Who We Are: The History of Zareba Ridgebacks: Past, Present and Future
Two histories come together. One Zareba.
Zareba Today
We always strive to produce excellent breed representatives with sound bodies and minds, wonderful temperaments from parents who are just healthy, happy and sound. After all, they are family dogs first so one needs to be able to live harmoniously with them. Our dogs are members of our family and live in our homes with us, hogging the couches and beds.
We tirelessly work to produce conformationally sound puppies for the show ring, performance events and all around family dogs. Even if they're not all show dogs, we want you to have a puppy that looks like a beautiful show dog! All puppies are from OFA health tested, Champion parents and usually have multiple titles proving they have beauty and brains.
All breeding dogs that Zareba uses must complete all health testing in accordance with the RRCUS Code of Ethics to reduce the inheritance of genetic disorders. All dogs will have passed, according to OFA/PennHip/CERF/MSU standards the required testing on their hips, elbows, eyes and thyroid which earns them a CHIC number. Testing for Degenerative Myelopathy (DM), Early Onset Adult Deafness (EOAD) and Inherited ventricular arrhythmia (RR-IVA) is also conducted. Additionally dogs may have shoulders, heart, hearing and patellas screened.
We always strive to produce excellent breed representatives with sound bodies and minds, wonderful temperaments from parents who are just healthy, happy and sound. After all, they are family dogs first so one needs to be able to live harmoniously with them. Our dogs are members of our family and live in our homes with us, hogging the couches and beds.
We tirelessly work to produce conformationally sound puppies for the show ring, performance events and all around family dogs. Even if they're not all show dogs, we want you to have a puppy that looks like a beautiful show dog! All puppies are from OFA health tested, Champion parents and usually have multiple titles proving they have beauty and brains.
All breeding dogs that Zareba uses must complete all health testing in accordance with the RRCUS Code of Ethics to reduce the inheritance of genetic disorders. All dogs will have passed, according to OFA/PennHip/CERF/MSU standards the required testing on their hips, elbows, eyes and thyroid which earns them a CHIC number. Testing for Degenerative Myelopathy (DM), Early Onset Adult Deafness (EOAD) and Inherited ventricular arrhythmia (RR-IVA) is also conducted. Additionally dogs may have shoulders, heart, hearing and patellas screened.
Meet Marie and Marcin
Meet Lauren
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zareba
/zəˈriːbə/ noun (in northern E Africa) 1. sockade or enclosure of thorn bushes around a village or campsite 2. the area so protected or enclosed |
How Zareba Ridgebacks came to be: Tea's Beginning
I have always had dogs, and having been born in Estonia the natural dog to have would be a German Shepherd or a Norwegian Elkhound. I rescued a young Elkhound from a snow drift when I was seven and since then our footprints have crossed and joined several times.
I was talked into showing in ’79 by a lady who lived down the street and she showed Boxers. We had just bought an Elkhound puppy and she thought he held promise in the show ring. She gave me entry forms for an upcoming show and I sent them in. Two weeks later Toke Vidor Vikingson and I made our cold entrance at the Livonia Kennel Club show. I did not have the proper collar, leash and neither of us had ever seen the inside of the show ring! The Judge was patient and we got first in the puppy class. So we tried again and again but at 12months of age turned out that Toke had hip dysplasia and so ended our show experience.
Years passed and once again I got the urge to show, this time I had done my homework and decided upon the elusive Rhodesian Ridgeback. I was in luck and we found a breeder not too far who had a litter of puppies. My husband and I visited her and put a deposit down on a small very active deep red bitch. Three weeks later I went back and picked up Keesha who would be the Foundation Bitch of my line. Not being very imaginative we called her Callyhi Keesha of Koya.
Keesha and I made our debut that fall, she was 7 months of age and neither of us had attended training classes. I had bought a book on Dog Handling and we knew what we should do, but not ‘how’. We entered the ring and tried to copy the handler ahead of us. We went around the ring with Keesha jumping up and down. We did a ‘stack’ and the Judge pointed at us and said, “Number One”. We got a blue ribbon! The ring Steward told us not to leave but wait, for we were to go back in for ‘Winners bitch’. That time we were directed to stand at the end of the line, Keesha being a puppy. Again we went around, the Judge picked the Winner’s Bitch and pointed at us and said, “Reserve”. So, that was our introduction the ‘Show game’. We started going to classes and being a team we finished the following summer, Keesha being 17 months of age.
Now was time to find a Kennel name, I spent hours and hours in the Webster’s dictionary and finally settled on the word ZAREBA which means an enclosure of bushes or stakes protecting a campsite or village in northeast Africa. I thought it was a most appropriate name for a pack of Ridgebacks, going back to the breeds original roots.
Keesha had four litters and 13 Champions to her credit. She received her ROM (Register of Merit) and # 1 Brood Bitch award from RRCUS in 1997. Keesha left us at 12 years of age, having lived a long active life. We had kept a gorgeous bitch puppy from Keesha’s first litter and named her Zareba’s Gaia By Kwetu. She was my first Bred By and we finished fast. Unfortunately her life was cut short due to intestinal obstruction . Her loss was hard, for she was our First Born to the Zareba name.
We must not forget Jake AM/CAN. CH. Riveroads Serengeti Jakeriah, ROM, CGC who entered our lives in 1992 at 3 months of age. Jake was a cool kid, very tender hearted and eager to please. He showed well, but was really not enthused, so when Gaia came along he was happy to retire to the couch. In 1999 he was diagnosed with Mast Cell Ca. And despite surgery he died a year later.
Since then I have shown many dogs, some have been easy, others much more challenging. All in all it is a wonderful obsession and I would not have missed it for the world. We have produced with Keesha and Jake’s genes many beautiful Champions, pets and performance dogs. We are now on our 5th Generation and I can see the two of them in our current dogs.
Future of the Zareba line
A young woman named Marie (Sajewicz) Glodowski purchased a Zareba puppy in 1998. This purchase completes a circle started many years ago. I have known Marie since she was 11 years of age when her mother and I worked together in Michigan. Marie pleaded to 'tag along' with me to a dog show. We thought it would only take being dropped off at my house at 5 am on a few Saturday mornings and she would soon tire of dog shows. Wrong, wrong! Soon she wasn’t satisfied with going to the shows, she wanted to handle a dog. In 1995 Marie was added as a co-owner to a male Ridgeback so she could compete in Juniors. She was hooked and in 1998 she competed at the RRCUS National Specialty with CH. Zareba's Good Humor Man (Kyle) and won the Best Junior Handler Award.
Marie handled Captain- CH. Zareba's Midnight Runner to his Championship. When she went to college, dogs took back seat for a short while. Now as a Graduate and employed – Marie has Pasia (Ch. Zareba’s Hot Hot Heat of Rare Earth), a puppy out of Captain and she will be the bitch to continue on the legacy of Zareba.
Marie is a wonderful person who takes excellent care of her dogs. I am very proud to announce Marie is my choice to carry on the Zareba line of Rhodesian Ridgebacks. I have always shown my own dogs, kept only the most rowdy, and breed only the best.
-Tea Cooper, Zareba Rhodesian Ridgebacks
I have always had dogs, and having been born in Estonia the natural dog to have would be a German Shepherd or a Norwegian Elkhound. I rescued a young Elkhound from a snow drift when I was seven and since then our footprints have crossed and joined several times.
I was talked into showing in ’79 by a lady who lived down the street and she showed Boxers. We had just bought an Elkhound puppy and she thought he held promise in the show ring. She gave me entry forms for an upcoming show and I sent them in. Two weeks later Toke Vidor Vikingson and I made our cold entrance at the Livonia Kennel Club show. I did not have the proper collar, leash and neither of us had ever seen the inside of the show ring! The Judge was patient and we got first in the puppy class. So we tried again and again but at 12months of age turned out that Toke had hip dysplasia and so ended our show experience.
Years passed and once again I got the urge to show, this time I had done my homework and decided upon the elusive Rhodesian Ridgeback. I was in luck and we found a breeder not too far who had a litter of puppies. My husband and I visited her and put a deposit down on a small very active deep red bitch. Three weeks later I went back and picked up Keesha who would be the Foundation Bitch of my line. Not being very imaginative we called her Callyhi Keesha of Koya.
Keesha and I made our debut that fall, she was 7 months of age and neither of us had attended training classes. I had bought a book on Dog Handling and we knew what we should do, but not ‘how’. We entered the ring and tried to copy the handler ahead of us. We went around the ring with Keesha jumping up and down. We did a ‘stack’ and the Judge pointed at us and said, “Number One”. We got a blue ribbon! The ring Steward told us not to leave but wait, for we were to go back in for ‘Winners bitch’. That time we were directed to stand at the end of the line, Keesha being a puppy. Again we went around, the Judge picked the Winner’s Bitch and pointed at us and said, “Reserve”. So, that was our introduction the ‘Show game’. We started going to classes and being a team we finished the following summer, Keesha being 17 months of age.
Now was time to find a Kennel name, I spent hours and hours in the Webster’s dictionary and finally settled on the word ZAREBA which means an enclosure of bushes or stakes protecting a campsite or village in northeast Africa. I thought it was a most appropriate name for a pack of Ridgebacks, going back to the breeds original roots.
Keesha had four litters and 13 Champions to her credit. She received her ROM (Register of Merit) and # 1 Brood Bitch award from RRCUS in 1997. Keesha left us at 12 years of age, having lived a long active life. We had kept a gorgeous bitch puppy from Keesha’s first litter and named her Zareba’s Gaia By Kwetu. She was my first Bred By and we finished fast. Unfortunately her life was cut short due to intestinal obstruction . Her loss was hard, for she was our First Born to the Zareba name.
We must not forget Jake AM/CAN. CH. Riveroads Serengeti Jakeriah, ROM, CGC who entered our lives in 1992 at 3 months of age. Jake was a cool kid, very tender hearted and eager to please. He showed well, but was really not enthused, so when Gaia came along he was happy to retire to the couch. In 1999 he was diagnosed with Mast Cell Ca. And despite surgery he died a year later.
Since then I have shown many dogs, some have been easy, others much more challenging. All in all it is a wonderful obsession and I would not have missed it for the world. We have produced with Keesha and Jake’s genes many beautiful Champions, pets and performance dogs. We are now on our 5th Generation and I can see the two of them in our current dogs.
Future of the Zareba line
A young woman named Marie (Sajewicz) Glodowski purchased a Zareba puppy in 1998. This purchase completes a circle started many years ago. I have known Marie since she was 11 years of age when her mother and I worked together in Michigan. Marie pleaded to 'tag along' with me to a dog show. We thought it would only take being dropped off at my house at 5 am on a few Saturday mornings and she would soon tire of dog shows. Wrong, wrong! Soon she wasn’t satisfied with going to the shows, she wanted to handle a dog. In 1995 Marie was added as a co-owner to a male Ridgeback so she could compete in Juniors. She was hooked and in 1998 she competed at the RRCUS National Specialty with CH. Zareba's Good Humor Man (Kyle) and won the Best Junior Handler Award.
Marie handled Captain- CH. Zareba's Midnight Runner to his Championship. When she went to college, dogs took back seat for a short while. Now as a Graduate and employed – Marie has Pasia (Ch. Zareba’s Hot Hot Heat of Rare Earth), a puppy out of Captain and she will be the bitch to continue on the legacy of Zareba.
Marie is a wonderful person who takes excellent care of her dogs. I am very proud to announce Marie is my choice to carry on the Zareba line of Rhodesian Ridgebacks. I have always shown my own dogs, kept only the most rowdy, and breed only the best.
-Tea Cooper, Zareba Rhodesian Ridgebacks
