We have added lots of new testimonials to our page, click here to view them. Photos to follow when the computer behaves itself!! We hope all of our Zejak babies have had a lovely Christmas, and wish you all good luck for 2009.

The bitch puppy has been sold. She goes to her fantastic new home after Christmas. Good Luck to them, she is a lovely puppy.

We have unexpectedly had a puppy sale cancelled due to work commitments changing, so we have a bitch puppy with a good ridge available now; (Age 8 weeks on the 9th Dec) She is very dark red in colour, and a brave happy easy tempered puppy. She has had her 1st vaccination, been to the vets, met all the other dogs, met Gertie the border terrier too! & Of course has met Jake our grandson, she takes everything in her stride, so will make a lovely pet. Please give me a call if you are interested in owning a beautiful Zulu daughter!

Both of our new litters are doing extremely well; Buzi's are now 5 weeks old, racing about & starting to enjoy playing games. They are a very promising litter; all nice & dark. One lucky pup will be going to live with his Dad!  Jed's & Zulu's litter are now nearly 3 weeks old; But they are still asleep! Haven't noticed the world passing by yet, but I really don't mind, as it is a bit of peace & quiet still for me! They are all very well, all very dark red, as expected. We have one or two bitches available from this litter, all perfect ridges, no white.  Available early December.

16/10/08

Our newest litter arrived safely on Tuesday night; As always I had a completely sleepless night, but all pups came into the world very easily, the birth went very well, all had a very calm nice journey into this world. Lets hope that the rest of their lives will be as good! We only have a couple un-booked so please get in touch if you would like to discuss having a very special "Zejak" Ridgeback!  They will be ready early December. Just to up-date re Buzi's litter; they are all sold, booked by some very excited prospective owners!

Buzi has had her litter of puppies by Champion Miko, born on the 27th September. 10 puppies, 6 bitches and 4 dogs, all good ridges, no white, all puppies dark red. Healthy happy Mum and puppies! See Buzi's page for photo, and Contact Us for more details.

We have updated our site...removed some old very small images and basically had a bit of a 'clean up'...

In response to the BBC 1 Documentary entitled ‘Pedigree Dogs Exposed’, we would like to make the following statement:

 1.       The BBC stated “…In fact it’s been known for decades that the ridge is a mild form of spina bifida that can cause serious health problems…”

 THIS IS COMPLETELY UNTRUE.

 This statement made by the BBC is completely inaccurate, wrong and damaging to the breed. What they should have said is that in some rare instances a condition called Dermoid Sinus can found in Ridgeback puppies. Dermoid Sinus itself is akin to Spina Bifida in humans, NOT the ridge. If puppies are bred by experienced, responsible and knowledgeable breeders the sinus is found at birth and the puppy put to sleep, before it suffers later in life.

 Rhodesian Ridgebacks are in fact one of the healthiest pedigree dogs you can own, as they are made up of scores of different breeds of dog, including an African wild dog (who provided the ridge). Therefore they have a huge gene pool, and  really are a pedigree mongrel in this respect and have the same hybrid vigour.

 2.     The BBC stated “10% of puppies suffer from Dermoid Sinus”

 They have not published where they obtained this statistic from, and we believe any statistic relating to Dermoid Sinus is purely heresay – there is NO official route of reporting when a Ridgeback puppy is born with Dermoid Sinus. It is purely guesswork.

 3.          Ridgeless Ridgebacks

 The BBC Documentary interviewed the Rhodesian Ridgeback Club of Great Britain, along with another well known Ridgeback breeder. They stated that they supported the RR Club of GB’s ‘Code of Ethics’ that contained an instruction that “any ridgeless Rhodesian Ridgeback puppies shall be culled at birth”.

 We would like to state for the record that we have, as known to many people, not been members of this Club for many years. Our main objection to the Club was that healthy dogs, albeit without a ridge, were culled when they were healthy. This is not, and never has been, ethical and we disagree with this idea wholeheartedly.

 The BBC quoted that “1 in 20 Rhodesian Ridgeback puppies are born without a ridge”. Again, another completely misleading and wholly inaccurate statement from the BBC. Where do these ‘figures’ come from? There is no form of reporting a ridgeless puppy being born in the UK.

 From our experience, it is far, far fewer ridgeless puppies who are born. When, on the very rare occasion, we do have a ridgeless puppy we find a home for them. They make wonderful pets, and for goodness sake – they don’t know they haven’t got a ridge do they?! Ridgeless puppies are the same as ridged puppies in every way except cosmetically. They shouldn't be bred from and can’t be shown – but as our puppies are sold primarily as fantastic pets, who is to say that a ridgeless puppy won’t have a long and happy life and make a wonderful pet?

 On a final note – the documentary made a very big point regarding ‘in-breeding’ in pedigree dogs, quoting that pedigree dogs were often mated father to daughter, brother and sister, etc.

 We DO NOT and NEVER HAVE practised in-breeding within our breeding programme. There is no excuse for in-breeding. Genetics are a very big part of being a responsible breeder, and with in-breeding the risk of health or mental problems being passed on is huge. We therefore take the view that this should never be done.

 If you have any questions regarding Zejak Rhodesian Ridgebacks or our beliefs, please do get in touch with me on (01483) 427479 or by email to jellis8@sky.com  

 And if you’re from the BBC…perhaps you’d like to make public where you obtained your statistics from, and why you felt the need to make completely inaccurate and wrong statements regarding the Rhodesian Ridgeback.

Jackie

please read the "Home page" for a reply to the very mis-leading BBC1 documentary aired tonight;  WHY ON EARTH CANT THE BBC GET ITS FACTS RIGHT? Its not rocket science!

All our puppies are sold, some even going abroad; we wish them all luck in their new homes. We will have puppies again about October 2008. Please call or email for details. We will be meeting prospective owners after the summer holidays, so please get in touch in September if you wish to go on the waiting list. We look forward to meeting you!

   21/06/08

Miko's page is updated to show that he is now an ENGLISH CHAMPION AS WELL!!& we have 2 Male puppies available to go to their new homes' on the 5th of July, please contact me for details. These are Miko's grand sons!

Website updated for Miko,jali & Zulu's pedigree. New photo of Jali & her pups added to home page as well.

Keb went happily off to his new home on Tuesday. He jumped straight in Gary & Emma's car & lay down. She told me afterwards that he travelled well & got on brilliantly with their 18 month old Zanti daughter! "Good Luck" Keb, Gary & Emma.

A photo of Keb & more infomation about him added to our Home Page, now that we have had time to asses him. He really deserves a nice home, as he is a lovely boy!

The website has just been up-dated for the first time by Jackie! Please be patient with me! I have up-dated the home page with a wonderful photo of Jake our 6 month old grandson, with Jali, who loves his attention; She is due to whelp next week, so call or email me if you are intersted in having a Jali X Zulu puppy.