaze.

Well, anyway, here I am in Zimbabwe after a long and tiring day mostly sitting in a box listening to people make silly baby-talk to me.

Well, we are not exactly going to discuss politics are we?

Phew, it was hot when I arrived at the airport. Not that I am complaining – we ridgebacks are a tough lot so we can cope with a bit of heat. And danger. My ancestors were bred to hunt lion and the ridge made them brave!

No, not quite. It was noticed that dogs with a ridge were mostly not afraid of lions but I’ll forgive you that bit of licence.

I am not the only dog here, there is another Ridgeback called Kharma and she is really big and I don’t think she’s even noticed me. It’s not like she’s jealous of my cuteness or anything like that. I will have to charm her!