NUCH LP1 LP2 BH NVV-13 NVV-14 RL1 Kuzonga’s Cheriff ~ Sheriff

Sheriff was the result of a long-term crush for Rhodesian Ridgeback and he came like a whirlwind into our lives in 2005. We have never regretted our choice for a second, and I think I will never again have the honor of owning such a complete dog. Sheriff was everything I could dream of and more. It was early decided that he had to be called Sheriff, but because he was born in a C-litter and preferably should have a name starting with C, he was given the pedigree name Kuzonga’s Cheriff.

Sheriff showed from a young age that he was a dog with a lot of humor and high level of energy, and he made us laugh every day. He loved to work, and even at the age of 13 years he was still playful and would do almost everything for a treat. We have trained agility, nordic working trials (tracking and searching), rescuedog, rally obedience, obedience, fieldtracking and Sheriff was also the first Ridgeback in Norway gaining the BH-title (obedience-, behaviour- and shooting-test). We also did a lot of skiing during the winter, bicycle during the summer and swimming. We have traveled around Scandinavia on obedience and working dog competitions and I was so incredibly proud when we repeatedly stood on the podium with the ordinary working dog breeds under us. I never asked myself what Sheriff could learn or what Sheriff could do, actually he knew most exercises to elite obedience. The question usually was “what did Sheriff want to do…” Would he work with me or would he steal the judges sandwich or cake – in which he did more than one time – to the delight of the audience – and with great satisfaction over himself.. Even if he was a dog who liked to work and satisfy me, he constantly tried to find ways to break into the food container, opening doors and drawers and make delightful mischief. We never had a boring moment with Sheriff.

Sheriff had a wonderful mentality, something his mentality tests confirms. He was a social and very accessible dog, fearless in every way, very curious with lots of playfulness and hunting instincts and he was rather easy-going. He had several obedience titles and working dog titles, but he also became Norwegian show champion. He was friendly to people and always demanded both people he knew, as well as strangers, to pet him. He had a great body language, and didn’t care to much about other dogs, and even though he was a dominant dog who wouldn’t submit to other males that growled at him, he rarely was the first one to growl. On the contrary, he actually was a great dog to have around when training with insecure dogs, because he would ignore them and help building their confidence.  Even though he had a bad side in having a quite high resourse defense around food, he still stands out in our minds of being a quite outstanding and unique Rhodesian Ridgeback. He had all the qualities I cherish in a dog – great health, a great mentality and an overall balanced exterior who carried him to the age of 13 years and 4 months.