Staffy cross ridgeback?

Hi there,

Im new to this forum. My name is Gemma and ive grown up with staffys. I bought a staffy just before christmas of last year and hes now 7 month old. Although it wouldnt bother me if he is a cross or not id like to be sure. He is all brindle but has very nice markings on him and when he was small people would ask if he was a boxer because of the white line down his head and white chest that goes around his neck. When we bought him the owners told us he was pure staff and we met his mother but they didnt have the dad. They said he looked the spitting image of his dad. The thing is, as hes got older hes grown so much. I have a 10 month old staffy bitch who is a lot smaller than him and is definatly pure staff. I know they say that bitches are smaller than dogs but theres a very big difference. He also has a very rough patch of hair that goes straight down his back but is the same colour as the rest of him. The rest of his fur is soft too. Ive looked through some pictures of staffs cross ridgeback and he looks exactly the same as some of them. I cant figure out how to upload pictures or i would

Hi & welcome.

It would be helpful if you could post some pics of Him (what's his name, by the way?). Have a look here for how to post photos from photobucket to here...
https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t69-post-an-image-from-photobucket-to-the-forum

that would be one HUGE dog. ridge backs are not what one would call small. but yeah, photos would give us a better idea

Buster is tall for a staffy, he is currently about 17 inches and 8 months old. He is pure staff and KC reg, just a big boy. He also has the strip going down his back, his fur is slightly darker than the rest of him though, but this is normal, it is all this fur that would stand on end if he was growling, etc. A ridgebacks fur grows the opposite way to the rest of it along the back, giving the ridge. Pics of your boy would be helpful though (and of your girl, just because we love staffy pics! )

Pictures would help! It's pretty difficult to ID a breed without actually seeing the dog! Ridgebacks are a very popular breed in my area and I have watched quite a few grow from puppies coming to our puppy play group to adults coming in for treats and toys. They all had three things in common; they grew very big very quickly, had big feet as little pups and were a solid deep rusty red color. Even the two Ridgeback mixes I've met are big and rusty red in color. The AKC standard for the Rhodesian Ridgeback is: Dogs 25-27" (63.5-68.58 cm) in height; Bitches 24-26" (60.96-66 cm) in height. Dogs 85lbs (38.5kg); Bitches 70lbs (31.75kg). They are big dogs.

i have seen a ridgeback x black lab before... it was massive.... looked liked like a ridge back but was black. like the others said, its hard to identify some one with out a picture

Hi and welcome to the forum from Rocky and me.

Are you still having problems uploading your pics? The link below should help you. We would love to see the pics of your dog:

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t12018-how-to-post-a-photos-onto-the-forum

This is Becks. This is when we got him at 6 weeks old

My 2 babies. Becks and Stella. We got Stella at 7 months old and we think the previous owners got her just for mating as they said they got her as a pure white staff and they had a blue male but her colour started coming out. She didnt know her own name or anything. This pic was a couple of months ago. They are now 10 month and 7 month

This is Becks last week

Here he is at about 10 weeks old. I have hundreds of photos of them both. I absolutley love staffies as ive grown up with them and all my friends have them but ive never known them to have the thicker hair down the back. My friend has a 7 year old that looks exactly the same as Stella my female but he too doesnt have the strip of thick hair down his back

Awwww, he's gorgeous! I am no good at saying if dogs are crossed or not, unless it is an obvious cross, but he looks very staffyish to me. As I said before, Buster has the same strip. It is slighly more wirey than the rest of his fur. I will try to see if I can get a pic of it to show you.

Thanks. Its just with the big size difference and the wirey hair. I've never noticed it on anyone else's male. He's my baby though whether he's crossed or not. I just wanted to be sure. Strangely enough, the owners we got him off disappeared off Facebook as that's what we got him from and she changed her number.... So can't really ask them lol. He tries to sit on my knee still even though he doesn't fit anymore

Buster is beautiful. I woulda loved a blue one but they are so expensive but have my 2 babies now

He may be crossed, but it's definitely not with Ridgeback. He would be a lot bigger than he is. The ridge on a Ridgeback's back isn't just wirey fur, it's fur growing in the opposite direction from the rest of the fur. It's actually just as soft as the rest of their fur.

Becks and Stella are gorgeous, by the way!

Thank you!

Gorgeous photos & they're both lovely looking dogs!

I can't see any Ridgeback in Becks at all, though. As said before, the ridge on a Ridgeback's back is the same hair (colour & texture) as the rest of the dog, only growing in the opposite direction to the rest.

He could have a bit of rough coated terrier in him, maybe one of the larger terriers?

Thank you

They are both gorgeous dogs, thanks for sharing your pics of them.

some people can be so heartless cant they, thankfully they are with you now in a loving forever home

Definitely! I managed to learn Stella to give her paw in a matter of 20 minutes with a bag of biscuits at my side lol so they obviously didn't have time for her once her colour came out!

They're gorgeous. I'd say there's probably something else in him but I wouldn't say it was ridgeback.

Sorry, it took a while. Both my phone and the computer are on a go slow

Here is a pic of Buster. The darker bit going down his back is where the fur is slightly wirey and a bit thicker. Every dog breed we've ever had has had this strip, so I thought it was normal for all dogs, but now I'm worried it's not! lol

There was a staffy/ridgeback x at the kennels I went to last week and you could definitely tell the fur was growing the wrong way up his back I was hoping they had a pic online but they only list a selection of the dogs at a time

Both your babies are gorgeous though

Thank you and how old is Buster? Hes a beauty

Also, does anyone have any idea on whats cheap but nice for the dogs? i've had them on Webbox roles and Wagg biscuits but they dont seem to be eating it anymore. Becks even turned his nose up at it today..

Your dogs are lovely My cousin had a Ridgeback and he was massive, I can't really see any Ridgeback in him. I've got Boxers and I can't really see much Boxer in him either, except maybe in the puppy photo but sometimes it's tricky to tell from photos.

hutton.1986 wrote:Also, does anyone have any idea on whats cheap but nice for the dogs? i've had them on Webbox roles and Wagg biscuits but they dont seem to be eating it anymore. Becks even turned his nose up at it today..

Neither of these are particularly good. Have you looked at any of the other brands? Wainwrights (Pets at Home's own brand) is quite a good lower price food & I think they do both dry & wet.

hutton.1986 wrote:Thank you and how old is Buster? Hes a beauty

Buster is 8 months now, and pushing his luck! Still love him loads though

Wow thats a hard one! Definately a cross but what with. I think Caryll might be on the right track. Airdale or fox terrier or something

hutton.1986 wrote:Also, does anyone have any idea on whats cheap but nice for the dogs? i've had them on Webbox roles and Wagg biscuits but they dont seem to be eating it anymore. Becks even turned his nose up at it today..

Webbox and Wagg aren't great at all.

Skinners Field and Trial is the best budget food that I can think of. It looks more expensive than Wagg (about £18/20 for a 15kg bag as opposed to around the £10 mark for Wagg) but the RDA for Wagg for a 15kg dog is about 400g whereas with Skinners F&T it's about 190g so it works out at a similar daily feeding cost.

hi great too see some pics as couldn,t say before seeing him, firstly Becks and stella are both beautiful, unfortunately alot of staffies that are around now are not what would be classed as show standard looking on here we have some perfect looking show dogs, but now a days we see legger staffs unusal colours in coats and eyes, and different shapped faces and ears it doesn,t mean they aren,t a staffie which yours looks too me infact pup pics is the image of my ava at that age, but alot of our pets wouldn,t be able too be shown at crufts say, my blue is too tall lol, as for the dark line my ava has the same, and she is pure staff her dad was a show dog, my friend has a ridge back/staff cross and its a big dog just enjoy yr gorgeous boy xx

Romeois a show dog with papers and his fur is a little tougher down his back too. its normal dont fret honey
just enjoy.
I find the darker staffs have a little tougher hair then the lighter ones anyway