Founded in 1952, when a group of enthusiasts met at Crufts to inaugurate a club to
promote the breed in Great Britain, the club is the oldest and largest Ridgeback
Club in the UK. Ridgebacks had by then been imported into or bred in this country
for some forty years, but not in significant numbers. In those early days, the club
guaranteed classes at shows, thereby helping to get the Ridgeback exhibited around
the country and giving judges who were unfamiliar with the breed the opportunity
to learn. Those efforts resulted in Challenge Certificates being awarded to the breed
for the first time in 1954. Since that time membership of the club has grown to over
700 and the Rhodesian Ridgeback population is currently estimated at about 11,000.
Such growth in the breeds popularity has inevitably bought it's problems, which the
club has recognised and confronted. The clubs main aim is no longer solely to promote
the breed, but rather to secure it's future well-being by encouraging carefully planned,
responsible breeding from healthy stock, free from hereditary defects and equally
important, persuading breeders to take the greatest possible care in the choice of
homes for their puppies. The growth of the club has also seen it's member's interests
extend beyond breeding and exhibiting - many members join simply to belong to a group
of like-minded people and to be kept in touch with news, views and developments.
The club's activities and services have been expanded over the years to take account
of this and, indeed, it has been described as "the club for all reasons" appropriately
as will be seen as you browse the entire web site. Such growth in the breeds popularity
has inevitably bought it's problems, which the club has recognised and confronted.
The clubs main aim is no longer solely to promote the breed, but rather to secure
it's future well-being by encouraging carefully planned, responsible breeding from
healthy stock, free from hereditary defects and equally important, persuading breeders
to take the greatest possible care in the choice of homes for their puppies. The
growth of the club has also seen it's member's interests extend beyond breeding and
exhibiting - many members join simply to belong to a group of like-minded people
and to be kept in touch with news, views and developments. The club's activities
and services have been expanded over the years to take account of this and, indeed,
it has been described as "the club for all reasons" appropriately as will be seen
as you browse the entire web site.
