NWRRC Member Profile
Jeanette Ennis, Member since 2001
Jeanette Ennis is currently the WA State Coordinator for Rhodesian Ridgeback Rescue (RRRI), serves as a director on the current NWRRC board, and is active in a number of competitive dog sports, including FastCAT, agility, trick dog, rally obedience and on occasion, barn hunt. She is also a member of RRCUS. Her current household includes five Rhodesian Ridgebacks and one Border Terrier. I sent her a questionnaire a couple of months ago and here is what I learned.
Growing up: I always knew I needed a dog in my life (who knew I would someday be wrangling six?) but my dad didn’t want the responsibility of caring for a dog to fall on my mom. Eventually, my siblings and I wore him down—it took until I was 16! He still had a list of requirements that he thought would discourage us. I dove in and we brought the perfect golden retriever pup home just weeks later. I only had a little over a year with her before I headed to college and my brother claimed her for his paper route. I wasn’t to get another dog until graduate school.
Jeanette with Newton, her first RR
Ridgebacks: In grad school, a new roommate took one look at the rescue dog I had at the time and declared he was part ridgeback. This dog looked nothing like a Rhodesian Ridgeback. It did have some crazy fur that was even more crazy along his spine. What he told me about the breed piqued my curiosity. I did some research—a strong, muscular and active dog; handsome, upstanding and athletic, capable of great endurance with a fair (good) amount of speed; even, dignified temperament, devoted and affectionate to his master.
I was an avid runner and hiker, and this seemed like a perfect breed for me. Even the stubbornness seemed more like a challenge rather than a negative. So, I bided my time until the stars aligned, and I was able to get my first RR, Newton.
Newton was the perfect intro to the breed—he loved coursing, where during the copious downtime you can really get to know other sighthound people and develop lasting friendships; he trained for marathons with me (and, to my chagrin, had plenty of turn of speed to chase a squirrel up hill on the last mile of a 19-mile training run); and he hiked all over the PNW with me. He even saved me from being lost in the wilderness on one ill-fated backpacking trip.
Jeanette’s Dogs: Since I am a scientist by training, each of my dog’s names follow a science theme, and even my Border Terrier, and pack mascot, has the call name “Orbit.”
Here’s Jeanette with her Ridgebacks
Newton, DC Spring Valley’s Sir Isaac, MC 2000-2009
Helix, CH Sweet Creek’s Nobel Crick, MC, CGC 2006-2021
Doppler, GCH DC Sweet Creek’s A Star In RedShift, RN, SC, CGC 2010-Dolby, GCH CH Sweet Creek’s He Blinded Me With Science, 2015-
HedyLamarr, GCH CH Java’s Not Just A Pretty Face at R3, RE, JC, NA,
NAJ, FCAT, TKA, VHMA, 2017-
Halley, CH Java’s Once In A Lifetime at R3, BCAT, CGC, 2021-
Joule, Java’s May The Force Be With You at R3, 2022-
Life, Training and RR Activities: Besides conformation, lure coursing, and the few herding instinct tests that seemed to be a requirement for the RR Fun Day years ago, I started experimenting with the versatility of this amazing breed. Some of my dogs were more easily engaged than others. Finding the activity they enjoy more than dozing in a sunspot is a fun challenge.
Dolby wasn’t interested in much besides sleeping and watching the girls hunt. Then we discovered parkour. He put all the border collies and tiny dogs to shame by Navy-Seal-crawling under a setup barely higher than his chest depth. He could slowly and deliberately climb a length of 2x4 and turn around on the small platform at the top to come back down. Of course, I don’t recommend this activity if you don’t want to find your dog on top of your pantry!
HedyLamarr took to every activity I tried—the beauty pageant (conformation), lure coursing, FastCAT, agility, trick dog, rally obedience. She loves to perform and has a huge number of fairly impressive tricks under her belt (follow @rrelativityridgebacks on YouTube for a few of her favorite tricks, including reading). One of our future goals is to put a skit together for her Elite Performer title—stay tuned, hopefully at our next Fun Day. She is an obsessive hunter at home but thinks the rats in barn hunt are disgusting. I think what she leaves on my white rug or scattered about my yard is disgusting. We agree to disagree on that point. After all, she is a Hollywood diva.
I can’t wait to see what the younger ones enjoy. I have learned that training RRs really involves convincing them that what you want them to do was their idea all along. I am lucky enough to be able to train at a facility in Maple Valley where I also teach agility, rally obedience, and trick dog.
Two games I want to try—treibball and dock diving (Halley’s dad has a dock diving title in Germany).
Doppler at the 2022 Nat'l Specialty
It is hard to pick my proudest moments with my dogs (I hope there will be many more to come). However, Doppler winning Best in Show Baby Puppy over 126 puppies at 5 months old at the Portland show in 2011 and then winning 1st place in the 11+ veteran class at the National Specialty in 2022 at 12.5 years old is certainly up there.
HedyLamarr lure coursing
Because RRs are like Doritos - you can’t have just one - I started to co-breed with Marykay Ligocki under her kennel name, Java Ridgebacks, tagging RRelativity Ridgebacks (R3) in case I am ever brave enough to go it alone. Watching your “babies” thrive in their loving forever homes makes all the hard work and heartbreak of breeding worth it.
Rescue: Retiring in 2021 has given me more free time. I reached out to Aubrey with the idea that I could occasionally help transport RRs for Rescue. She must have misunderstood me... as I became the WA state coordinator for RRRI. Helping RRs in need find a forever-warm sunspot or fireplace to enjoy is incredibly rewarding. Foster homes and rescue volunteers are desperately needed – please reach out to me if you would like to help – we need you!
NWRRC Member Profile
Lorraine Pedersen - Member since 1991
Lorraine is a longtime member of NWRRC, is active in a number of dog sports, training and events with her current Ridgeback ZaK, GCh Ch UCD Jesmyster Exactly Right Kito, HIC, CGC, BN, CD, AKC Achiever Dog, TKN, RE, TT, ACT1, ACT1J, BCAT, NAJ, NA. She is an obedience instructor at French Creek Pet Resort in Snohomish, WA. Lorraine has done a ton of work for the Club and is currently on the Newsletter and Rescue committees. She is active with Rhodesian Ridgeback Rescue, Inc, Seattle Purebred Dog Rescue, and volunteers at Helping Our Miniature Equines. Lorraine has earned titles in obedience, conformation, rally, agility, coursing, Fast CAT - the list goes on! Last month, I sent Lorraine some interview questions and below is a recap.
Growing up: My parents wouldn’t let us have dogs when we were growing up, so I got my first dog as a gift when I was 18 and no longer living at home. My first purebred dog was a Sheltie I named Travis. Though I trained him, I never competed with him. I moved to Washington from California in 1981 and brought Travis with me. I lost Travis to cancer in 1989; he was 11 years old.
Ridgebacks: I had met a Ridgeback when I was in high school and was impressed with that dog, so when I lost Travis, I started hunting for a Ridgeback breeder. At that time, RR’s were not easy to find! I remember going to the local pet store where I bought my aquarium stuff, and the employee there had a booklet with breeders’ names of different breeds; in a roundabout way, I ended up contacting Nancy Williams.
My first RR, Kito (Swahili for “Gem”), was born in September 1990 and I brought him home on Thanksgiving weekend of that year. Nancy led me to the NWRRC and I have been a member since the early 90’s, and joined RRCUS soon after.
Kito was the first dog I competed with and he eventually became UCD K-D Hill Jewel of Zimbabwe, CD, CGC, TT.
Though I tried showing him in conformation, I could not get far; as agreed, Avril showed him in Canada, and I hired Georgia Hymmen to show him in the US.
I did all his training and competed with him in various activities, and he eventually became American and Canadian Ch Beaubijou’s Kito of Armagh, HIC, CGC, JC, TT, CD. We had two legs on his RN when he unexpectedly passed away at 10 ½.
When Kito was a year old, I agreed to take a dog from a co-worker sight unseen, a collie mix named Hannah, to keep Kito company while I was gone. They became fast friends. (This is also when I got involved in dog rescue, in which I remain involved to this day. But that’s a whole other story!) Kito died at 12 ½, and soon after that, I got my first greyhound, a retired track dog, Woody.
I got my second RR in 2004 from Debbie Brower and Kitty Tominey. I named him Kamili, which is Swahili for “Flawless” and he was my first conformation show dog. I co-owned him with Avril Hall (now Hall-Mahil), who owned Kamili’s sire, Bigs.
Owner-handling with “Zak”: My current RR, Zak, came to me in July 2015. Zak is short for “Zakia”, which is Swahili for “intelligent” and this really fits him! I have earned more titles on Zak than on any of my other dogs – maybe as many as all of them put together! He loves to learn and work and he learns fast. He has been exclusively owner-handled in everything and is currently GCh Ch UCD Jesmyster Exactly Right Kito, HIC, CGC, BN, CD, AKC Achiever Dog, TKN, RE, TT, ACT1, ACT1J, BCAT, NAJ, NA. We are actively training at the Open/Utility levels and in Agility. Once he gets his Open Agility title (either in Jumpers or Standard), we will be eligible for our RRCUS Versatility certificate. I have been working towards that for years – like everyone else, we lost a lot of training and competition time because of COVID, but nothing will stop us!
Above are images of Lorraine and her dog Zak, GCh Ch UCD Jesmyster Exactly Right Kito, HIC, CGC, BN, CD, AKC Achiever Dog, TKN, RE, TT, ACT1, ACT1J, BCAT, NAJ, NA
Zak, Covid, and Becoming a trainer! It is due to Zak that I am now an obedience instructor. When Zak was 4, I learned about Agility classes at French Creek Pet Resort and got us signed up. I had not been going there long when I was asked if I wanted to teach Obedience there, but I did not think I was ready for that, so I declined. But a year or so later, while we were still in “Mask Mode”, I took the plunge and got courses planned and set up. I based what I was going to teach on stuff I had learned from previous instructors and some of my own stuff tossed in. I started my first course of Foundation Obedience and Manners at French Creek on October 28, 2020. Since then, I have expanded to three courses of Foundation taught each week, and have added a Novice Competition class, called Moving Forward: Improving Obedience, and I do private sessions as well. I will be expanding on that in the coming year of 2023, collaborating with another instructor at French Creek in Canine Good Citizen practices and tests – I plan on getting certified as a CGC Evaluator early next year. Also, since I have so much invested in training – I have started my own business, named Rowdy Red Dog Training, LLC. I am very excited about being a small business owner and an entrepreneur! Truly a new career for me!
Life and Training with Ridgebacks: As with many of us, I cannot imagine not having an RR. I find it most amusing that many of the traits that non-RR people don’t like in the breed – independence, stubbornness, prey drive – are all the things I love about the breed. I am also very glad the training methods have changed so much from when I was training Kito: at that time, “training” was punitive and definitely not motivational. Motivational training has truly revolutionized training and made it possible to get so much more out of your dog, with much more enjoyment on both sides.
The bond that comes from training and working with your dog is amazing and I have learned SO MUCH about dogs from training and from rescue! I hope that I impart to my students my passion for dogs and training. The sky is the limit with what you can do with Ridgebacks (minus cold water retrieving!) and if you and/or your dog don’t like one activity, try another – there are plenty to choose from!
NWRRC Member Profiles
NWRRC Founding Member Profile: Betsy Metcalf
Submitted by Lorraine Pedersen for the October 2022 Newsletter