Life with Tesla

If you remember when you entered my turf I told you that Mom and Dad liked the following "features" about Ridgebacks:

• they are a medium to large size dog; females are 24-26 inches at the withers (shoulder) and 65-80 pounds
• they are an extremely clean dog with little body odor and minimal shedding of their short coat
• they have a quiet, gentle temperament
• they rarely bark; and when they do bark, you should investigate
• they are very laid back indoors; most owners refer to them as couch potatoes
• they are energetic outdoors; easily able to go for a long walk or run with their owner
• they are good with children and other dogs, and even cats
• they are very intelligent and of above-average trainability for a hound

So I bet you're dying to know if this is true. Well the short answer is "pretty much," now. :-) As with most things, these statements aren't black or white, true or false, but many shades of grey. I'm above the standard in height (28 inches) and weight (85 pounds), even though my RR Mom and Dad weren't. I'm very clean and I don't shed much, but I do shed. Mom brushes me once a week outside. She says at least my hair brushes off their clothing. I don't have much of an odor unless I'm wet. Then I smell like any other wet dog. I try to stay dry as much as possible.

When I was a puppy I chewed and I attacked. I was anything but gentle. However, I also let my little poodle brother and sister steal food from me and I just watched them do it. I'm not a mean or aggressive girl, just very energetic. I loved to bark too. I would tell Mom and Dad lots of stuff and I loved to bark and run circles around my poodle siblings. Many is the time I would feel the spray of water as Mom and Dad would use the squirt bottle to try and get my attention. But that was okay, I loved to turn and open my mouth to get a good drink.

I was never laid back indoors unless I was sleeping. I love children and other dogs but I was boisterous and would easily knock them down, run them over, nip at faces and hands, and bark their little ears off. Now that I'm older, I'm much quieter and better behaved. But part of that is not just age, it's all the obedience training I've had. However, Mom and Dad still can't trust me on my own in the whole house. I get bored with my toys and go looking for other things. I'm very smart, but that means I can learn bad things just as quick as good things. So I can be trained, Mom just has to be a little more creative with her training techniques, like working in short 5-10 minute sessions with lots of treats.

Mom has some little snippets of observations about living with a Ridgeback. So sit back and enjoy some more of Life with ME!