J – litter

Ninja was born in our C-litter June 26, 2014 and we have never regretted that we kept her. She has from the very beginning been such a sweet and uncomplicated dog, always with a great will to please and never really put a foot wrong. From young age she came along when I was training obedience with the other dogs, and she showed great promise with being attentive, motivation and had a great will to please. She learned quickly and was never really an typical Ridgeback with a mind of her own – she was more interested in cooperating with me. She was the second Ridgeback in Norway who gained the BH-title for passing the Companion Dog test (obedience, environment and gunshot), and the first one to pass this test was her grandfather Sheriff. She quickly got her RL1 and RL2 titles for receiving 3 1.prizes in rally obedience class 1 and 2, however class 3 got a little more complicated and I lost my motivation for training and competing. I am sure she would have gotten her RL3 title if I would have the motivation to keep training. We have also trained agility, in which she really loved and truly showed quite some talent. She was fast, eager and unafraid and I had problems keeping up with her speed. She have joined me bicycling, skijoring, walking in the mountains, walking in the city streets and even going by train from Oslo to Stockholm which is a 6 hour ride. Always a pleasure to have around. Ninja have always been a very healthy dog and still is. She was the greatest mother to her first litter and just managed everything herself. She truly is the best mother I have ever had, with managing everything her self, staying calm and collected at all times and caring for her puppies like a pro. Ninja have done both MH (mentality assessment) and MT (mentality test) and the tests shows us she is a extremely good representative of the breed and the temperament and mentality the ridgeback should posses. I do not think Ridgeback’s necessarily should love people like a Labrador, but they should enjoy the company of people. However, Ninja LOVES the company of people, no matter how long she has known you. In fact, she will probably demand you to scratch her back the moment you get into our house or even if you meet her in the forest. A couple of years ago we got a little human baby boy, and Ninja stepped up as the baby sitter the moment we came home with him. She is extremely patient and so loving it just melts my heart.

Aramis has an impressive pedigree, with many great dogs behind him. Both his father Glenaffric Ulanyo av Zuritamu and his grandfather Heshima Ya Kimba Energy Of Red, as well as his grandmother Lionesque Clementine are imported from South Africa, and behind them one can find many dogs which have left their mark on todays Rhodesian Ridgeback population. I have had my eyes on Aramis for quite some time, actually for a couple of years. I have met both his mother Inanda Mellberg Fleur de Cap “Fleur” and her litter-brother Mulitichamp Inanda Mellberg Edelrood “Rod” on several occasions, and they have both left me with a very good impression. Happy, energetic, curious and unafraid dogs with superb abilities for working and hunting. When Fleur was mated with Multichamp Glenaffric Ulanyo of Zuritamu “Ulanyo” I already back then thought for myself that this would be an exiting combination to follow. I have never had the pleasure to meet Ulanyo my self, but I have heard from several good friends what a wonderful dog he is and that he have a great temper. I have kept my eyes on the dogs in this litter occasionally and gotten the chance to see Aramis’ sister Inanda Mellberg Cresta By U on some shows and at home. She strucked me to be a very happy and social little female wrapped in a balanced and sound body. When Aramis did his mentality assessment (MH) in 2011 I was impressed by the results, but there was something with one of the moments that did not seem quite right. When I started to look for a male for Ninja’s grandmother Kiwi, I quickly fell back to Aramis, and I got to learn that there was actually a mistake with the protocol, and then it struck me that this mentality assessment was close to perfect, one of the best I have ever seen. We went to meet Aramis and his owner in Stockholm, and we were blown away by this wonderful male. After writing to owners and breeders literally around the world asking about mentality and health generations back, I was finally sure that I had found mister Perfect for Kiwi! 8 years after using Aramis for the first time, I am now happy to be able to use him again on Ninja. 

He has a wonderful balanced body, with a structure I believe would fit Ninja very well. He is a medium sized male, measuring probably around 68 cm. He haven’t been shown much, but have still done quite well in shows and became 6th Best Male from 100+ at BISS-12 in Sweden. Aramis is DM clear, Blue dilute clear, JME clear, EOAD clear and to my great pleasure carrier of the livernose gene. 

Aramis is born in a perfect litter of 11 correct puppies. 9 of 11 pups are x-rayed, and all Aramis’ siblings are HD: A/A and ED: 0/0. Aramis is as healthy as they can be, and with a mentality to die for. He has shared his life with an older male who eventually passed away, and now he is sharing his life with his son Nelson. Aramis is a kind and loving male, who loves to cuddle up next to you in the sofa. He did that even to us when we were there, even if he had never met us before. But he is a Rhodesian Ridgeback true to the type, and he would defend his family if needed. He have control of everything that happens around him, but at the same time he is very relaxed and appreciate some peace and quite. In many ways, I would describe him as the ultimate ridgeback when it comes to mental qualities. See his mentality assessment (MH) here.  Aramis have had 5 litters, and this will be his 6th litter. More info about his Swedish litters can bee found here: https://hundar.skk.se/Avelsdata/Flikar.aspx?sida=Hund_info&id=2573829. More photos of Aramis can be seen here.