Ridge

The breed’s distinctive feature is the ridge on the back, which is formed by the hair growing in the opposite direction to the rest of the coat. The ridge must be regarded as the characteristic feature of the breed. The ridge should be clearly defined, tapering and symmetrical. It should begin immediately behind the shoulders and continue to a point between the prominence of the hips and should contain two identical crowns (whorls) directly opposite each other. The lower edge of the crowns (whorls) should not extend further down the ridge than one third of the ridge. Although there is no rule for the ridge’s width, up to two (2) inches is a good average. ** Personally, as a breeder, I love a large ridge (the bigger the better), for the whorls can become too narrow in the ridge’s line, if no special attention is given to it.

“Clearly defined” means that the two ends of the ridge must have hair rolled up in the ridge’s (body) direction. Sometimes one of the sides will be tightly rolled up and the other will have a distortion on its edge. That would be a small flaw.

There are two things about the ridge that usually mix things up … What’s a “crown”, and what’s the name of the above area?

“Crowns” are the whorls of hair of each side of the ridge up to the shoulder (in other words, a “topknot”). The two things you must know about them is that there should only be two (2) of them, and they should be easily recognizable (there is no degree of precision as to a clear definition or size!) and one should be in front of the other (up to ¼ of inch is acceptable).

Originally, dogs had many of these whorls… Some families had whorls in the hindquarters. When the rules were being written, many dogs were gathered and there was a sort of “survey” that defined that the whorls were in the shoulders and that they had come out of there! Ridgeback – a democratic breed!

The hair must grow close to the ridge and begin right above the shoulder/withers opposite in direction to the rest of the fur/hair. This area before the crown is known as the “house” or “fan” and can take many different forms, some symmetrical (round, square or pointy), and some ramify straight ahead! Sometimes the crowns are there, ending up in no fan at all. The fan form or the presence of one makes no difference! Allow me to repeat that – the form or presence of a fan or house makes no difference! The ridge begins when the hair grows in front of it – fan or no fan.

When determining the place of the crowns… They can have 1/3 of the way up to the ridge… The hair growth determines the beginning and the end of the ridge. Most times you’ll find dogs whose ridges are no farther then ¼ the length of the ridge.

The figures bellow show some of the many acceptable ridges and some flaws associated with a ridge (when Hawley (author of the Ridgeback “Bible”) came here to judge, he told us that the original text was meant to describe a ridge that was large during its whole length up to the hind bones and then quickly coming to a point. Since it was written, it seemed to describe a ridge that diminishes from its beginning to its end, in a way that there cannot be two ideal forms for a ridge!).

Correcting ridges

More then two crowns or only one crown to a ridge would be a great flaw. Sometimes there can be a “half-crown” along the tips of the ridge, making the side of the ridge seem irregular in appearance or part of the fan. These can be big or small in size.
Depending on its size, these flaws can be easily seen. The whorl must come from the hindquarters and a flaw in that can be greater depending on the size of the “flaw”.

Dogs with no ridge are disqualified.