„Mommy, why we can't have a puppy?!”
„Mommy, buy me a puppy!” Such statements and questions like „Why we can not have a puppy?” our children put from time out mind, perhaps. Especially the younger son. These questions were not so frequent, but all Christmas or birthday could not be without them. While the boys were small, we have argued about very simply, but when they grew up we had to use „a very good arguments”. Our discussion ended on a regular basis by these „arguments”. At that time, we thought, it was really a rational argument. Today, we are looking at it from different view…

And here are our arguments from that time:

„We had no puppy before! Nevedeli by sme sa oň starať…”
Aida became a new member of our family, we learned how a small dog works. We have read several books about dogs, especially the Rhodesian Ridgeback. We spoke with many owners and breeders. Gradually we recognize facial expressions of our Aida, we knew when she wants to go out, when she wants to play, when she played a dirty trick… After few months, we visited "training school" and learned ourselves how to work with dog. In fact, it was school for us, not for dogs. Our children completed the same training - younger had less than 10 years.

„Puppy need a enclosed courtyard! And we have a flat on 3rd floor, only…”
This statement was really our biggest mistake from this time. Because dog enclosed by any fence is in the same situation as a Robinson at bleak island. It is neither good for people, nor for puppies. Each puppy needs to meet with another dogs, animals, people etc. Dog, mostly Rhodesian Ridgeback loves a country rumbles. Therefore „the best courtyard” for RR is wide surrounding with meadows and forests, the bigger the better.
And return back to the idea of courtyard for the puppy - ridgeback prefer to stay with you and you still don't live in the courtyard. Your puppy is fully satisfied to lie down on the floor to your legs, or in your bed, it's up to you :-)

„Puppy could bark and it is disturbing!…”
Rhodesian Ridgeback belongs to no barking breeds. But it iss not true that they are absolutely silent. They bark if they have a reason to do it. Our Aida was barking for very first time at 8 months old, she was excited by vacuum cleaner. We really thought she is dumb, before…

„Your puppy can not be alone!”
The dog sleeps most of the day, for puppies it means 2/3 of a day. They need a small silent place only for them. They are very calm during your absence (in case that you spend a time with your puppy regulary). In other case the puppy look for anything interesting to play (newspapers, your shoes etc.)

„Puppy is very expensive!”
Everything is relative. We didn't know the actual price for small ridgeback until then. Too late, when we visited a breeder and were informed about the price. We were already decided to take small RR imp. You know that RR purchase is for more than 10 years and it is very nice „investment”
On the other side, that's true that it is neccessary to feed them and from time to time it is good to visit a vet etc.

Instead of conclusion…
We were very uninformed at that time. Our kennel has almost 30 four-legs members up now and a lot of friends we met thanks our dogs.

We wrote our memories to protect anybody to do the same mistakes as we did a long time before…  
 
Ľuboš Hladký & his kennel