2.6.2001

Dear Mr. Enulf
We are asking you for help.
Now, in Slovakia we have the same problem with the preparing law like in Czech republik. Rhodesian ridgeback is included in the list of dangerous dogs. We have reports about your cooperation with our Czech friends. Please help us by sending the relevant documents: which could help delete the RR from the list. Documents, which can demonstrate that RR isnt dangerous dog which we can present in our parliament.

Thank You !
Monika Tusanova
President of Slovak Club of RR Breeders


5.6.2001

Dear Monika,
I am sorry to see that also you in Slowakia have been hit by the scare of the so called "dangerous dogs syndrome" by your authorities. We have to hope that your Government is as smart as Rhodesian Ridgebacks are and the Czech Parliament is and most of the German Bundesländer have been, i.e. understood that the RR is NOT an aggressive breed. On the contrary it is a CONFLICT AVOIDING breed, which, when originally used for big game hunting in the south of Africa were able through their special tactics to chase the lions out of the bush to enable the hunters to shoot, but then they kept carefully away from close contact. Therefore only those dogs survived, which were smart enough to keep out of reach of the lion claws. The other became lion fodder.

The main thing is therefore to point out that a normal RR is a CONFLICT AVOIDING breed, which, if normal, will not attack, but rather point at the game. In public they are rather not interested in persons, but can sometimes be apprehensive towards other dogs. 

I believe you, Monika, knows most of this, so I have not to tell you what to do, but if you wish to show the letter, also the other readers should know.

When the call came from Czechia it was Mr Radislav Viktorin, President of the Czech RR Club, addressing the plea, but later Sarka Stusikova took over mainly due to an easier conversation in English. Her e-mail address is <stusakovasar@ipb.cz> and she will certainly give you the procedure they followed.

Very unfortunately our great dog friend and particularly RR-friend Stig G Carlson died only one month after he managed to
pull strings in Czechia. He has written some books on RRs of which one is available in Czech /Pet Owners Guide, I do not know the title in Czech/ But other books are: The Ridgeback Today and Quo Vadis, Canis, both available from Kynos Verlag, in Germany, where you can also find a book: Die Grosse Kampfhundlüge, which gives some background to the German Hysteria regarding so called dangerous dogs.

I will send some material now, just to establish contact, and I will prepare more in the meantime.
First: "Fair Rights of Canines in Society" by Stig G Carlson, Second: Info on the breed Rhodesian Ridgeback, Third: a preliminary Report on Mental Description of Dogs carried out on Rhodesian Ridgeback Dogs in Sweden.

Finally I think you should point out that according to the German Stadthundeuntersuchung with more than 26000 cases studied only one breed had less reports to the police than RRs, and that was Dachshund!!! All in all there were in 6 years
only eight!!! cases with RR related problems. And that in a country with more RRs than in any other European country.

I and the Special Club Rhodesian Ridgeback Sweden, SRRS wish you all luck in order to save our RRs maltreatment from Governments and other Authorities, because after all the problems lie N O T with the breed. It is practically always 
I R R E S P O N S B L E O W N E R S causing the problems.

Best Regards
Hans Enulf


Information on the breed Rhodesian Ridgeback

In view of the multitude of writings and discussions in media regarding so called fighting dogs, which have attacked people and animals, accentuated by the tragic accidents in Germany and Belgium, we from the Swedish Rhodesian Ridgeback Society would like to
present in short some facts about our dogs.

The reason for the breed to be noted on the lists in Germany is, as we believe, that one of the breed clubs in Germany uses Löwenhund, i.e. liondog in their club name and that this has been misunderstood by ignorant journalists and authorities.

It is true that the Ridgeback has been used for great game hunting, among others lions,
trailing and setting. But it has never been a question that the dog in any way would be able to hurt the lion. Instead it is the formidable ability of the Ridgeback to avoid confrontation, and still without fear, harass the game to expose itself to the hunter, which is utilized.

These very qualities, to be curious and fearless, coupled with the ability to keep enough distance from the lion paws, have made the Ridgeback so suitable for hunting, unlike any other breed. The breed is consequently and clearly avoiding conflicts and furthermore often stepping in between opposing parts to calm down a situation.

Today the Ridgeback is mostly a family dog, sometimes used for trailing and through its watchfullness able to make the owner aware of unusual occurrances in the neighbourhood.

Normally the Ridgeback is taciturn and often attract attention through other sounds/noices than barking. If one desires a retrieving dog one should chose another breed. Neither is it possible to get a Ridgeback to repeat the same action more than two times. He is completely inappreciative to the third request since he has demonstrated his ability twice.

There are, however, no problems learning new trics, but then the motivation has to be very strong for repetition.

The Ridgeback has a strong herd instinct comprising the entire family, sometimes also family friends, who have been favourly introduced to him. Consequently no one-man-dog. Otherwise he is reserved to strangers and usually takes no notice of people met in public.
Out of 26000 reports in Germany, during 6 years , concerning incidents of dog aggressivity only 8 have been applied to a Ridgeback. With the difficulties to state what had released the incidents, there are reasons to believe that the incident was not neccessarily due to the dog but rather to the behaviour of man/owner.
The Swedish Rhodesian Ridgeback Society, SRRS, is gathering breeders and owners of RR´s as well as sympatizers in Sweden and abroad.
Different committees are studying different aspects of the breed, such as Breeding-, Competition- and Mental committees. Additionally has recently a committee been formed to give positive signals in Europé about RR to inform and explain the qualities.
The Mental committee is gathering and evaluating results from several annual tests on RR´s pattern of behaviour. These tests have been conducted during 7 years so far under the supervision by leading Swedish canine expertice. Test results are available in the SRRS Yearbook 1998-99 /in Swedish/.
Breeders and our two puppy counsellors try to guide presumptive buyers to understand the particular reactions of the Ridgeback in various situations. Then the Breeders are following up with great care in trying to find suitable families for their puppies.
SRRS is issuing a ¨Breed information and advices for puppy buyers¨ /only in Swedish/ and keeps a current Internet web site with breed information and other topics of interest.
http://home.swipnet.se/srrs Also Swedish only.
The members of the Board of SRRS, the puppy counsellors as well as the undersigned member of the European committee are of course , with pleasure , serving further information.

Hans Enulf
e-mail : hans.enulf@swipnet.se
tel/fax: +4646256587


preklad: 
INFORMÁCIE O PLEMENE RR
Vzhledem k tomu, co bylo v poslední době v médiích napsáno a řečeno o takzvaných bojových psech, kteří měli na svědomí útoky jak na lidi, tak na zvířata, a také proto, že se celá situace vyostřila po tragických nehodách v Německu a Belgii, rozhodli jsme se my, ze Švédské společnosti chovatelů RR předložit pár faktů o našich psech.
Domníváme se, že důvodem uvedení našeho plemene na seznamu v Německu je to, že jeden z tamních klubů používá ve svém názvu slovo Lowenhund, tj. lví pes, a že tento název byl špatně pochopen neinformovanými novináři a úřady.
Je pravdou, že ridgeback byl používán na lov velké zvěře, mezi jinými i na lov lvů, na jejich stopování a zastavování. Nikdy však nešlo o to, že by byl pes jakkoliv schopen lva zranit. Ve skutečnosti se využívá úžasné schopnosti ridgebacka vyhnout se konfliktům a bez známek strachu zvěř zastavit a umožnit lovci, aby ji zastřelil. Právě tyto vlastnosti, zvědavost a odvaha, doplněné schopností držet se v bezpečné vzdálenosti od lvích drápů, dělají ridgebacka psa vhodnějšího k lovu daleko více než jakékoliv jiné plemeno. Ridgeback se systematicky a zcela jasně vyhýbá konfliktům a navíc se často postaví mezi dva protivníky ve snaze zklidnit situaci.
V dnešní době je ridgeback většinou rodinným mazlíčkem, někdy bývá použit ke stopování a díky své ostražitosti je schopen svého majitele upozornit na podezřelé dění v okolí svého obydlí. Ridgeback bývá většinou tichý a když chce na sebe přilákat pozornost, dělává to prostřed-nictvím jiných zvuků, než je štěkot. Pokud by si někdo chtěl pořídit psa aportéra, raději by měl zvolit jiné plemeno. Rovněž není možné tohoto psa přimět, aby jeden cvik zopakoval víckrát než dvakrát po sobě. Na třetí stejný povel zcela odmítá reagovat, protože svou dovednost přece již dvakrát předvedl. Nicméně však není problém psa naučit novým povelům, ale pro jejich opakování musí mít pes velice silnou motivaci.
Ridgeback má velice silně vyvinutý smečkový pud, který vztahuje na celou rodinu a někdy i na rodinné přátele, kteří mu byli představeni jako kamarádi. Je společenský pes. K cizím ale bývá rezervovaný a lidí, které potkává na ulicích, si většinou vůbec nevšímá.
Ze 26 000 případů spojených s agresivitou psů, hlášených v Německu za 6 let, padlo na vrub ridgebackům pouhých 8. 
Vzhledem k tomu, že je obtížné stanovit příčiny konfliktu, jsou důvody věřit, že k incidentům nedošlo z viny psa, ale spíše, že byly vyprovokovány chováním člověka/majitele. 
Švédská Společnost chovatelů RR, SRRS, sdružuje chovatele a majitele RR a rovněž přátele plemene ze Švédska i zahraničí. Různé výbory provádějí studie nejrůznější problematiky týkající se plemene. Máme výbor chovatelský, výstavní, výbor zabývající se povahou RR. Navíc jsme nedávno utvořili výbor, jehož cílem je působit v Evropě, informovat o RR a seznamovat tak veřejnost s jeho dobrými vlastnostmi.
Výbor zabývající se povahou shromažďuje a vyhodnocuje výsledky několika ročních testů, které sledují vzorec chování plemene. Tyto testy se provádějí již po 7 let pod dohledem nejlepších švédských kynologů - odborníků. S výsledky je možno se seznámit v ročence SRRS Yearbook 1998-99 / ve švédštině/.
Chovatelé a naši dva poradci chovu se snaží možným zájemcům o štěňata pomáhat pochopit specifické reakce RR v nejrůznějších situacích. Chovatelé se pak velice pečlivě snaží pro nová štěňata najít vhodné rodiny.
SRRS vydává Informace o chovu a rady pro zájemce o štěňata /pouze ve švédštině/ a na internetových stránkách má zveřejněny informace o plemeni a další zajímavá témata. 
Adresa je: http://home.swipnet.se/srrs , rovněž pouze ve švédštině.
Členové rady SRRS, poradci chovu a rovněž členové Evropského výboru samozřejmě s radostí poskytnou další informace.
Hans Enulf, člen Evropského výboru RR, člen rady SRRS

e-mail : hans.enulf@swipnet.se
tel/fax: +4646256587

preklad: Monika Tušanová