Page 201 - Showsight March 2013

FACING THE RIDGEBACK FOR
THE FIRST TIME IN THE RING
By Barbara G. Rupert First of all, before enter-
ing any ring, we should
be thoroughly familiar
with procedure. Once we
have mastered that, we
can concentrate on the
specimen before us rather than being side
tracked by anything else.
So, we look at the outline first: balance,
symmetry, moderate head—neither heavy
and Mastiff like nor narrow or Greyhound
like. Underjaw visible. Strong long neck
with smooth shoulders blending into body,
level back continuing with a slight rise over
the loin (which one should feel upon exami-
nation) falling gently away over the croup
ending with a well-set, tapering tail without
kinks or excessive curl.
Underline is not exaggerated, Herring
gutted or Greyhound-like and the hindquar-
ters should be rather broad and powerful
(first and second thigh well developed).
As we examine our Ridgeback (always
approach from the front not rear—after
all this is a Sighthound, he is aloof with
strangers and he must see you), we want
to find intelligent expression: round, dark
eyes harmonizing with the color of the
overall dog. That means black nosed dogs
should have dark brown eyes and liver/
brown nosed dogs amber eyes, again har-
monizing with pigmentation. Ears should
frame the head. Black or dark brown muz-
zle in a liver/brown nosed dog is equally
acceptable and so are clear faced dogs.
We want to look for that ever elud-
ing shoulder layback and shoulder and
return upper arm being close to equal in
length. The ideal ridge starts close behind
the shoulder blades,contains two whorls
opposite each other and tapers close to the
pin bone. The thorax should be capacious,
giving lung room and should have plenty
of length before reaching a relatively short
loin without cramping his hind quarters.
The dog should appear off-square—
not rectangular (slightly longer than
tall). The croup is moderate with a
smooth tail insertion. The tail is tapered,
without kinks or excessive curls, reaches
to the hock and is never carried in a gay
fashion while on the move.
Rear quarters are broad, strong, mus-
cular and inner thigh is well developed.
BISS GCh. La Fleur’s Big Mack Attack (my choice
at the 2012 Specialty).
Tahari's Son of Anarchy Winner's Dog at the 2012 National S howS ight Magazine, M arch 2013 • 201