r/RhodesianRidgebacks

First of all, Gordon is my sister’s dog, but her and I live together with her husband. Over the weekend someone she knows had some type of criminal psychotic break where he is bent on r^ping and k^lling her. Our whole family and friend group has had one of the worst weekends of our lives, for me seconded only by my dad dying. I have never held a gun before and two days ago I aimed to k*ll twice in two hours. Perpetrator came back twice in a row trying to jimmy our lock open (and ofc the cops couldn’t do anything but serve a trespass since he wasnt caught the first time, AT THAT MOMENT, he was a felon first thing monday morning). It was so terrifying, my elderly neighbor who was visiting our house when it happened, immediately started vomiting from fear.

So now we have sensors and cameras everywhere, triple locks, and Gordon, 5 year old fixed male. I’ll keep details brief because I’ve gotten 3-4 hrs of sleep every night since Saturday and it’s seriously affecting my functioning, I’ll answer questions tomorrow. We went to shelters knowing we were going home with a dog, and Gordon had been there for one month, previously owned by one family only with a litter mate of his, one other dog, three cats and 5 kids 😳. They had no issues with him to tell us, besides the reason they couldn’t handle him was because of his reactionary stuff with strangers, they gave away both of their RR’s. One recent incident was a child that didn’t belong to them was running in his house, ran past him and got a warning nip on the calf that didn’t leave any mark. He was in puppy training to what extent we don’t know.

Break to talk abt my fear of dogs rq. I’m just a super anxious person ever since my dad died and mental health problems. My anxiety about dogs was really stemmed from the fear of being helpless. I think what happened is because i was chased and attacked, alone, outside, right after my dad died at 17, it just cracked open my sense of safety. That feeling stuck with me hard and i couldnt walk alone for years to the point it really was overdramatic but i couldnt help it. I did grow up around big dogs and i am comfortable around ones i know well. I’m comfortable enough with him that im masking my nervousness most of the time. But im not sure of myself enough to control him yet like if he was pulling toward a dog, but he listens to my sister lol. All of that to say, though, after going through something that felt genuinely a lot more threatening, when my sister talked about a dog i was 1,000% in agreement and it literally felt like my past anxiety melted away. Usually i would be jumpy going into shelters, but for some reason, i felt for the most part really safe. It’s rly like one trauma kicked the other out.

We are very aware of his breed’s protective nature and my sister had a big pitbull before him she had to be careful with strangers with. We chose him from the shelter because he was perfect for our situation. We were told to introduce strangers on neutral ground but that’s really all we know about how to get him to know they’re safe with my sister. He’s already very protective of her. So far, when ive been alone with him, he is the same with me, not leaving my side and always checking on me. But when she is home and i go into her room and sit on her bed, he stands over her body and guards from me, and that’s not really what we want. Her husband works odd hours AND he refuses to sleep in her bed and only sleeps on the couch (that’s their problem) so he has to go into the room in the dark early in the morning.

Gordon is very confident and relaxed in nature. We have a cat and he doesn’t give two shits. I guess I want some assurance that with him having been with a large family for 4-5 years, he shouldn’t be guarded against regular house things, like going in and out rooms, horsing around with each other, waking up in the middle of the night, stuff like that, once he gets comfortable. And some assurance that even though they favor one person, bc they’re protective of the whole group they don’t ever get confused about that in a way that has bad endings. At first he was a little alarmed when i had come out of a shut room and i had to start being extra obvious it’s me by talking or something, but when he’s asleep he’s not waking up for that, and that really does seem to be going away. I don’t want to make too many judgements on his first few days of being with us. The first night, my sister and her husband hugged as a test to see how he’d feel, and he barked for the first time and pricked his ears. But after that they got into bed together while he watched and he snuggled in pretty quick and relaxed. But he’s still cautious about me in her room. I don’t want to have to worry about touching my sister, especially with how much she needs support right now. We’re doing treat and food association with everybody. His full name is Gordon Ramsay and he’s 115 lbs (on a diet!) and my sister will take fantastic care of him.

If I slipped up and said a name here let me know if u notice, much appreciated 😵‍💫

Hello! I might be adopting a (what we’re pretty sure) is a ridgeback female from a friend. I currently have a cat and another dog in an apartment. I think I have a good lifestyle for the breed the issue is this do is INCREDIBLY skittish. She currently will not leave their home other than maybe to potty. She is not leash trained, around 2 years old, unfixed (which I would be getting her spayed). She currently lives with dogs and cats and an issue with another dog is why she’s being rehomed.

I’m trying to learn more about if you all have dealt with any of your dogs being awfully skittish, very anxiously bound to their people, etc and how you all helped them gain confidence. I’d be of course looking into training if needed