I don't understand why someone would not want a ridgeback that bays. If you wanted a bay dog, and a certain ridgeback fit the bill, then why not? Not trying to be a wise guy here, I'm just missing something.
"there nose will find hogs other dogs miss"
If the above statement is true, then that is a perfectly good reason to have a RR that bays.
Catchrcall, you're not missing anything man, CircleC figured it out. There are plenty of folks want a fast nose dog that bays, a Ridgeback that bays is an great choice for those folks. There are also those that prefer to leave the mule tape and knives at home, and gun hunt in the old tradition with their ridgebacks. Those are both plenty good reasons(if you want to see the other side Catchrcall, go to this ridgeback field trial judge training video, and fast forward to the
3:25 minute mark to the 4:35 minute mark, to see a pure bred ridgeback with some of the old style
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxcnKUsqz0M&fmt=18)
Lets say I told you i had three bays dogs BMC, a Cat , and a Ridgeback. you dont think anything is kinda funny about that?
Funny you should say that nosights... I have a friend in florida that has exactly that combination! Two BMC catch dogs, a couple of Ridgebacks that track and bay (and some will back-up catch) and a Cat that mainly bays. It works for them. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.
if you wanted all catch dog then apparently a REAL Ridgeback would not be the dog for you. Maybe you could get ahold of a Ridge like everyone else has that will catch ( but he would come with out the fancy books)
Well man, I understand where you're comin from. I guess I would just encourage you to consider the possibility that "fancy books" have their place... there's no harm in learning about the history of your chosen breed. I haven't traveled around half of this country and made three trips overseas doing dog work with Ridgebacks so that I could hide behind "book learnin". I try to learn what I can, where ever I can learn it. That means i'll take it from the books about the dogs 100 years ago, from the old-time hunters and breeders about the dogs 30 years ago, and in the woods, to learn about the dogs that are right in front of me right now. Grown men can agree to disagree, cause I don't claim to know everything there is to know, and I don't have all the answers, but I've certainly put in my time and mileage looking for them... and yup... some have been found in the woods, and one or two have been found in history books.
At the end of the day, all I can say is that every hunter should hunt the dogs that make them happy... the dogs that make them proud to be dog men. What ever that means for you, get out and hunt em.
