Kabusha
History of the Rhodesian Ridgeback
Origin: Southern Africa
Brief Historical Summary
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History
by S H Stewart
The Reverend Charles Daniel Helm was born in 1844 and died in 1915. We don't
even know whether he was a dog-lover or not, but history records that he was the
man who brought two dogs to his mission at Hope Fountain near what is now
Bulawayo, which is in the far south-west corner of Rhodesia (now known as
Zimbabwe), and these two bitches were to become the foundation of what we
refer to today as the Rhodesian Ridgeback.
When one realises how recently all of this happened it is very disappointing that
we are unable to be more definite about the origins of our national dog. So much
of what is written on the matter is subject to questioning and my views are
strongly shaped by the writings of David Helgesen.
The name of the breed is determined by the peculiarity of the ridge on the back
of these dogs. In Europe these ridges are unknown but they are common in much of
Africa. For example, many of the Sitkas in this country have ridges, and this
feature is observed frequently in the indigenous dogs of Zaire, Angola, Tanzania,
and Zambia. The Mesopotamian Hunting Dog was brought down the east coast of
Africa in the course of tribal migration over several centuries and part of the
movement was deflected towards the west. We must assume that these dogs
carried the ridge gene and that eventually they reached the Cape and acquired the
name of Hottentot Hunting Dog, serving a very useful purpose with the Khoisan in
a semi-domesticated environment.
Evidence of the first domesticated dogs on our planet goes back to 4500 BC in
Egyptian tombs, and in 1729 AD we have a written record of ridged dogs at the
Cape. Apart from Africa the only other place where ridged dogs are found is Phu
Quoc in the gulf of Thailand.
The Europeans arrive
In 1652 we have the arrival of the Europeans at the Cape, and the dogs they
brought with them did not cope easily with the local diseases. Nonetheless
interbreeding occurred with the indigenous hunting dogs and the foundation was
laid for the contribution of South Africa to the Rhodesian Ridgeback. It should
be stressed however that the Hottentot Hunting Dog was very similar to the Sitka,
that is it had a small narrow head and a jackal sized body, in other words, very
different from the Ridgeback of today. But it did have a ridge, and the settlers
made much use of it in producing what they sought for hunting and security
purposes. One of the best known early pictures of a ridged dog depicts the scene
of a dead Hartebees surrounded by Khoisan hunters, with that particular dog, near
Lake Ngami in Botswana. That dog belonged to a well-known hunter called Baldwin;
he recorded it in a drawing in May 1858 and though it is no Ridgeback by today's
description it does have size and substance, and Baldwin acquired it in
Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Several well-known hunters of whom Hartley, Viljoen, Swartz, Jacobs and Selous
were the best known, worked primarily in the Mashonaland area . However
another, Cornelius van Rooyen, is the one of importance to our breed, and he
operated mainly in Matabeleland.
Cornelius was born at Uitenhage on November 6, 1860 and the whole family moved
to Zeerust in 1868. By 1874 they were at Shoshong and in 1875 they moved up to
Tate. [Robert Moffat had established (a) a permanent mission in Matabeleland and
(b) friendly relations with Mzilikaze. The Missionary Road from Cape Town
passed through Beaufort West, Kuruman, Shoshong, Francistown and through
Bulawayo onwards to Salisbury .] He was married to Maria Vermaak of Bloemhof,
by Reverend Helm at the Hope Fountain Mission outside Bulawayo, in 1879.
Meanwhile Reverend Helm brought two unridged (?) bitches from Kimberley
(possibly as far South as Swellendam) also in 1879. They were both rough coated
and grey-black in colour and Cornelius bred them to his pack immediately. The odd
thing, please note is that no one is convinced that either of these two bitches was
possessed of a ridge, and yet they are regarded as the origin of what was to
become "the escutcheon of the breed", that famous ridge.
Dermoid sinus
Broadly speaking, Cornelius van Rooyen used the following breeds of dogs in his
breeding program, though it must be accepted that several of them would already
have been cross breeds, in other words, we are really talking about a gene pool
into which he adds a bit more of this and some more of that.
The principal breeds used were Khoikoi, Greyhound, Bulldog, Pointer, Irish
Terrier, Airdale Terrier, Collie, and Deerhound. Interestingly enough no mention
is made of Bull Mastiff and yet today we talk about our dogs being too
"Mastiffy" in appearance. On the other hand we attribute the kinky tail problem
in the modern Ridgeback to its Bulldog antecedents, and the brown nose (or liver
nose) examples we relate to noses of the same colour in the Pointers that were used.
In the midst of all this no one seems to have determined the origins of the Dermoid
Sinus, one of the real bugbears of the breed, and it just has not been attached to
any specific source. You would think that, with the breed being so young, someone
would have a handle on the origins of what is almost a uniquely Ridgeback problem.
I have heard that it was not unusual even as recently as fifty years ago to put
down a third of the puppies on account of this upsetting defect, and when recently
doing tests on the effects of folates on this affliction Australian researchers used
a frequency of 16% as being normal incidence for untreated dogs. Breeders there
and here regard the normal incidence as 3 - 5%, but whatever figure one uses it is
a problem which goes back into the history of our breed with no known source.
While searching for Nguni dogs (Sitkas) in Kwa-Zulu Natal last year, it was found
that even though in places almost a third of them had ridges, no one knew of the
existence of dermoid sinus. So perhaps the origins of the Ridgeback will not
disclose the source of dermoid sinus and we might well have to accept that the
genes contributed to the pool were mixed in a manner which gave rise to this
weakness or, if you prefer, produced a dog which had a higher need for folates
than its original components.
Use of the title Ridgeback to describe these dogs rather than "Van Rooyen Dogs"
or "Lion Dogs" commenced shortly after 1910. The 1920's saw the first Breed
Standard proposed, the entry of Lion Dogs at Shows (exhibited at the first
Bulawayo Kennel Club Show as the 'Rhodesian Lion Dog'), the registration of the
first dogs ('Grootedam Gwen' and 'Grootedam Leo') by the South African Kennel
Union, (now KUSA), the name changed to Rhodesian Ridgeback officially, and they
appeared in increasing numbers at shows in Rhodesia.
And a standard emerges
Broadly speaking the Ridgebacks from different parts of Africa vary in size.
Those to the North of Zimbabwe are somewhat larger, as though Great Dane was
bred into them whereas those in the erstwhile Rhodesia are smaller (and much
closer to the desirable height and weight required by the Breed Standard) while in
South Africa we have a slightly larger version (but not as big as to the North)
which can tend to massiveness. Perhaps more Boerboel was bred into our local dogs.
Whatever the regional variations we have all obtained a loyal and dutiful pet
which is equally good at defending the lives and property of his family unit. Just
as comfortable in the bush as hogging all the warmth in front of the suburban home
fireplace, this recent breed traces his origins directly to the ancient hunting dogs
recorded in stone by the Pharoahs.
Francis Richard Barnes is credited with being the principal creator of the Breed
Standard in 1925. A very well known breeder of Ridgebacks under the Eskdale
Kennel name, he arranged to have about twenty examples of the breed present at a
breeders' symposium after a Bulawayo dog show and the best points of each were
determined and used to establish the Standard, which follows the Dalmatian
Standard in many respects. This Breed Standard has remained unaltered, to all
intents and purposes, ever since.
However one only has to look at the photographs provided in Hawley's book to
become aware of how the Ridgeback has changed to what we find in the show ring
today. Major Tom Hawley is South Africa's authority on our national dog and the
picture of Eskdale Connie, taken in 1925, contrasts strongly with other
photographs from the forties and fifties which in turn show differences from the
dogs in today's show ring: apart from variations in the general conformation of the
dogs you can see that the majority had prominent forechests, a feature which has
all but disappeared.
That which is written above represents merely a segment of the history of this
dog. It overlooks the part played by the Steekbaardhonde and Vuilbaardhonde
brought to the Transvaal by the Voortrekkers. It omits in fact all the
developments which took place in South Africa. The breed sprang up in large
numbers throughout this country and these dogs couldn't possibly all have been
obtained from Rhodesia. To achieve a better informed view of the origins and
development of our national dog, I suggest one refers to the following books:
The Definitive Rhodesian Ridgeback by David Helgesen.
The Rhodesian Ridgeback, the Origin, History and Standard by T C Hawley.
The Rhodesian Ridgeback Indaba by J N Murray.