Puppy Pack

• Collar
• Lead
• Food and water bowl
• Bed (big enough for them to grow into for the next 6-months or so)
• Snacks ( giving in moderation!)

Fold-flat Dog Crates: These are fantastic, and provide somewhere for your puppy to sleep, get away from it all, and can help stop them from chewing the furniture when you’re out! They are available from a company called ‘DOG HEALTH” in the UK or they sell on eBay with a “Buy it now” option. The size you will need is large or X large.

Bedding: Easily washable fleece bedding can be used anywhere, including inside of the crates (see above for details).

If you do end up having a puppy from us then we will give you a more comprehensive booklet with tips for living with your ridgeback, a diet sheet, as well as the food that your pup has been eating here at the kennel and a piece of bedding.

We like to help our new owners be prepared for the day when their new arrival goes home with them. We provide all new owners with a Puppy Shopping List, which details essential equipment and items you will need for when your puppy goes home with you.

Our contract offers peace of mind to us and to new owners of our puppies. We love our dogs and our puppies and want to ensure that they go to a good, caring, responsible home. The contract states that we will ALWAYS take back one of our puppies if it is needed and will find a new home for them.

You can read a copy of our contract here.

All of our puppies Portuguese CPC papers are endorsed with “PROGENY NOT ELIGIBLE FOR REGISTRATION” to ensure that our puppies remain as pets, not breeding stock for puppy farmers. They are sold purely as family pets with outstanding temperaments with, one exception, which is if you are a registered Rhodesian Ridgeback breeder.

You can read more about our endorsements here.

Breeding Ridgebacks is not something that is “fun” and “easy” – it requires lifelong dedication, in depth knowledge of genes, bloodlines and breeding, and is VERY hard work. It is stressful, difficult and needs thorough research and a good reputation – otherwise you could easily find you are left with a whole litter of un-sold or even un-well puppies at 8 weeks old.

There are many things that could go wrong during the whole process for both the bitch and puppies (i.e. problems during labour, mastitis afterwards, pyometra, dermoid sinus which needs checking for by a knowledgeable person every week, puppies not feeding and needing to be bottle fed or worse still tube fed, the bitch not producing any milk or being a terrible mother etc etc)…breeding Ridgebacks isn’t always straight forward, and for the safety of the bitch and the puppies knowledge and experience is a pre-requisite for a successful breeding kennel!

So, essentially, our endorsements are there to protect our breeding, reputation and future of the puppies we breed. We do not sell with the aim that our puppies are bred from, and if you are interested in buying a puppy with that aim in mind you are not the right person for one of our special puppies!

We feed our dogs and puppies a raw fresh meat & cooked vegetable & fruit diet. We include fresh cut up chicken wings, necks and carcasses fed RAW, or canned sardines in oil, eggs, liver, green tripe heart etc, with goats’ milk, cooked vegetables such as spinach, beets, courgette, sweet potato, green beans etc. You do not have to worry about feeding your dog a balanced diet every single day; just give your dog a varied diet over a couple of weeks. We don’t ONLY feed a dry diet anymore, there are too many problems associated with it.

We make raw food for our dogs ourselves It is fresh human grade meat & bone, mixed with fresh fruit and vegetables. If you, the new owner don’t want to make raw dogfood then we recommend Happy One dog food a Super Premium pet food for puppies and lactating bitches with 70% meat, 30% fruit and vegetables and 0% grains. Grain free and with meat and fresh ingredients, it is inspired by the Mediterranean style diet. Fresh meat, fresh eggs and sardine, and is also enriched with natural antioxidants. What makes it special is the balance richness in fruit and many vegetables, supplemented with fish, natural source of omega 3.

A week before the puppies are ready to go to new homes, we will start introducing a few ‘kibbles’ into the raw food mixture and increase this amount until kibbles are a majority of the food in their bowl. Kibbles from our selected Portuguese dog food: Happy One: http://www.mediterraneum.pt/en

• 7 weeks to 11 weeks 200g/300g 3x times a day (APPROX) with a drink of Goats milk.
• 12 weeks to 6 months 350g/500g x3 times a day
• 6 months to 12 months approx. 600g /750g 2x a day
• 12 months to 18 months Mine are all on 1kg by a year
• 18 months + approx. 500/750g 2x a day
• Older Ridgebacks – can average from 700g to 1kg a day.

With young puppies, you should be very careful how much you feed, A fat puppy does not mean a healthy puppy, and just as in humans, obesity may cause health problems, whilst young these can be growth related problem, and in later life will place undue stress on joints and internal organs including the heart and lungs. Ridgebacks should always look fit & athletic.

As soon as you get a puppy from us it can venture out into the big wide word, gradually, we recommend that you start puppy socializing classes as soon as you can remember they’re not tiny forever, they grow into a large dog that needs correct handling.

It is also a good idea to take your puppy out in the car as much as possible, so that they get used to travelling. Start with really short journeys, & if s/he is sick try to take them in the early morning on an empty tummy for a while. I always travel a puppy in a small crate in the car while they are young.

As Ridgebacks are large dogs, it is important not to over-exercise them at a young age, their bones are not fully calcified until they are 18-months old. However, once they reach 18 months, they will be able to run for hours! They need taking out for at LEAST one hour exercise each day, which should include both road walking and free running. (Of course, they would prefer more) And if you can manage to take them out beside a bike or horse that is even better! The rest of the time an adult Ridgeback will be happy lazing around either in front of the fireplace or out in the sunshine, because as adult dogs they are incredibly lazy and undemanding! (BUT mention W.A.L.K, & you will see an energetic transformation!)

When a pup is 10-weeks old we start off with a 10-minute socialising walk twice a day. We take our pups around the town on a busy Saturday, to the local market, etc, so that they are out & about meeting people & dogs from a young age. You can also visit the local park or field and have a short walk off lead when they need to use up some energy! You may gradually increase exercise until by 6-months they can tolerate half an hour twice day and by a year old one hour. By 18-months they can have as much as you want to give them! If you combine the formal exercise with mooching about the garden, as well, then that should be enough for a young pup.

Try to get the puppy used to seeing different people, especially children and men. It is also a good idea to take them out for a walk on a lead to get them used to any farm animals if they live near you and take them to beach to meet other dogs.

Practice recall in your garden and house before letting them off a lead. It is best to practice recall when they are young and vulnerable, so they feel insecure; then they won’t want to leave your side when you take them out for a walk!  I always let my pups off a lead from 11-weeks old and  never have any trouble getting them to come back. Treats always help with this – if they think you have food, they won’t stray too far! When we are out exercising young RRs we play silent hide & seek, & take different paths and change direction as much as possible to make them keep an eye on us, this develops their instincts to keep you in sight while out.

(content to come later)

We strongly request that you read these books before taking a puppy home!!

“THE RHODESIAN RIDGEBACK TODAY” By Stig Carlson. ISBN No; 1 86054 089 9)

THE HAPPY PUPPY HANDBOOK by Pippa Mattinson, ISBN 9780091957261 Essential reading, please buy before you collect your puppy!

“GIVE YOUR DOG A BONE” by Dr. Ian Billingshurst – a very informative book about feeding a raw meat diet, and why you must NEVER feed dry processed food…ESSENTIAL reading. It will change yours, and your dogs, life!

‘THE PRACTICAL DOG LISTENER’ by Jan Fennel  – A fantastic book, essential reading for the new Ridgeback owner. AND “THE SEVEN AGES OF YOUR DOG” by Jan Fennel both Available at Amazon.