Rhodesian Ridegback

MarkL

Hi there,

Does anyone know why a RR is considered a dog that should be controlled?

I have been a dog owner in the past .. growing up we always had a dog (labrador, Springer/Irish setter cross). Although we haven't had a dog since 1998.

Settling down now and thinking of getting a dog again. Saw a beautiful dog when in Zimbabwe in 1999 .. found out it was RR .. and now really want to get one!!

However, it's down as a Dangerous Breed in the Control of Dangerous Dog Act 1998. But for the life of me I can't work out why! I know the breed's history .. but lots of other breeds are used for hunting, tracking etc. I've done searches on internet and can't find any reports of RRs attacking!

I've been reading other threads (and agree with what a lot of people - Egar, peasant, bond-007, etc - are saying) and am having second thoughts about getting an RR .. for the dog's sake .. I'm very active in an outdoors way and reckon a RR is ideal .. but having a dog runnig with a muzzle and 2m lead doesn't sound appealling!

Doesn't help matters when ya have politicians calling for outright bans on certain breeds .. RR being one of the breeds under the 1998 act.

How is it decided what constitutes a Dangerous Breed? I can understand breeds like Pitbulls .. though I reckon everyone animal (including us) is a product of it's environment!! It's what a lot of you are saying - Ban the deed, not the breed!

Maybe mandatory micro-chipping (with a fair lead-in period) should be brought in .. and any un-chipped dogs confiscated! That way responsible owners wouldn't be punished(don't shoot me down .. Just a thought)

Ps Not trying to start a big rant!

peasant

Does anyone know why a RR is considered a dog that should be controlled?

Some civil servant charged with drawing up that "dangerous dog act" probably read up on the breed description and came across all that baloney re RR's being bred to hunt down and corner lions ?

The proper answer to your question is ...no idea.

I'm very active in an outdoors way and reckon a RR is ideal .. but having a dog runnig with a muzzle and 2m lead doesn't sound appealling!

Have a look on petzone and Irish animals websites ...there are plenty of large, active dogs looking for new owners. Especially the bigger ones seem harder to get homes for. You could make one big dog very happy

old boy

plenty of big slobbering rotties to be rehomed,

Dyr

a lot of irish legislation is almost a word for word copy of british legislation, so the brits probably included RR's hence us including them too. Nice to know our civil servants put the effort in :rolleyes: