We’re excited to announce our official 2025 litter plans!
Through the end of 2024, I will be reviewing applications and accepting holding fees to reserve puppies for our 2025 litter, which is expected in January. This will likely be our only litter of 2025. We take our job of finding the right homes for our puppies serious, so please read through our website before inquiring to be sure you’re on board with our policies and and philosophies. Thank you for your interest in our breeding program!
All pups are typically reserved by the time they are born. I know several families weren’t able to get on the list before it filled last time; now is your chance to get in line early. This would be a great Christmas gift opportunity if you’ve been planning to add some ridgeback love to your pack, and it’s a great way to use that tax refund!
Our dogs are family. They are health tested and cleared for breed specific genetic diseases and orthopedic faults (details on “The Dogs” page), as well as fed a partial raw diet. Puppies are socialized in our pack and with strangers, weaned onto a raw diet before going to their homes and allowed to play outdoors to encourage strong immune systems. We follow the Jean Dodds vaccination protocol and care for the whole pack as holistically as possible in order to promote long, healthy lives in both our adult dogs and puppies.
Applying early means you can follow along on your puppy’s adventures of being born–from the mating and the whelping (birth), its first solid food experience and outdoor play time, to your puppy’s first veterinarian visit. We post the process on all our social media pages and send private update emails to everyone on the reservation list.
We require a NON-REFUNDABLE holding fee to reserve a puppy, which is about a third of the total cost of a puppy–this insures us that you are serious and committed about waiting in line for when the puppy is ready. If for some reason we are unable to provide you a puppy, the holding fee will be returned. As always, keep a watch our social media pages for the most recent news.
How To Apply
If you are interested in a puppy from the upcoming litter, then you must email me (ChicoraRidgebacks@gmail.com) to start the dialogue. If you are not willing to complete a lengthy questionnaire and answer follow-up questions; read, agree to and sign contracts; return these documents to me via mail; as well as place the holding fee if approved, then I am not the breeder for you. A Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy is a serious, involved commitment, and paperwork is just part of the process.
PRICING: My puppies are well bred, and therefore not cheap. I do not haggle on prices; I do not compromise my ethics to compete with the economy. Please do not begin the application process if you’re looking for a cheap dog quickly–I do not want to waste your time or mine.
Tire kickers need not apply! I spend a great deal of time and effort communicating and running the administrative side of things, so respectfully, I ask that you not apply if you don’t have an intention of following through if approved.
About Us
Chicora Ridgebacks, an ethical Rhodesian Ridgeback breeder, is located in rural western North Carolina.
I have owned dogs for decades and bred, trained and shown horses and other animals as well. I’m not a full time breeder; this is a hobby for me. I will not proclaim to be an “expert” because I am NOT an expert. There are plenty of other breeders who have much more experience and knowledge than I do. I do, however, work closely with my vets and mentors in this continual learning process and spend an enormous amount of time doing my own research, networking and educating myself. I’m conscious of my junior status as an ambassador of the breed, and I go about this as responsibly and ethically as possible. Although there is a significant amount of science behind it, breeding is FAR from an exact science–it’s impossible to get everything right all the time. It takes a lot of work, planning, time and money to responsibly breed. When I do make plans for a litter I am selective, serious and cautious in my preparation. I’m excited about, and dedicated to, ridgebacks and in being a tiny piece in the bigger picture of helping to advance ridgebacks in ways that are ethical and conscientious of the breed’s standards. Ridgebacks offer both a joy and a challenge.
My dogs’ health and well-being are my top priority. They are fed a partial raw diet (much of which we raise on the farm) and they enjoy running free on my hobby farmstead. We have shown in conformation, participated in Nosework and competed in lure coursing competitions as time and finances permit.
HEALTH and/or GENETIC TESTING: I health test my personal dogs for some or most of the following as soon as they are eligible. Some are considered tested through parentage, and I may decide to retest in future generations.
- OFA hip dysplasia
- OFA elbow dysplasia
- OFA patella
- OFA eye
- OFA cardiac
- OFA thyroiditis
- OCS (Osteochondritis)
- Degenerative myelopathy (DM)
- Hemophilia B (Rhodesian Ridgeback type)
- Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy
- Ridge gene
- Hyperuricosuria (HUU)
- The D Locus (dilute) coat color test
- Canine brucellosis, Brucella canis (B. canis)
- Exercise-Induced Collapse (EIC)
- Early Onset Adult Deafness (EOAD)
I do NOT promote or recommend NuVet Labs. This is a multi-level marketing scheme. Dogs don’t need to be on these supplements.
The Goal
My goal and priority in breeding and raising RRs is to responsibly and ethically produce sound and healthy dogs that represent the breed’s standards. I want to provide the right people and families with healthy, quality pets that meet or exceed breed standards. I have strong, healthy and uniquely pedigreed dogs; I believe they can add great genetic diversity to other well bred lines, so I am also cautiously open to sharing my pedigrees with a very limited number of reputable and responsible breeders. While I’m happy to share the breed, and I enjoy seeing it get a bit of notoriety in recent years, I’m also very protective of it. I don’t want this dog to become as popular as some other breeds became over the past few decades, which were bred so much and with little regard for genetic testing that they still haven’t recovered.
The Covid Puppy Phenomenon
The covid puppy phenomenon caused a demand for puppies of all breeds that we haven’t seen in decades because people were suddenly stuck at home with time on their hands. Unfortunately, this caused a lot of irresponsible people to capitalize on the demand for puppies, leading to an enormous amount of breedings of pet quality “backyard” dogs, some even being siblings/inbred, without regard for health and temperament. (Most people looking for a puppy want one NOW and are not educated on what to look for in an ethical breeder in order to get a healthy, stable dog.) Now that many of those covid puppy buyers have gone back to work, they are unable to provide the attention and care that their dogs need. Shelters are filled at an all time high with abandoned covid-era puppies with poor temperaments. The overall demand for puppies is now extremely low, and the market is flooded with thousands of bad quality backyard bred puppies. Educated, responsible and ethical breeders who have invested decades and thousands of dollars into their breeding programs are now competing with these backyard breeders. Unfortunately, the uneducated buyers of these puppies are getting what they pay for in the long run. It truly is a pay now or pay later situation when you’re talking about a well bred dog.
This breeder accurately explains the complexities of this entire situation. I highly encourage you to check this out before you contact me or any other breeder.
It Is Time To Break The Silence And Have The Uncomfortable Conversation About The Current Market
I refuse to lower my standards in order to compete with all of the people selling cheap backyard bred puppies. While my expenses have increased drastically, I will continue breeding ethically and with pride in the health of my dogs and continued health testing of future dogs. Raising pups in an ethical manner takes an enormous amount of time, tears, money and emotional and physical energy. I threaten every year to quit breeding because making sure it’s done right is incredibly time consuming, expensive and stressful. I continue to do it because I sincerely love the breed, love the challenges, love raising puppies, enjoy the biological sciences involved, and love watching my puppies and dogs change the lives of their new families.
I require all of my future puppy owners to touch base now and then and be receptive of me occasionally checking in. I need to know how the puppies mature, about their health and temperaments, etc. This all helps me better plan for future generations of dogs/pups.
“Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.”
–Proverbs 12:10