Episode 322: Assistant Principal Has Passion for Showing Rhodesian Ridgebacks

Stacie Thompson:
They were bred for a job.

Anthony Godfrey:
And what job was that?

Stacie Thompson:
To protect the farms, but they also are very well known for working together to hunt lions.

Anthony Godfrey:
The name Rhodesian Ridgeback sounds intimidating. There's a reason for that.

Stacie Thompson:
Yes. Currently, I think they're only feared by my couch.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. When she's not in the classrooms of her school caring for kids, one assistant principal has a unique passion and you could say she's having a doggone good time pursuing that passion. On this episode of the Supercast, we take you to Elk Meadows Elementary School, where we meet up with Stacie Thompson and her Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs. Find out why this educator loves showing her prized possessions at dog shows everywhere and what it takes to bring home the title of Best in Show or Best in Breed.

Anthony Godfrey
We're talking today at Elk Meadows with the assistant principal who happens to be a big dog fan and a prize winner when it comes to her dogs. Introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what you're up to with these dogs.

Stacie Thompson:
I'm Stacie Thompson and I show and breed Rhodesian Ridgebacks. We enter AKC events both in the ring for confirmation and on the field for lure coursing.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stacie, I've been looking forward to this for a long time. I have two dogs that are neither shown nor prize-winning at all, unless there were prizes for barking at the door at 3.30 in the morning or things like that, you know.

Stacie Thompson:
There could be.

Anthony Godfrey:
There could be. There really should be. Now, let's talk first of all about the breed, the Rhodesian Ridgeback. Rhodesia is a country, or was a country, with a very unpleasant past. So tell me about the Rhodesian Ridgeback name.

Stacie Thompson:
So they are an African dog and they do hail from formerly Rhodesia, which is now Zimbabwe. But they were bred for a job.

Anthony Godfrey:
And what job was that?

Stacie Thompson:
To protect the farms, but they also are very well known for working together to hunt lions.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, OK. So, when the name Rhodesian Ridgeback sounds intimidating, there's a reason for that. OK. All right. Protecting the farm and working together to hunt lions. If you hunt lions, then you're something to be feared, I would say.

Stacie Thompson:
Yes. Currently, I think they're only feared by my couch. They want to spend their time there.

Anthony Godfrey:
OK. All right.

Stacie Thompson:
Yes. That was their original job.

Anthony Godfrey:
I did get a glimpse of them as we walked in and he looked very charming, not very, not very intimidating.

Stacie Thompson:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
But that was because he was under your command. So I'm sure that if I met him in a dark alley, I might think otherwise.

Stacie Thompson:
He's a sweet guy.

Anthony Godfrey:
He's a sweet guy, I'm sure.

Stacie Thompson:
I got my first Ridgeback 13 years ago, and I still have her.

Anthony Godfrey:
Good.

Stacie Thompson:
Then Zero is 10 and I have Izzy has just turned seven and my puppy just turned two. And that's Scarlett. We have her here today.

Anthony Godfrey:
Which leads me to the next question. So there are four Ridgebacks in your home. How many dogs are there in your home?

Stacie Thompson:
Four.

Anthony Godfrey:
OK. So how many legs total in your home?

Stacie Thompson:
Too many.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's two for you, 16 for them. That's a lot of legs.

Stacie Thompson:
That's a lot of legs.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's a lot of legs. Are they far from you or do they always want to be right by you?

Stacie Thompson:
They're a little bit different. They I would say they like to be in the same room, definitely. But they're comfortable being across the room as long as they can have eyes on you. And then sometimes they just love a good cuddle.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's awesome. That's a big cuddle from what I saw as I walked by.

Stacie Thompson:
It's like a big hug.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's a big hug. That's fantastic. Tell me about what it means to breed and to show these dogs. What does that look like for you day to day?

Stacie Thompson:
So we enter AKC events where we show our dogs to a judge and usually in a weekend, you'll show to more than one judge. You're just there to get the professional opinion of the judge that your dog has been bred correctly and shows the correct standards for our breed and is worthy of continuing forward with a gene pool and breeding.

Anthony Godfrey:
What are some of the characteristics of this particular breed that a judge would be looking for?

Stacie Thompson:
They look for like a combination of their conformation. So, we're looking for a strong shoulder assembly, an athletic dog.

Anthony Godfrey:
I've always wanted a strong shoulder assembly. I've never really had it.

Stacie Thompson:
A dog that drives from the rear.

Anthony Godfrey:
That drives from the rear?

Stacie Thompson:
Yeah, so they're rear wheel drive. So not fancy but athletic. So they're pushing as they reach and drive because they're an athletic breed. And if they're going to protect the farm, they need to be able to run all day.

Anthony Godfrey:
What else are they watching for? What else are the judges wanting to see?

Stacie Thompson:
Well, automatically our breed disqualification. So the Rhodesian Ridgeback has a hallmark of our breed. and that is that it has two cowlicks that are at the base of their neck on their shoulders. That forces the hair to grow in the opposite direction down their spine. Hence, that's why they're called a ridgeback.

Anthony Godfrey:
So the hair is growing upstream against all the other hair?

Stacie Thompson:
Mm-hmm.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, well we'll get a look at that in a few minutes.

And so if we don't have that, then that would disqualify us as being correct.

Anthony Godfrey:
But it's not properly bred, I see.

Stacie Thompson:
Then they're just looking for the rest, as far as like our dogs should be longer than they are tall, and they should have a certain kind of shape to them and movement to them.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, all right. So, if you are in a competition, is it only showing and looking at the characteristics? Or are your dogs like jumping over the little bar and running around through the cones and all that stuff?

Stacie Thompson:
So an AKC confirmation event is only, it's kind of like a beauty concept.

Anthony Godfrey:
It's a beauty pageant. Okay, wow. All right. That may all make sense now. What's his platform? World peace or what is it exactly?

Stacie Thompson:
Maybe more food.

Anthony Godfrey:
More food? Okay. That's a good platform. That makes sense.

Stacie Thompson:
So that's an AKC confirmation event. If you are doing—

Anthony Godfrey:
World hunger. That's the platform.

Stacie Thompson:
World hunger, there you go.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yes, okay.

Stacie Thompson:
If we're doing going through the sticks and over the jumps, that's called agility.

Anthony Godfrey:
Agility.

Stacie Thompson:
We can also compete in that. Then if they're competing for obedience, that's obedience or rally. And then if they are competing on the field, which is something only sighthounds can do.

Anthony Godfrey:
Not—

Stacie Thompson:
Not just any hound but a sighthound. So a sighthound is a nose.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, I see. But the Ridgeback is a sight.

Stacie Thompson:
Um hum.

Anthony Godfrey:
So they see the lion. They don't smell the lion. Well, they also smell it, but they work on sight.

Stacie Thompson:
Yeah, they're very prey-driven by sight. So that's a dog like a whippet or a greyhound. They're going to compete in this event. And it's just in the field where they have a motor and a pulley system. And the dogs will chase--it's a plastic bag. But it's supposed to simulate a rabbit.

Anthony Godfrey:
I see.

Stacie Thompson:
And they'll chase it sprinting between 600 and 900 yards.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is it boring to chase a plastic bag rabbit when you're used to chasing lions?

Stacie Thompson:
No.

Anthony Godfrey:
Or are they happy to do that still?

Stacie Thompson:
Well, since they haven't been to Africa in a while, I think they're pretty happy to chase a plastic bag.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. All right. Very good. Let's talk about all of these ribbons, these awards. This is quite an array and I will say, whenever an AKC competition is on TV, I cannot turn the channel. I cannot look away. I have to watch it through to the end because it's fascinating to watch the competition. So, tell me about all of these awards.

Stacie Thompson:
So these awards are just various awards that the dogs have gotten over the years. Some of them are from confirmation. Some of them are for coursing. So the ones that say lure coursing, those are field events. The red, white, and blue is what's called Best in Field. So they compete against other Ridgebacks and then if they win against the Ridgebacks, then they compete against the winners from all the other breeds. Once that happens, then they can be Best in Field. So Zero, my dog, has been best in field twice, which means that he ran against Whippets and Greyhounds and Salukis and Afghans and was able to win those days. So, it was a lucky day.

Anthony Godfrey:
Even Salukis. Wow. Very cool. I just pretended to know what a Saluki is. So that's really fun. That's exciting. So how often would you say you are taking them to competition of one sort or another and how far away have you taken them for competition?

Stacie Thompson:
I don't do it as often as others. Others are committed and they're out there every weekend. We only have two shows in the spring and two shows in the fall here in Utah. So, we do both of those if we can. And then typically we do Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado in here and just kind of keep it close. But I've been as far as Washington State and North Dakota, and I guess quite a few states.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, so we have some photos here of the competition. Let's look at that.

Stacie Thompson:
We do. So when you win, you get to take a picture with a judge.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, yeah.

Stacie Thompson:
That's the one that I read. This is Zero's son. And you get to take a picture, which is great.

Anthony Godfrey:
Look at that. They know exactly how to stand. Like, there we are. We're ready to go.

Stacie Thompson:
Yeah. Well, and so you're showing off, right? They're best qualities. So you can see there should be longer than the front.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. Beautiful dogs. Yeah. Very cool. And this is the ridge. There's a magazine. There's a Ridgeback magazine?

Stacie Thompson:
Yeah. So if you belong to the club, you know, we can show our dogs and advertise if you are wanting us.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, look, there you are.

Stacie Thompson:
There I am.

Anthony Godfrey:
New champion in the magazine.

Stacie Thompson:
That's Izzy. So Izzy is Scarlett's mom, who we have here today.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. That's very cool.

Stacie Thompson:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Look at that. Huh. They're very photogenic dogs.

Stacie Thompson:
They are. And this is Zero's dad.

Anthony Godfrey:
Dex.

Stacie Thompson:
Dex.

Anthony Godfrey:
Very cool. Very distinguished looking dog. Like, “I stand on business.”

Stacie Thompson:
They do.

Anthony Godfrey:
“I have things to do.” Stay with us when we come back. We meet Stacie Thompson’s Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Zero and Scarlett.

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Anthony Godfrey:
Let's go meet the dogs, shall we?

Stacie Thompson:
Let's do it. This is Zero, we'll meet him first.

Anthony Godfrey:
Alright, let's meet Zero. Now, they're very well behaved. I saw you put them in the kennel and they just like, "Oh sure, no problem. Why don't we go into this zipped up little box?"

Stacie Thompson:
They're used to coming to dog shows.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Stacie Thompson:
So he's 10, so I'm just going to grab him. He is my racing dog, so he loves to run.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. He has two white paws on the left and two brown paws on the right.

Stacie Thompson:
Yeah. Our dogs shouldn't have too much white, so we don't want the white to go up past that first joint.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is it a problem, the white that he does have on his paws?

Stacie Thompson:
Not at all.

Anthony Godfrey:
Or that doesn't take away from it?

Stacie Thompson:
Not at all. So, they typically have a little bit on their chest as well at times, so you can see.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now, someone told me when we got our second dog that some dogs are treat-motivated and some are ball-motivated. Is that, in fact? Is that breed-specific or does that just vary on the dog?

Stacie Thompson:
For Ridgebacks, typically are very food motivated.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. I don't know if they might pick that up, but that was a loud attack on the snack that was airborne.

Stacie Thompson:
But they typically are independent thinkers, so if you throw a ball, they might go get it the first time, but the second time they kind of look at you like, “well, you threw that away, so you don't want it. That's all you. So why would I want it?”

Anthony Godfrey:
I actually, I respect that.

Stacie Thompson:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
I really respect that. Oh. That's Zero?

Stacie Thompson:
Yes. Good boy, buddy. Scarlet.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Your hand signals are telling him exactly what to do.

Stacie Thompson:
Yeah. So he has...

Anthony Godfrey:
He seems very obedient.

Stacie Thompson:
He has been a show dog, you know, a few years ago, so he does know, and he's just a very good dog.

Anthony Godfrey:
And as a racing dog, how fast does he go?

Stacie Thompson:
Oh, that is a good question. So, if they're running against a Greyhound, the Greyhound might be going much faster than he's going, but the judge has to be able to look at each breed independently and see, is this dog moving the way it's supposed to? They're graded in five categories, and they get up to 10 points in each category, and they run twice. So he would have to run correctly for our breed and follow and have good agility and all of the things that they're looking for.

Anthony Godfrey:
So it's not just fast running, it's good running.

Stacie Thompson:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
I see.

Stacie Thompson:
It's important that they follow and don't cheat and cut across the field.

Anthony Godfrey:
Well, I can agree with that.

Stacie Thompson:
And they want to show their agility. Can they corner well? Do they come in, you know, still excited about chasing the plastic bag? And are they fast?

Anthony Godfrey:
Can they corner well?

Stacie Thompson:
Mm-hmm.

Anthony Godfrey:
And, Zero, do you corner well?

Stacie Thompson:
He says, "Well, I am a Best in Field dog."

Anthony Godfrey:
Of course, you corner well. You're in a magazine.

Stacie Thompson:
Good, buddy.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now, that ridgeback really does stand out.

Stacie Thompson:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Once you point it out.

Stacie Thompson:
So just like we have cowlicks in our hair, you can see that he has two right here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Kind of a whirl on each side of that that sends the hair. Can I?

Stacie Thompson:
Yeah, you can touch it.

Anthony Godfrey:
So it goes that way. Oh, wow. And you can -- oh, that's interesting. So, the hair just goes back the opposite direction.

Stacie Thompson:
Mm-hmm.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, yeah. Good boy.

Stacie Thompson:
Yeah. And they have to have two to be correct.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, okay.

Stacie Thompson:
And then it should run down all the way to about their hips back here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now, if all of that wasn't right, but they were really good runners, would you still have them in that competition, or do they have to have the whole package?

Stacie Thompson:
So for a running dog, they can't run —f they -- we have to have a ridge, but if it's not correct, they can still run.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. They have to have a ridge, but it can be less than it might be for sure . . .

Stacie Thompson:
Just because that's our hallmark.

Anthony Godfrey:
If I pet him, do I need to put my hand out first?

Stacie Thompson:
He's really easygoing. He just wants to be curious. Zero, dog, down.

Anthony Godfrey:
Zero, what's going on?

Stacie Thompson:
He likes a butt scratch, so...

Anthony Godfrey:
Zero, hello. What a nice dog you are. And a champion, yes? Oh, wow. So you have to pet them in just the right spot, or else you're pushing back on that hair.

Stacie Thompson:
Mm-hmm.

Anthony Godfrey:
And this is Scarlett.

Stacie Thompson:
Yep. And so she is my show puppy.

Anthny Godfrey:
She was pretty excited to come out and say hello.

Stacie Thompson:
Yeah, we'll let her come out. So she's a little smaller. Males are about 85 pounds normally. Zero's a little bit bigger. And the females are about 70.

Anthony Godfrey:
Scarlett? Hi, Scarlett. Come here. Now, is that a shorter ridge than Zero has?

Stacie Thompson:
A little bit shorter. It's fine if it goes down to their hips like hers. She has a little bit more in her body here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Stacie Thompson:
But you just don't want it to stop mid-back.

Anthony Godfrey:
She's sniffing the mic, a little curiosity there.

Stacie Thompson:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
The microphone does look like something you might want to chase with that furry covering on it. What are the treats you're using?

Stacie Thompson:
This is just freeze-dried liver. They like this.

Anthony Godfrey:
I had that for lunch.

Stacie Thompson:
You did?

Anthony Godfrey:
No, I did not. Freeze-dried liver, huh?

Stacie Thompson:
She's just learning to show, so we'll get her out next spring. She's just been practicing till then.

Anthony Godfrey:
So she hasn't competed?

Stacie Thompson:
She has a little bit. We were at Ridgebacks, have what's called our Ridgeback Nationals. Every dog breed usually has a national competition where it's just Ridgebacks and no other dogs.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Stacie Thompson:
We were lucky this year that it was here in South Jordan.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, really?

Stacie Thompson:
It travels around the country.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow.

Stacie Thompson:
This year it was at home in our backyard.

Anthony Godfrey:
How nice.

Stacie Thompson:
So she was able to compete without having to travel too far, and she earned third against all the puppies in her class, which was great. It was a lot of competition. We had about 500, I think, three... I think we had about 500 Ridgebacks here that...

Anthony Godfrey:
Third out of 500.

Stacie Thompson:
Well, not out of 500 because there were boys and girls in different ages.

Anthony Godfrey:
Right. Sure.

Stacie Thompson:
So her class would have just been with the puppy class.

Anthony Godfrey:
I see.

Stacie Thompson:
They go in different classes. And so she would have been in the 15 to 18-month class.

Anthony Godfrey:
Which of your dogs has been the most successful in competition?

Stacie Thompson:
Zero's been the most successful runner, and so far her mother has the most titles in AKC confirmation, but we're just getting started. So, we'll see how that stands up.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. So you think that Scarlett may give her mom a run for the money, huh?

Stacie Thompson:
Let's hope so.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah.

Stacie Thompson:
Do you think so? What do you want?

Anthony Godfrey:
Are you just interested in me?

Stacie Thompson:
She says yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
Any advice for those who might be considering Rhodesian Ridgebacks in their lives?

Stacie Thompson:
Um... Be ready for an independent-thinking dog. You need to just make sure you research the breed well, know what you're getting into, and find a breeder that will support you and your dog for the life of your dog.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Fantastic. Well, these dogs are lucky to have you, and it sounds like you're very lucky to have these particular dogs as well. It's really fun to talk with you and to meet them and spend a little time.

Stacie Thompson:
Yeah. Thank you for coming to meet them. They're always good to get to meet new people and have new experiences, so this is good for them as well.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you'll do today!” We'll see you out there.